A Study on Forest Changes for A/R CDM in North Korea

A/R CDM을 위한 북한지역의 산림변화 연구

A/R CDM(Afforestation/Reforestation Clean Development Mechanism) in Kyoto Mechanism means, either afforestation in the area used for other purposes more than 50 years or reforestation in the area used for other purposes on December 31st in 1989. South Korea has few sites due to the successful forestation in the past, but North Korea has not reforested the deforested lands since the mid-1970's. So these areas need to apply A/R CDM Project for restoration. The purposes of this study are to make a time series analysis in deforested areas and to estimate a feasibility of A/R CDM. To find the site satisfying A/R CDM business definition, land cover classification was applied using satellite images of the mid-1970's with good forestation, late 1980's including A/R CDM base year, and recent 2000's, and the chronological change was analyzed to categorize the possible sites. The North Korean topographical map of 1977 was used to verify land cover classification degree of 1970's, the land cover classification results made by the Ministry of Environment in 2000 were compared to verify the accuracy of 1980's results, and the land cover classification results in 2000's were verified by 2 site visits. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. The eligible A/R CDM sites are 605,156ha on the basis of the forestation change analysis in North Korea. Since the mid-1970's, 30.8% of the decreased forestation area of 1,966,306ha was classified into A/R CDM eligible sites. While other countries have the limited eligible sites, which has not been used for forestation since 1989 or which is being scattered, North Korea has large scale sites. Deforested sites are mainly around road and residential area, consequently give better accessibility for forestation than other countries. In conclusion, it is found that North Korea can provide efficient site for applying A/R COM Project to forestation restoring deforested land because of easy accessibility and existence of many possible sites due to artificial deforestation. Also, it is meaningful that the study suggests the application possibility of A/R COM Project to restore deforested land in North Korea and the related basic information through the chronological classification of the mid-1970's with good forestation, the late-1980's including A/R COM base year, and recent 2000's. It is expected that the study contributes to revitalization of A/R CDM Project and related research on North Korea forestation.