Anthropogenic climate change has caused increased soil salinity in South Asia due to saltwater intrusion caused by sea level rise, input of fertilizers with high salt index, and irrigation malpractices, etc. Salinity has a multitude of impacts on plant and soil processes, leading to alterations in gas fluxes and rice productivity. The remedial measures adopted on salt-affected soils to reduce the salinity effect could enhance future climate change if they cause an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study was conducted to find the best agricultural management practices (BMPs) for salt-affected soils in rice cropping systems (i.e. the major cropping system in Asia) in four South Asian countries (Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan) considering net GHG emissions and other socioeconomic benefits associated with the adopted measures. The salinity-affected sites were selected based on available information (e.g. agricultural statistics and maps). Site-level measurements on soil parameters and GHG emissions were made in control- and managed plots and farmer surveys were conducted. Although organic amendments ameliorated salinity, it could cause a net increase in carbon dioxide or methane emissions depending on the soil conditions, particularly during the initial stages. This impact could be ameliorated by combining organic amendments with other management practices. In the Indo-Gangetic region, poor soil drainage causing anaerobic conditions favoured nitrous oxide emission under low to medium salinity. Yield losses and emissions in high salinity sites were controlled through organic amendment, irrigation and rice-fallow cropping sequence. The combination of transplanting of rice seedlings, the addition of organic matter, and intermittent irrigated water levels was identified as the BMP for Sri Lankan farmers. The outcome of this project will be used to raise awareness among farmers and policymakers.

The rural road networks were built to connect the rural people to the town area or to other destination required by the local residents. Normally the rural roads will be developed to connect or increase the socio-economic opportunity in rural area. The green road is one of the key areas that can be look into to create the sustainable concept based on three key aspects namely social, environmental and economic factors. The main focus of the economy aspect is to increase the profits using more efficient resources, especially materials, improving the quality of life by meeting the national needs of social aspects and protecting the environment from the effects of CO2 emissions and efficient use of natural resources for environmental aspects. Therefore, it is important that stakeholders include sustainability criteria in their projects. The application of a sustainable concept on the road can be assessed by the green road evaluation tool. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to build tools to evaluate and declare green rural roads in Malaysia. The data for this study were gathered through group discussions with road construction experts and distributed questionnaires to identify sustainability factors. Then the data were analysed by factor analysis method using SPSS software. Based on the result, there are five main sustainable criteria: Sustainable Design and Construction, Social and Safety, Energy Efficiency, Environmental and Water Management and Materials and Technology that are included in the development of the green road qualification system. The analysis indicates that the social and safety become the prime criteria among other criteria.