What's New

In conjunction with the 66th CCOP Steering Committee Meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the workshop on "Geoscience supporting risk management, water and food security" was organized by CCOP Technical Secretariat in cooperation with the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), VIETADAPT Project and the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Cambodia (MME) in conjunction with the 66th CCOP Steering Committee Meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia. It gathered together 27 experts from Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, Philippines, China and Finland.  The main aim of the workshop was to identify possibilities of geosciences to support East and Southeast Asian societies in safeguarding water and food resources.

The 66th CCOP Steering Committee (SC) Meeting was held at the Sokha Angkor Resort, Siem Reap, Cambodia on 9-11 March 2016. The Meeting was attended by delegates of the following Member Countries (MC):  CAMBODIA, CHINA, INDONESIA, JAPAN, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, LAO PDR, MALAYSIA, MYANMAR, PHILIPPINES, THAILAND, TIMOR-LESTE and VIETNAM.  Also present was Dato’ Yunus Abdul Razak, member of the Advisory Group (AG) and the Director and staff of the CCOP Technical Secretariat (CCOP TS).

Welcoming remarks were made by H.E. LY Samreth, Deputy Governor of Siem Reap Province and H.E. Cheap Sour, Permanent Representative of Cambodia to CCOP and Director-General, General Department of Petroleum, Ministry of Mines and Energy.  Dr Eikichi Tsukuda, CCOP SC Chairman for year 2014 to 2015, officially handed over the chairmanship to Dr. Kyu Han Kim, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to CCOP and President of Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM).  Dr Kyu Han Kim delivered his acceptance speech as SC Chairman from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017.  H.E. SOK Khavan, Secretary of State, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Cambodia officially opened the 66th CCOP Steering Committee Meeting. 

The 4th Meeting or UCM4 was conducted in Siem Reap on 7-8 March 2016 with 20 participants. It was one of the associated meetings of the 66th CCOP Steering Committee that was hosted by Cambodia on 9-10 March 2016, also in Siem Reap. Present at the Meeting were the national coordinators and/or their representatives from Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Lao-PDR, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia, the host country. The participating countries presented their Country Report that provides update on the assessment of their shale oil and gas resources, the challenges encountered in using the EIA/ARI assessment methodology, the technical know-how needed and recommended topics of future capacity building sessions. KIGAM also presented the results of the laboratory analysis of all shale samples that was submitted by the member countries during UCM3- Chiang Mai. KIGAM also reported that based on their analysis many of the samples are unclear or may not be a representative source rock of shale basins in terms of sample locations. They recommended that source rock samples should be taken carefully from outcrops and/or drill holes, considering the basin feature and geology. KIGAM also encourages the member countries to submit additional shale samples for analysis.

The 2nd Asia-Pacific Business Forum: Korean CCUS Technology for Climate Change were held on 7 - 8 March 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand, as a collaborative effort among the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM, President Kyu Han Kim), Green Technology Center (President Changmo Sung, GTC-K) and the Korea-Thailand Chamber of Commerce (CEO Man Jae Lee, KTCC), supported by UNESCO, Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP) and other institutions. There were attendance by 67 participants from CCOP member countries, together with Korean invited guests and resource persons. Among the participants are President Kyu Han Kim of KIGAM, UNESCO-BGK Programme Specialist & Chief of Natural Sciences Ramasamy Jayakumarb, Director Adichat Surinkum of CCOP Technical Secretariat, Director-General Hyun Woo Shin of Green Technology Center and other international institutions and business representatives.

The CCOP Technical Secretariat, in collaboration with the Mahidol University at Kanchanaburi Campus, Thailand (MUKA), has successfully co-organized the Workshop on Promoting Earth Science and Climate Change towards Sustainable Development on 17 – 19 February 2016 in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.  The workshop was organized as a pre-conference event prior to the 5th International Conference on Earth Science and Climate Change that will be held in July 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand. With support from CCOP and Mahidol University, this workshop aims to strengthen the research group on earth science and climate change, extending their work towards sustainable management for the local communities, and to establish a framework for the above mentioned upcoming International Conference.

The CCOP Technical Secretariat (CCOP TS) in Bangkok hosted the Second National Coordinators Meeting (M2) of the CCS-M Program 15-16 February 2016. The countries represented at M2 were Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Lao-PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Ms Samantha McCullogh of the International Energy Agency (based in Paris) was also present as guest/resource person in the Meeting. The main purpose of M2 is to discuss work plan of CCS-M and update all members of the activities related to geological storage of CO2, the challenges of mapping the geological storage and capacity building needs of the member countries.

The CCOP Technical Secretariat (CCOP TS), in cooperation with the BGR-NAWAPI project (IGPVN) has successfully organized the BGR - CCOP Workshop “Integrated water resource management in coastal zones with a focus on groundwater” – experiences in East and Southeast Asia countries” on 19 – 21 January 2016, Can Tho, Vietnam. The conference was financially and technically supported by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources of Germany (BGR), with attendance by 56 participants and resource persons from 11 CCOP member countries (Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam), BGR, IGPVN Project, National Center for Water Resources Planning and Investigation (NAWAPI), Mekong River Committee (MRC), GIZ, Viten Evides International B.V., Rise & Fall Project, Netherlands, Departments of Natural Resource and Environment of southern provinces of Vietnam, Provincial People's Committee (PPC) of Can Tho and Climate Change Coordination Office (CCCO) of Can Tho, and CCOP TS staff.

The GSi Project had a side-meeting on 25 November 2015, during the 51st CCOP Annual Session in Xi’an, China.  There were 18 participants attending the meeting, including SPC Geoscience Division (formerly SOPAC) and CCOP TS.

Dr Shinji Takarada, GSi Project Leader, updated the participants on the progress of the project. 

The immediate action items for each member country are:

• To submit preliminary 5-year data upload plan to CCOP TS and the GSi mailing list by the end of January 2016.
• To nominate Data Coordinators by the 66th CCOP Steering Committee meeting on 9 March 2016.

The 51st Annual Session of the Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP) was held at Shaanxi Guesthouse in Xi’an, People’s Republic of China on 24-27 November 2015.  It was organized by China Geological Survey (CGS), Ministry of Land and Resources of the People’s Republic of China, and co-organized by Xi’an Center of Geological Survey, CGS Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, CGS Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, CGS Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum (Group) Co., Ltd., Qinling Zhongnanshan Global Geopark Park Tourism Development Co., Ltd. and Henan Shanshui Geological Tourism Resources Development Co., Ltd, with the CCOP Technical Secretariat (CCOP TS).

The Session was attended by 109 delegates coming from the Member Countries (CAMBODIA, CHINA, INDONESIA, JAPAN, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, LAO PDR, MALAYSIA, MYANMAR, TIMOR-LESTE, THAILAND and VIETNAM), Cooperating Countries (DENMARK, FINLAND, and UNITED KINGDOM ), Cooperating Organizations (EuroGeoSurveys and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia), Observer (Secretariat of the Pacific Community Geoscience Division, formerly SOPAC) as well as Honorary Advisers of CCOP and staff of the CCOP Technical Secretariat.

The Third Workshop/Training of the CCOP-CGS Project on Integrated Geophysical and Geochemical Data Processing (IGDP) was held on 12-14 November 2015 in Beijing, China hosted and funded by China Geological Survey (CGS) through its Development and Research Center (DRC), in cooperation with CCOP. 

There were 27 participants in the workshop/training from CCOP Member Countries, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, and Malaysia including the staff of CCOP Technical Secretariat.