the paper is a refreshing contrast with the ambiguous, jargon-laden often incomprehensible ecology that fills far too many international Journals today. The more technically focused paper by Phan Kieu Diem et al. takes us to how one of the world’s best known timber trees, Teak, may be responding to more variable temperatures and rainfall. In short, to climate change. As field ecologists know, studies of vegetation phenology are demanding jobs. To gain adequate data on a scale relevant to large forest ecosystems, is usually beyond the scope of foresters alone. The case study by the Phan Kieu Diem team pioneers the application of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) to teak leaf unfolding and eventual discoloration. The findings neatly demonstrated that teak forests respond more strongly to temperature extremes than precipitation. This useful work has ecological implications. It could invite opportunities to diversify the forest ecology by making more use of non-teak tree species which help mitigate forest air temperatures and enhance growth conditions for teak plantations. Phongkhamphan et al. contribute an important study of connections between biodiversity declines in dry dipterocarp forest (DDF) and water storage. In these iconic DDE’s of northern Thailand, the subtle connections between tree biodiversity and soil water holding capacity do need highlighting. Short term gains in total tree biomass due to reduced interspecific tree completion for precious soil water must not hide the long term importance of retaining good biodiversity. Research such as this is strongly needed and could be seen to contrast with the overemphasis on biodiversity for human well-being (e.g. attractiveness) that surfaces in the Woodlands chapter (8) of the UKNEATR. Calls to “monetize” (P.265, UKNEATR) biodiversity in these European documents are welcome. However, to ensure that such calls are placed on solid ecology, studies like those of the Phongkhamphan team are essential. Indeed, they serve to remind those in advocating ecosystem conservation and eco-restoration, that these activities must be based on solid science as well as hard-to-measure human values like attractiveness. Boonyawat et al. provide us with an impressive and realistic case study of why local people must be part of any rural water resource management system. Based in Phetchaburi Province they show that even modest increases in village development can contribute to significant changes in water supplies. With climate change moving in the direction of erratic rainfall, the Boonyawat team show that water supplies are best tackled at the ecosystem level. Water resource management on a provincial scale was also the focus of a data-rich paper by a big team of researchers led by Jerasorn Santisirisomboon. This team attempted to apply a Regional Climate Model (RegCM4) to the Phetchaburi and Prachuab Khiri Khan River Basins of Thailand and thus include the SIEP. Like the Boonyawat et al. group the Jerasorn Santisirisomboon team, climate change with a trend towards slight warming and drying was predicted by the model. Also in concert with Boonyawat’s group, the wisdom of a holistic ecosystem approach to address anticipated climate change was advocated. To reinforce the need to use water in a more sustainable manner, local stakeholders – provincial citizens – need to be deeply involved. One emergent theme here being that in this 21st Century we need to see people as part of ecosystems. In this way, a watershed ecosystem management approach would ensure that forests, soils, streams and people become components of an integrated ecosystem. With this approach, they are totally in phase with Bulia Palu’s account of the Himalayan eco-agro-economic Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the 345 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
Proceedings of International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Sustainable Development Goals : Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016 at the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
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