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In terms of social wellbeing and economic activity, Lao PDR is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia. Yet it is rich in terms of natural resources and holds a huge potential in renewable energy sector. FREPLA project incorporates resource development view point into a single research and development (R&D) set-up. The project aimed at identifying interlinkages, barriers, trade-offs and synergies in using the full potential of rural energy resources and applying holistic water management in national strategic planning. The key message of the project was that it is necessary to assure that the Mekong and its ecosystem services (including national and regional agri- and aquaculture) are not excessively distrubed by hydropower or any other natural resource projects, such as mining.
Team
Jari Kaivo-Oja (FFRC), Sari Jusi (FFRC), Jyrki Luukkanen (FFRC), Khamso Kouphokham (MEM)
Objective: The overall objective of the FoLAFI project is to enhance capabilities of young forestry professionals in improved-management and sustainable use of Laos’s forest resources. This objective will be mainly achieved by – 1. Students and teachers exchange between FoF (NUoL) and VITRI (UH). The plan is to carry out 4 incoming and 2 outgoing student exchanges, and 4 incoming and 2 outgoing teacher exchanges. 2. Intensive course at FoF, NUoL and workshop to disseminate the result of intensive course. The topic of the course will be “Small holder teak management in South-East Asia”, where participants from NUoL, VITRI, Svannakhet University and other countries in the region (e.g. Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar) will participate. The result of the course will be disseminated in a public workshop in Laos, where different organization working on “small holder teak management” will present their results as well. 3. Promoting south-south cooperation. To widen the existing cooperation between national and regional HEIs in forestry and related fields, inter alia, by inviting representatives of those institutions to participate in the intensive course.
Team
Professor Markku Kanninen, Dipjoy Chakma
The overall objective of the proposed project is the strengthening of the National University of Laos, Faculty of Forestry’s educational performance and enabling it to provide good professionals for improved management and the sustainable use of Lao PDR’s forest resources. The project purpose is to support the Faculty of Forestry in terms of international collaboration, organization of joint teaching material production and education events, curriculum development, introduction of new teaching methods, and joint supervision of M.Sc. students research with the aim to provide good forestry professionals and academians for the forest sector of Lao PDR. The proposed project is mainly implemented by (a) organising an intensive training events in Laos for forestry academians and professionals (especially trainers) in the field of forest landscape rehabilitation; (b) promoting the participation of NUoL young staff in intensive training activities organised by VITRI and the Dept. of Forest Sciences in Helsinki; and (c) by strengthening the institutional capacity building in the form of curriculum development, teaching material preparation and new tools for e-learning and networking and new equipments.
Team
Eshetu Yirdaw, Professor Markku Kanninen, Adrian Monge Monge, Dipjoy Chakma
Access to Sustainable Energy for All project was implemented by a consortium of seven organizations and research centres in nine countries across Europe. Between 2011 and 2014 the FFRC research team conducted case studies in Finland, the Mekong region and Cuba in order to examine the drivers of energy futures in the target countries and the alternatives that are needed to make them equitable and sustainable. The question of how to provide clean, accessible and affordable energy for all is far from straightforward. Especially those in poorer countries across the Global South lack opportunities to benefit from such luxury. The project aimed at enhancing local understanding and raise awareness among the European public about the importance of ensuring such energy sources, and also about the role of EU financing policies concerning this issue. On FFRC’s part, the project included a capacity building component to enhance local abilities, and also produced two reports about the matter to stimulate public debate and instigate initiatives to promote a shift in policies and practices.
Team
Jyrki Luukkanen, Mira Käkönen, Hanna Kaisti, Joni Karjalainen, Jarmo Vehmas
The DREAM project aimed to (i) develop multi-disciplinary methodology to analyse renewable energy projects design, implementation, finance and influence on communities; (ii) build up knowledge on the various positive and negative impacts the renewable energy projects have especially at the village level; (iii) improve understanding of qualifications, such as success factors and reasons for failures, of renewable energy projects and; (iv) identify concrete means to increase long-term sustainability of donor-driven energy projects.
Team
Jyrki Luukkanen (FFRC), Mira Käkönen (FFRC), Hanna Kaisti (FFRC), Mika Korkeakoski (FFRC), Ronny Om (ITC), Khampone Nanthavong (NUOL)
RECLAIM project analyses the opportunities and challenges that emerge when climate change initiatives are introduced in the least developed countries, specifically herein Laos and Cambodia. The research examines whether it is possible to simultaneously pursue development, mitigation and adaptation and how this will affect to poor and vulnerable groups. The aim is to identify and analyse the drivers, actors and institutions that influence climate compatible development. The research addresses these questions through quantitative analysis of energy-economic systems and development pathways as well as qualitative research on the actors and forces shaping climate policies. The aim of the quantitative analysis is to provide useful information for future planning through defining a framework within which the future energy needs and related climate policies can be assessed.
Team
Jyrki Luukkanen (FFRC), Visa Tuominen (FFRC), Mira Käkönen (FFRC), Jarmo Vehmas (FFRC), Louis Lebel (USER), Dany Va (RUPP), Try Thuon (RUPP), Ponlok Tin (MoE), Khampone Nathavong (NUOL), Saykham Voladet (NERI), Noora Stenholm (FFRC)
CHEC project concentrated on the very topical issue of climate change and its evident impacts on the economic structures especially in the context of China and the European Union. The objective of the research was to analyse the impacts of climate change on the global economic structures and financing mechanism from the point of view of China and EU. The spill over effects of these changes are relevant for assessing the accumulated impacts of climate change. These were profoundly analysed in the CHEC project. The project relied on the following hypotheses; (i) climate change will have an impact on the global economic structures and financing mechanisms; (ii) the impacts depend on the mitigation and adaptation policies worldwide; (iii) climate change impacts in China and EU have impacts on the global economic structures and mechanisms, and vice versa; (iv) these can be studied using global system models; (v) better understanding of emission trends, driving forces and policies in both regions help to build cooperation and put forward international climate processes.
Team
Jyrki Luukkanen (FFRC), Jarmo Vehmas (FFRC), Jari Kaivo-Oja (FFRC), Burkhard Auffermann (FFRC), Barry Hughes (Univ. of Denver), Outi Luova (Univ. of Turku), Juha Panula-Ontto (FFRC), Pertti Suomela (FFRC), Chen Ying (CASS), Wang Mou (CASS), Liao Maolin (CASS), Zhang Ying (CASS), Xiong Jianbin (CASS)
The primary aim of the project is climate change mitigation and reduced deforestation through the provision of low cost water purification technologies to the rural poor. At the same time, the project will sustainably scale up, through carbon finance, the production and dissemination of low-cost clean water treatment solutions to poor households in Cambodia and Lao PDR. The local supply chains of the two carbon projects by Hydrologic Social Enterprise and Terra Clear will be strengthened and the projects will be developed into Gold Standard projects for voluntary carbon markets (VCM). Targeted customers are rural households who currently have no or only a partial access to clean water. Ceramic water purifiers are able to provide a number of co benefits to end users (including the adaptive capacity of end users to climate change) and throughout the supply chain. The project aims to ensure these co-benefits are also realised. The scaling up and sustainable mass dissemination activities will be complemented by a research report prepared by Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC).
Team
FFRC-Jyrki Luukkanen, Kamilla Karhunmaa, Visa Tuominen, Outi Pitkänen Nexus- Jo Hazelwood Hydrologic- Rachel Pringle TerraClear- Nathan Cole
SUCCEED is a capacity building project which seeks to enhance and promote climate change, environmental and renewable energy education, research, and development. The overall objective of SUCCEED is that the partner countries are able to train and educate national experts capable of advocating national and international climate change policy and renewable energy promotion from the perspective of the least developed countries, especially with regards to: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, climate finance, energy policy and renewable energy technology. Other objectives include improved skills of teaching staff to ensure successful implementation of climate change and renewable energy education in energy, and environmental degree programmes, improved research and pedagogical skills, improved facilities at ITC, NUOL, RUPP & YTU and promotion of networking and cooperation with national and international institutions and stakeholders.
Team
Jyrki Luukkanen, Mika Korkeakoski, Visa Tuominen
The concept of green economy is predicted to replace sustainable development as the new driving force of environmental action. A green economy is defined as low-carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive. Although the concept has received various critics, there is little empirical research related to its policy expectations or concerns. Developing countries rich in natural resources, such as Cambodia and Laos, may be able to benefit from green growth by having the opportunity to jump-start their transition towards a green economy. This project proposes a new framework to analyse green growth transitions in Cambodia and Laos and other developing countries in two extremely natural resource dependent sectors; forestry and energy.
Team
Jyrki Luukkanen (FFRC), Visa Tuominen (FFRC), Mika Korkeakoski (FFRC), Markku Kanninen (VITRI), Dipjoy Chakma (VITRI), Mira Käkönen (UH)