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GSA, CSEAS Strengthen 45-Year Ties with FRIM, Taking a Step Further with MoU

Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Agriculture (GSA) and Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Malaysian Forestry Research and Development Board (MFRDB), which governs the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), to take a step further in their decades-long collaborative studies on forestry and forest products.

With this official partnership in place, the institutions will seek to: assess the water and carbon cycles in tropical forests and the forest management-caused impact to local communities; expand the frontiers of forest ecology and hydrology; and foster the academic exchange and interaction among them.

The MoU, made effective on July 3 at the signing ceremony held at FRIM, marks a significant milestone in their long-lasting collaboration. Its starting point can be traced back to circa 1970, when the International Biological Program (IBP) was well underway. FRIM, Osaka City University and Kyoto University together elucidated the tropical rainforest productivity in Southeast Asia through a series of field work at the Pasoh Forest Reserve in Malaysia, as part of the IBP efforts.

In 1992, the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI) both in Japan, and FRIM in Malaysia took a lead role in launching an Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (ERTDF) program to address deforestation and forest degradation in tropical areas. At the outset GSA Professor Emeritus and Doshisha University Professor Hiroshi Takeda, GSA Professors Makoto Tani and Mamoru Kanzaki initiated collaborative research at the reserve and the Bukit Tarek Experimental Watershed.

The ERTDF program also produced a successful observation project at the Pasoh tower site. Now led by GSA Assistant Professor Yoshiko Kosugi, it has developed into a multi-disciplinary investigation centered around eco-hydrology. The project also brought together experts not only from GSA but also CSEAS and FFPRI, as its scope extended to the exchange of greenhouse gases including methane.

“I never forget the substantial contributions from FRIM,” said Professor Tani in his address, expressing his profound gratitude for every single collaborator and colleague in all the joint efforts to date. “I vividly remember so many individuals at FRIM since 1990s: then-Director General Tan Sri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor, and my former counterpart Datuk Dr Abdul Rahim Nik, now serving as Deputy Secretary General at the Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, have been key figures from the very beginning. I’d like to express my appreciation to Dr Rahman Kassim and Dr Siti Aisah. Our observations owed so much to Mr Mohd Sahat, Mr Ibharim Hasim and other research assistants. I am also deeply grateful to Professor Toshinori Okuda of Hiroshima University, for his support as a Japan-side leader throughout the over 20-year collaboration.”

Professor Tani also cited findings about the climate variability effect on evapotranspiration and carbon uptake-emission of a Malaysian tropical rainforest (Yoshiko Kosugi et al., Journal of Forest Research; 2012). He said the paper was the first to report an inter-annual variation of canopy CO2 exchange (net ecosystem production) and evapotranspiration during a 7-year period for a tropical forest in Southeast Asia, adding that the monitoring at the Pasoh tower site will remain integral to the climate change forecast and its validation for years to come.

“Besides these eco-hydrological studies, we should take multi-disciplinary approaches, including social sciences, on environmental issues because they are certainly derived from ever increasing human activity,” said Professor Tani. In closing, he stressed the need to assemble knowledge and assets from each of FRIM, CSEAS and GSA. “That is exactly why this agreement is finally concluded among these particular institutions, and I am hence exhilarated and hopeful.”

The MoU was signed by FRIM Director General Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod, GSA Dean Hisashi Miyagawa, and CSEAS Director Yasuyuki Kono, in the presence of FRIM Ecohydrology Programme Head Dr Siti Aisah Shamsuddin, Professor Tani, and CSEAS Deputy Director Kozo Matsubayashi.

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FRIM Director General Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod (left) and GSA Professor Makoto Tani shaking hands after concluding the MoU. [Photo courtesy of FRIM]

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From left: FRIM Technical Services Division Director Dr Khali Aziz Hamzah, Ecohydrology Programme Head Dr Siti Aisah Shamsuddin, Forestry and Environment Division Director Dr Ismail Harun, Director General Abd Latif Mohmod, GSA Professor Tani, Proessor Kaoru Kitajima; (foreground) Assistant Professor Yoshiko Kosugi, JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow Mai Kamakura, FRIM Ecohydrology Programme Research Officer Marryanna Lion; (background) CSEAS Assistant Professor Masayuki Itoh, GSA Postdoctoral Fellow Motonori Okumura, FFPRI Principal Investigator Satoru Takanashi and Team Leader Shoji Noguchi [Photo courtesy of FRIM]