Effect of land use change on selected greenhouse gas and trace gas emissions :|ba case study on Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, Rayong, Thailand | |
| Author | Sangchan Limjirakan |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no. RD-01-1 |
| Subject(s) | Land use--Thailand--Rayong Greenhouse gases--Thailand--Rayong |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Technical Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The closely related issues of greenhouse gas emissions, global warming, and climate change, have recently come to the top of environmental agenda. Human activities have significantly altered the surface of the Earth and the composition of its atmosphere. Land use change is one of human activities on global environmental change. As the land encompasses an enormous variety of topographical features and soil, different slopes, water capacity, heterogeneous vegetation, and ecosystem, the land surface and its ecosystem therefore play an important role in the carbon cycle, hydrological cycle, and in surface exchange of trace gases. Consequently, the land use change resulting from human activities is unavoidable direct effects to the environment. Land was the primary factor of production in agricultural-oriented Thai economy in the past. Increased in industrial development over the last decade, however, led to a large scale of land use change from agricultural base to industrial base, especially, land development under the Eastern Seaboard Program which strongly suppotied by the Thai government. These kinds of development have caused unexpected and unavoidable impacts on communities and environment nearby. Change in land use is one of many factors that affect directly and indirectly activities of greenhouse gases produced. Increased emissions of greenhouse gases and trace gases have also resulted from industrial processes. It is accepted that human-induced activities on land use change cause relation to changes in greenhouse gas and trace gas emissions. In addition, the increases of greenhouse gases and trace gases in the atmosphere resulting from land use change will produce a change in the radiative forcing so that major greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide will consequently cause climate change. Their generation will largely increase proportionate to the economic development and population. The effect of land use change resulting from the conversion of agricultural land to industrial area on greenhouse gas and trace gas emissions needs to be studied under an interdisciplinary research approach. Rayong is one of important provinces in the eastern region of Thailand that has been promoted to be a major national center for industry and economic development since 1982, under the Eastern Seaboard Program and the Rayong Provincial Master Plan. These programs play important roles to economic structural change from agriculture to industry and service. This implies to the remarkable change of land use types in Rayong during the past decade. The change can be concluded that depended upon not only the policy but also the growth and direction of economic development that quite different change as a cause of population pressure. Remote sensing technology in combination with geographic information system (GIS) were be used to render reliable information of land use change in Rayong during the 10-year period. The LANDSAT TM imageries acquired in 1987, 1990, 1994, and 1997 were classified into 6 significant land use/land cover types, namely, forest, agriculture, water bodies, industrial area, urban/building, and barren/others. The conversion of forest land to agricultural land and the conversion of agricultural land to water bodies and industrial areas are the main greatly changes observed. The water bodies increased from 16.2 km2 in 1987 to be 43.7 km2 in 1997, while industrial areas extended from 2.1 km2 in 1987 to be 42.8 km2 in 1997. This picture reflects to the national policy and the growth of economy during that time. It should be noted that the former agricultural areas used to be planted major economic cash crops of the nation such as sugar cane, cassava, pineapple, and mix orchards. ii The Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate located in Rayong was selected to study the effect of land use change (from agricultural land to industrial area) on emissions of greenhouse gases and trace gases. Presently, this estate occupies the land area of about 9.8 krn 2 for about 50 industrial plants that are mainly of petrochemical industry, chemical and fertilizer industry, steel industry, oil refinery industry, and utility industry. The selected greenhouse gas including methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N20), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) were studied from 3 industrial processes of petrochemical industry, chemical and fertilizer industry, and steel industry. While selected trace gas emissions were focused on sulfur dioxide (S02), and nitrogen dioxide (N02) from industrial processes of all industries in the Estate. The Industrial Source Complex (ISC) Dispersion Models, the EPA-recommended Regulatory Model, were used with meteorological data at Sattahip Station for studying 1-hr maximum concentrations of the above mentioned gases. The land use map within a radius of 10-kilometers from the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in 1997 was used as a base map. Simulation results of base case presented the maximum ground level concentrations of S02 was well below the ambient air quality standards of Thailand (0.78 mg/m3 for 1-hr), while the maximum GLC of N02 in 1-hr (0.33 mg/m3) almost equaled to the standard. However, these values were higher than ambient air quality monitoring data at the Map Ta Phut Health Center in 1999. For 6 different scenarios simulations, 1-hr maximum GLCs of S02 and N02 of all scenarios were exceeded the ambient air quality standards and ambient air quality monitoring data at the Map Ta Phut Health Center as well. Currently, CH4, N20, and NMVOC have no any standards to compare. The possible effects of CH4, N10, NMVOC, S02, and N02 em1ss10ns on people in the community nearby, were calculated and represented by the isopleths of 1-hr maximum concentrations at Ban Map Ta Phut (the nearest populous community in the northeast from the study area) for all cases studied. The concentrations of S02 were well below the ambient air quality standard, while N02 concentrations were exceeded the standard when annual industrial production increased 2.0 times. However, the concentrations of S02, and N02 were higher than the ambient air quality monitoring data at the Map Ta Phut Health Center. It could be concluded that under different scenarios, emissions of S02 and N02 emitting from industrial processes in the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate expected to cause some significant effects on existing ambient air quality of the study area at some certain degrees. For CH4, N20, and NMVOC emitted from non-combustion industrial processes, there is currently no ambient air quality standard to compare. Nonetheless, concentrations of these gas emissions seem to be high. They would cause some effects to the community nearby in terms of human health and some nuisances. The magnitude of which is highly uncertain. This likewise could have any effect on at least a local scale to a regional scale of climate change as well. The study also makes some recommendations on further research that defined context responding adequate to policy making process, and the strategy framework for national greenhouse response. The sustainable development model is also recommended for the national policy implications as well. |
| Year | 2001 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Apisit Eiumnoh; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Kaew Nualchawee;Remigio, Amador A.;Oanh, Nguyen Thi Kim;Aoki, Masatoshi; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology,2001 |