• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.239-245
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• 2017

This study aimed to suggest priority for developing emission factor (EF) and to develop the methodology of quantitative assessment of EF in the forestry sector. Based on the stock-difference method, 17 kinds of EFs (27 EFs based on forest types) were required to calculate the carbon emission in the forestry sector. Priority for developing EFs followed the standards, which is a development plan by the government agency, importance of carbon stock for greenhouse gas, and EFs by the species. Currently, the most urgent development of EFs was carbon fraction in biomass and carbon stock in dead wood. Meanwhile, the quantitative assessment of EF consisted of 7 categories (5 categories of compulsory and 2 categories of quality evaluation) and 12 verification factors. Category in compulsory verification consisted of administrative document, determination methodology of emission factors, emission characteristic, accuracy of measurement and analysis, and data representative. Category in quality evaluation consisted of data management and uncertainty estimates. Based on the importance of factors in the verification process, each factor was scored separately, however, the score needs to be coordinated by the government agency. These results would help build a reliable and accurate greenhouse gas inventory report of Korea.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.329-337
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• 2017

In this study, land-use changes from 1990 to 2010 in Jeju Island by different approaches were produced and compared to suggest a more efficient approach. In a sample-based method, land-use changes were analyzed with different sampling intensities of 2 km and 4 km grids, which were distributed by the fifth National Forest Inventory (NFI5), and their uncertainty was assessed. When comparing the uncertainty for different sampling intensities, the one with the grid of 2 km provided more precise information; ranged from 6.6 to 31.3% of the relative standard error for remaining land-use categories for 20 years. On the other hand, land-cover maps by a wall-to-wall approach were produced by using time-series Landsat imageries. Forest land increased from 34,194 ha to 44,154 ha for 20 years, where about 69% of total forest land were remained as forest land and 19% and 8% within forest lands were converted to grassland and cropland, respectively. In the case of grassland, only about 40% of which were remained as grassland and most of the area were converted to forest land and cropland. When comparing land-cover area by land-use categories with land-use statistics, forest areas were underestimated while areas of cropland and grassland were overestimated. In order to analyze land use change, it is necessary to establish a clear and consistent definition on the six land use classification.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.102-114
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• 2022

Global climate change can be solved only through international cooperation. Climate change can be caused by natural and anthropogenic causes. An important policy responding on the climate change is to reduce the emission of climate change-affecting substances caused by anthropogenic causes. This research was conducted to suggest the direction of Korea's LULUCF(Land Use-Land Use Change and Forestry) policy by comparing Germany's LULUCF policy, which is considered as a good case for establishing the EU's greenhouse gas reduction response policy. Germany's LULUCF policy concerns with various sectors for synergy effects, while Korea's LULUCF policy is biased towards the forest sector. Although Korea's LULUCF policy focuses on forests, basic research is still insufficient and the linkage with existing environmental policies is low. Therefore, Korea's LULUCF policy needs more expansion into many different sectors such as agricultural, environmental, and other fields.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.106 no.4
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• pp.487-496
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• 2017

The marketization in North Korea is spreading rapidly. This study proposes forest rehabilitation strategy for North Korea in light of their major shift toward market economy. This current trend of marketization in North Korea is now affecting the forest sector, especially the way the residents utilize small forest land. For analyzing the influence of marketization on forest management in North Korea, we reviewed the official documents issued by North Korea and related materials of North Korean marketization. The government of Kim Jong Eun has set up policies and systems regarding the spread of marketization, such as guaranteeing individuals a right to dispose certain products on their own and establishing a special economic zone to attract foreign investments. In the forestry sector, the North Korean government has been trying to fully implement its forest restoration plan by carrying out measures like re-claiming of sloping lands that had been previously used by residents. However, as marketization progresses, it is expected that there lies much difficulty in government-led massive mobilization for forest restoration due to the increase of illegal logging to meet high demand for timber, illegal firewood harvesting, collecting non-timber products for livelihoods and illegal crop cultivation to sell in the market. Therefore, South Korea's support for forest restoration should also consider the recent marketization phenomenon in North Korea. It is necessary to formulate strategic measures such as conducting joint commercialization project on agroforestry management using cooperative farming unit, helping to improve income source from small forest lands, and to activate a comprehensive mountain village special economic zone by utilizing forest business. We do hope that our proposed forest rehabilitation strategy in this paper regarding the changes in North Korea's marketization and forest policy can give a meaningful suggestion on supporting forest restoration in North Korea in an effective way.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.224-238
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• 2022

North Korea has actively participated in the international community related to environmental agreements. It has proposed various environmental policies internally since the Kim Jong-un regime. In particular, it emphasizes activities related to climate change response, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the conservation of ecosystems including forests and wetlands. In this study, a new security cooperation plan was proposed with an understanding of the climate crisis and environmental regime as a starting point. To this end, trends and recent activities for climate-environment cooperation in the international community and on the Korean Peninsula were analyzed. In addition, North Korea's conditions for cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, technology demand, and the projected future environment of the Korean Peninsula were dealt with. Ultimately, through advice of experts, we were able to discover cooperation agendas by sector and propose short-term and long-term environmental cooperation strategies for the Korean Peninsula based on them. In this study, conditions and directions for cooperation in fields of climate technology, biological resources, air/weather, water environment, biodiversity, renewable energy, bioenergy, and so on were considered comprehensively. Among 21 cooperation agendas discovered in this study, energy showed the largest number of areas. Renewable energy, forest resources, and environmental and meteorological information stood out as agendas that could be cooperated in the short term. As representative initiatives, joint promotion of 'renewable energy' that could contribute to North Korea's energy demand and carbon neutrality and 'forest cooperation' that could be recognized as a source of disaster reduction and greenhouse gas sinks were suggested.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.268-287
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• 2022

This study reports newly discovered seven forest wetlands in the western part of the Korean Demilitarized Zone-Civilian Control Zone ecoregion. The wetland assessment criteria proposed by National Arboretum were adopted to evaluate four fields: vegetation and landscape, biogeochemical cycle, hydraulics and hydrology, and social-cultural-historical landscape and disturbances. Among seven wetlands located in Gimpo and Paju, five were of the fallow field type and two were of the natural type. A total of 474 plant species were recorded, including nine rare plants, such as the Carex capricornis Meinsh. ex Maxim. Three forest wetlands were sorted into A-grade, three into B-grade, and one into C-grade. Monitoring forest wetlands scattered across the border area ruled by military regulations can be challenging; still, as forest wetlands with high conservation value turned out, further investigations through remote sensing and cooperation by the relevant agencies will be required.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.113 no.2
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• pp.170-186
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• 2024

This study was conducted to identify the usage characteristics of the DMZ Punchbowl Trail (DPT) as a national forest trail (NFT) and to estimate its ripple effects on the local economy. The objective of this study is to provide policy implications for sustainable operational management. Out of the 500 questionnaires distributed, 215 respondents provided their complete travel itineraries and expenditures. The respondents, mainly aged 50 and above and residing in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, spend 3.5 hours of travel time to the DPT. Together with their families, the respondents typically spend approximately 4 hours for leisurely activities, primarily appreciation of scenic views and relaxation by visiting the "O-yubatgil." Furthermore, they extend their travels to other parts of Gangwon Province, where the DPT is situated. Within Gangwon Province, Yanggu County is the most visited destination. The respondents reported a notably higher average expenditure per visitor compared with the typical local walking tourists. Estimates show that the DPT generates an annual average of KRW 2.1 billion in direct expenditure (based on an average of 10,000 visitors for over five years), KRW 2.8 billion in production, and KRW 1.3 billion in added value, and it has created 40 jobs in Gangwon Province. The results of this study lies in empirically determining the specific economic scale and ripple effects of DPT as an NFT in the major sector, which occupies a significant portion of the Gangwon Province's local economy. The results will be instrumental in validating NFT policies and informing policy making for sustainable forest utilization.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.106-117
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• 2012

In an effort to analyze the impact of climate change, Gangwon provincial forest was divided into three sectors; forest ecology, forest disaster, and forest productivity and analysis of their current status from 2000 to 2009 and vulnerability assessment by climate change has been carried in this study. In case of vulnerability assessment, except for the forest ecology, forest disaster (forest fires and forest pests) and forest productivity sectors were analyzed in current status, the year of 2020, and 2050. It turned out that vulnerability of forest fires in the field of disaster would become worse and forest pests also would make more impact even though there is some variation in different areas. In case of the vulnerability of forest productivity there would be not a big difference in the future compared with current vulnerability. Systematic research on the sensitivity index used for vulnerability assessment is necessary since vulnerability assessment result greatly depends on the use of climate exposure index and adaptive capacity index.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2020.06a
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• pp.91-91
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• 2020

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 5차 평가보고서에 의하면 최근 배출 온실가스의 양은 관측 이래 최고 수준이며 온실가스로 인한 기후변화는 인간계와 자연계에 광범위한 영향을 주고 있다고 보고하였다. 기후변화의 영향은 국제적으로 빙하 감소, 사막화, 해수면 상승 등 뚜렷하게 나타나고 있다. 이러한 기후변화에 대응하기 위해 온실가스 완화 정책과 동시에 새로운 기후변화 환경에 적응하는 것이 필요하다. 기후변화 적응이란 현재 나타나고 있거나 미래에 나타날 것으로 예상되는 기후변화의 파급효과와 영향에 대응할 수 있도록 하는 모든 행동이며 이를 위해서는 기후변화 영향분석이 수반되어야 한다. MOTIVE 연구단에서는 기후변화 적응대책 수립의 지원을 목표로 7개 부문(건강, 물관리, 농업, 산림, 생태, 해양, 수산)에서 "한국형 통합평가 모형"을 개발하고 있다. 각 부문에서 개발하는 프로세스 모델은 시스템에 대한 지식을 가진 상황에서 사용하면 신뢰할 수 있는 예측 결과를 얻을 수 있지만, 부문별 통합을 통한 영향 분석 시 타 분야에 대한 지식이 수반되어야 하는 어려움을 가진다. 이를 위해 본 연구에서는 시스템 내의 물리적 프로세스에 대한 요구 없이 입출력 데이터만을 이용하여 결과를 신속하게 추정하는 데이터 모델링(기계학습)을 이용하였다. 데이터 모델링을 위한 데이터는 다양한 자연 현상에 대한 BANPOL(수질 프로세스 모델) 분석을 통한 자료를 이용하여 학습 자료를 구축하였다. 즉, 데이터 모델링은 BANPOL 모델을 대리하는 메타모델이며, 낙동강 표준유역에 대한 유량 및 수질을 높은 상관성으로 추정하였다. 원 모델보다 정확도는 낮을 수 있으나 메타모델의 개발을 통한 웹 시스템을 개발하여 비전문가의 구동 및 신속한 기후 시나리오를 적용할 수 있는 환경을 개발하였다.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.257-267
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• 2023

The grassland section of the greenhouse gas inventory has limitations due to a lack of review and verification of biomass compared to organic carbon in soil while grassland is considered one of the carbon storages in terrestrial ecosystems. Considering the situation at internal and external where the calculation of greenhouse gas inventory is being upgraded to a method with higher scientific accuracy, research on standards and methods for calculating carbon accumulation of grassland biomass is required. The purpose of this study was to identify international trends in the calculation method of the grassland biomass sector that meets the Tier 2 method and to conduct a review of variables applicable to the Republic of Korea. Identify the estimation methods and access levels for grassland biomass through the National Inventory Report in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and type the main implications derived from overseas cases. And, a field survey was conducted on 28 grasslands in the Republic of Korea to analyse the applicability of major issues. Four major international issues regarding grassland biomass were identified. 1) country-specific coefficients by land use; 2) calculations on woody plants; 3) loss and recovery due to wildfire; 4) amount of change by human activities. As a result of field surveys and analysis of activity data available domestically, it was found that there was a significant difference in the amount of carbon in biomass according to use type classification and climate zone-soil type classification. Therefore, in order to create an inventory of grassland biomass at the Tier 2 level, a policy and institutional system for making activity data should develop country-specific coefficients for climate zones and soil types.