10. Fostering Capacity Development for Asia’s Leapfrog

The merging of 10 ASEAN countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) into the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) from 2015 onward makes ASEAN become more important in the Asian region. These ten countries of the AEC contribute 9 % (585 million people) of the world’s population while their GDP contributes 3 % (1275 billion USD) of the global GDP. In addition, the ASEAN +3, with the coverage of China, Japan and South Korea, increases the share of the world’s population by 31 % (2068 million people) with 18 % (9.901 billion USD) of the global GDP. The immense contribution with a high impact on economics can be seen with the ASEAN +6 (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea) where the share of the world population is 50 % (3284 million people) and its contribution covers 22 % of the global GDP. Figure 10.1 indicates that the path of movement into the future of ASEAN and the Asian countries will have an impact on the world’s development.

The nature of the ASEAN countries varies, particularly their economic conditions. Regarding the classification of income in ASEAN countries, the composition of income classification is shown in Fig. 10.2. Four categories of income have been identified. Singapore and Brunei are identified as affluent countries while Malaysia and Thailand belong to the middle class. Three countries are in the process of transitioning to the middle class and the remaining three countries fall within the low-income range. The interesting aspect is that the ASEAN middle-income class is more than 25 % of the ASEAN population and in the year 2030 it is anticipated that the middle-income class segment in Indonesia will include more than 50 million people. While the share of the middle-income class increases, development of countries to move toward a middle-income trap has been raised in some countries like Thailand and Malaysia. How the rise of ASEAN can gear its direction toward a low-carbon society is challenging.

While moving to middle incomes but aiming to avoid a middle-income trap, countries’ development is still based on energy consumption. High energy use has been found to be related to the human development index as seen in Fig. 10.3. In addition, high carbon intensity, particularly in electricity production, is still evident. Although renewable energy and energy efficiency policies have been implemented in many countries in Asia, there is room for improvement toward a low-carbon path, taking into account the fact that greenhouse gas emissions in 2035 for the whole of Asia will contribute almost 50 % of global emissions (Fig. 10.4).

Entering into a low-carbon pathway means driving the country’s development with low emissions of greenhouse gases. Decoupling of CO₂ emissions from GDP growth is one of the indicators showing that the path of development has to take low-carbon technology and activities into account (see Fig. 10.5). Many developing counties such as Japan, Germany, the USA, Australia, France and the UK have been through this disconnection while some prominent countries in Asia such as China, India, Malaysia and Thailand have not reached met the point of decoupling.

In the situation of Asian development, green growth policies are promoted. However, looking back to the development from 1990 until 2010, as seen in Fig. 10.6, real GDP growth has been increasing in parallel with CO₂ emission increases. The growth rate and emission rate have increased sharply. Conversely, population growth has increased at a slower rate when compared to other parameters. The implication of this figure is shown in Table 10.1, where the GDP of ASEAN, particularly four countries in Asia (China, India, Japan and South Korea) in the next 15 years (until 2030) will cover 38 % of the global GDP, which will be increased by almost 10 % from 2010. This potential growth in GDP is from 47 % of the world population, where its share has been constant since 2010. These constant population shares will take responsibility for the increasing GDP development of the countries. Therefore the future activities of these populations are crucial for the pursuit of low-carbon development. These activities will be integrated with technology-based and behavioral-based functions. Considering the various circumstances and the different natures of the Asian countries, comprehensive knowledge and technology transfers are essential in order to increase capacity at various levels. Understanding of climate change and its impact, as well as mitigation and abatement, are the key to initiating activity for unlocked carbon intensity development. Responsibility arising from understanding will lead to sustainable development. Capacity development to direct society to know what to do, and how to do it, is the key to success in order to leapfrog for a massive reduction in GHG.

Sharing of knowledge should be done on both the horizontal and vertical levels. This means that knowledge is shared among the same level of society and through different levels of the related society. There are at least four levels of society, including the community, researchers, practitioners and policy makers. To accomplish capacity development, different mechanisms are applied in each society. The ‘community’ itself is the ground basis for implementation of low-carbon development. Mass media and direct communication to disseminate knowledge and information through the society are good mechanisms as this is a broad and heterogeneous society. Integration of a good knowledge management system into everyday life would be an effective tool of communication. The key function of the society is understanding of the facts and impacts of climate change as well as perception of their own adaptive capacity to be resilient to global change. In Asia, this society is mostly low-income to middle-income communities and they are the majority of the Asian population. Empowering this society is an effective strategy to leapfrog toward a low-carbon society.

A society of scientists and researchers is unique in the way that knowledge and information are developed from this society. The mechanisms of research and education should be promoted in order to find real solutions to the change and to cope with the change. This society is the key to fostering capacity development in this region through knowledge management. Collaboration among Asian countries needs to be strengthened in order to gain and exchange experience as well as joint research in the framework of the Asian region as climate change is a global issue but different coping situations can be learnt from each other. Nevertheless, the key issue of this society is to connect to other levels of society in order to disseminate the knowledge to the real implementers.

Practitioners are mostly people from government and industry who are involved in implementation either by planning or actions. This community drives low-carbon activities in the real sector to be implemented. They need to be equipped with skill and to be competent to initiate activity, suggest appropriate technology and solve any problems that may occur during implementation. The mechanism to promote LCD of this society is to improve their skill and enhance technology and knowledge transfer to facilitate their activities.

The top level is policy makers where their role is planning and laying down the strategies and policy. To enhance the capacity for low-carbon development, policy makers should have special mechanisms such as high-level dialogue or high-level executive training. Nevertheless the achievement of this will lead to a high impact of change. A key issue is dissemination of the right and most feasible information in a timely manner so that good policies will be executed in a timely manner.

There is a need for Asian countries to have a knowledge-sharing platform to circulate the information at different levels of society so that they will all understand the same target and the reason for each policy and action to be pursued and implemented. Designs for connected pathways between these societies have to take into account how to stimulate the action of these sharing platforms for the greatest benefit of low-carbon development.

Figure 10.7 shows the linkage of four societies linked to the knowledge platform for both their function and mechanisms. Transforming of knowledge can be intra-society and inter-society.

Not only the platform of knowledge-sharing but also the ability to make things happen both need a driving body. From research to policy, as mentioned in many scientific forums, it is not enough to unlock carbon intensity development. Figure 10.8 shows the linkage of research to policy and to implementation by the driving body in each component for clearer understanding. Usually, universities, research institutes and even non-governmental organizations that work on research are the main bodies to initiate knowledge, information and technology while the policy makers are the government itself or the ministry. Connections of the bodies of research to policy are established in some Asian countries such as Thailand where the Division of Science, Technology and Innovation Office of Planning and Policy (STI) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation initiate the MOU system with some universities and work together on how to launch the policy under the science and research support. The implementation of policy needs implementers. Local government, the private sector and communities are the different players in each role according to the policy formulation.

Institutional arrangements to cover the full loop of research to policy and to implementation can chain the different actions of the organizations mentioned above to implement low-carbon activity effectively. Any committee appointed to tackle low-carbon development should comprise the three figures of research, policy and implementation to push all action into full implementation.

In order to show a good practice of capacity development that has shown potential for the leapfrog to a low-carbon society, some example of this scheme at different levels of implementation are shown below.

Ban Pred Nai is a small community located in the coastal area of the Trang Province in the eastern part of Thailand. This community, led by the Venerable Phra Subin Praneeto, who has preached the concept of truthful words which create “trust”, has not only successfully preserved the local mangrove forest, but has also used improvisation from forest products and nature to generate both income and better wellbeing for the community. It is a unique knowledge transfer of the ‘Sufficiency Economy Philosophy’ (SEP) wisdom from this venerable monk to the community where rules and activities to protect the mangroves and energy independence have happened.

The SEP concept was introduced to the village by the Venerable Phra Subin Paneeto who endorsed the implementation of coexistence with nature to the community. In order to have an environmental management plan, the micro-credit saving fund called ‘ Sajja group’ was operated and the revenue from this activity was raised to help community members replant mangrove trees while setting up local regulation to sustainably allow members of the community to have protection while living positively with the mangroves. The saving fund in terms of cooperation business was now operating with more than 700 million baht per year. By protecting the mangrove forest, it was shown that the Ban Pred Nai community could reclaim 2000 ha of forest back from the year 2001 onward after implementing the concept of coexisting with nature, which is one of the SEP concepts. In addition, after the mangroves had been restored, the local sea crab business was reactivated again, introducing big incomes to the community. In terms of climate change mitigation, it was found that through communal management, the mangrove forest in Ban Pred Nai absorbs 1.85 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person per year, when compared to the non-communal forest absorption rate of 0.91 ton per person per year. The reforestation activity in Ban Pred Nai creates a CO₂ sink of 2.0 tonnes of CO₂ per capita per year (Towprayoon et.al. 2011).

Not only environmental management but also implementation of SEP can help protect the environment. Being aware of the erosion of the coastal shoreline causing a loss of the mangrove area, sea water invasion and a reduced biological food chain, the Ban Pred Nai community initiated the local technology to prevent coastal erosion. A blockade made from used tires in a cubic shape has been placed along the mangrove shoreline since 1992. It was found later that this activity can protect against erosion of the shoreline, while the area of non-blockade placement failed to be maintained and collapse of mangrove trees and loss of shoreline occurred. In addition, the placement of the blockade became the routine work of the community. This indicated good understanding of self-sufficient living with self-development of the people in Ban Pred Nai. It was also a good demonstration of how the community can adapt themselves to the dimension of climate change and showed the coping capacity to deal with it.

The issue of climate change is not only related to adaptation but also to greenhouse gas mitigation. The reduction of carbon dioxide is not the major concern in SEP but to live sufficiently using fuel that can be accessed within the village is the key. Farmers in Ban Prai Nai earn their living with a mixed fruit tree orchard including rambutan, loongkang, jackfruit and durian. During the off season, farmers have to clear their excess tree branches which become wood residue. In order to avoid residue burning, several locally designed charcoal kilns have been constructed throughout the village to produce in-house use of charcoal and wood vinegar. This activity helps to produce more than 16 tonnes per year of charcoal from 53.7 tonnes per year of wood residue. This can replace around 10 tonnes of LPG, avoiding an LPG cost of approximately 200,000 baht per year. It should be noted that the community in Ban Prai Nai is only 650 people and this avoid costs of approximately 2 % of their incomes.

The activities of the low-carbon city in the Muang Klang Municipality in the Rayong province of Thailand are a good example of knowledge transfer from research to policy and to implementation. The Muang Klang Municipality is a member of the ICLEI but the actions of the low-carbon activities were themselves in the spotlight after a researcher from the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Organization of Thailand and the Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, set up the program with the Mayor to estimate the municipality greenhouse gas inventory from four major sectors and set up the target of reduction including energy efficiency in building, transportation, agriculture and the waste sector. The nine-steps approach to estimate GHG was initiated by JGSEE and implemented for the first time in this municipality, as seen in Fig. 10.9. The nine steps take into account the action plan where all stakeholders from the governmental office, industry and education join together and identify activities together in order to reach the target set by the study (The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment (2011)). Below are some action plans that have been implemented.

Mitigation Actions in the Waste Sector in the Muang Klang Municipality

Mitigation Actions in the Agricultural Sector

The direct and indirect benefits from mitigation actions in the Muang Klang Municipality are shown in Table 10.2.

There is a proposal by the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO), which is the responsible agency in Thailand for GHG mitigation activities, to establish a Climate Change International Technical and Training Center (CITC), which is aimed to be a “one-stop technical training center” and networking platform on mitigation and adaptation for ASEAN countries and other developing countries (Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization 2015).

The main activities of the CITC are to provide a training service in the area of climate change mitigation and adaptation, establish a networking platform for ASEAN countries, disseminate knowledge on climate change mitigation and adaptation, and be a learning resource center on climate change mitigation and adaptation. The target groups of the CITC are governmental agencies, academic institutions, private companies related to mitigation and adaptation, and the general public. The center currently has four major courses including GHG inventory management, a mitigation mechanism, low-carbon society development and sustainable GHG management. The course are offered at different levels to include practitioners, executives and those who are interested. The CITC is supported by JICA and other international agencies including the Thai Government. It is expected that capacity building through this center will raise the standard of knowledgeable people in ASEAN.

Most major development paths of Asian countries are moving toward green growth. Under the constraints of the energy crisis and climate change impact, future Asian growth, while appearing to be the most significant in comparison with other regions, needs a good knowledge-based pathway to light up and pave the road to a low-carbon society.

Capacity development is the basic need and an urgent issue to be explored in Asia. It is one of the effective tools for Asia to leapfrog to a low-carbon society with the concern of unlocked carbon intensity development.

Development needs to be done on several levels from communities to the subnational and national levels. To leapfrog from the current situation, capacities need to be built at many levels through various mechanisms of networking, research forums, initiatives, training, etc., in order to bridge, transfer and transform the results from research to policy and to implementation. Policy makers with good understanding, as the head of the bullet train, will lead society in the right direction, while scientists and researchers are the engines to back up and accelerate this movement. Finally, practitioners in communities play key roles as the fuel, enhancing the movement toward green growth through their activities. It is, therefore, essential to have these three components for a compatible basis of knowledge and comprehension through capacity development.

The Asian countries are different in nature but rich in culture and resources. Low-carbon activities are various and depend on internal factors and situations. There are many good practices and philosophies that can be shared among the countries. The experience of learning from each other facilitates accomplishments and reduce risks in implementation. Collaborative activities in capacity development help Asian countries move toward green growth in their own ways with their own uniqueness while seeing the same goal in the future together.