• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.213-219
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• 2023

The wetland ecosystem has a key role in climate change and can capture and store carbon long-term as blue carbon. Currently, the Republic of Korea and People's Republic of China are preparing for the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Phase II inscription, and cross-border cooperation among the two Koreas and the People's Republic of China is expected in term of the coastal wetland in the Yellow Sea region. However, there is a lack of research on the importance of coastal wetland in the Yellow Sea region for migratory bird habitats, roosting sites, feeding grounds, and stop-over sites. Thus, this study focused on the coastal wetland of the Yellow Sea region, including the southwestern coastal wetlands in the Republic of Korea, the Yancheng National Nature Reserve in the People's Republic of China designated as UNESCO World Natural Heritage, and the Mundok Migratory Bird Reserve in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which is listed on the Tentative List. The cooperation for ecosystem conservation between the two Koreas and China was analyzed. The importance of coastal wetlands in the Yellow Sea region as habitats for migratory birds, roosting sites, feeding grounds, and stop-over sites, significant characteristics of Yellow Sea coastal wetlands, and conditions for cooperation among three countries, were analyzed. The direction of ecosystem conservation cooperation for coastal wetlands in the Yellow Sea region in this study will be developed into Pan-Yellow Sea conservation.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.219-226
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• 2024

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is emphasized to enhance ecosystem conservation and increase its ecological value. However, effective implementation of PES and policy execution requires insufficient ecosystem monitoring and research. Therefore, this study analyzed the effectiveness of PES implemented in Janghang Wetland to propose habitat management strategies. The study included monitoring migratory birds and analyzing key species' food sources. The dominant avian species observed in Janghang Wetland include Larus crassirostris, Anas platyrhynchos, Anser albifrons with their primary food sources analyzed as Gramineae plants such as Bromus japonicus, Elymus sibiricus, Brassicaceae plants such as Rorippa palustris. Furthermore, this study found that PES facilitates rice seed supply within Janghang Wetland, benefiting birds including Grus vipio, Anser fabalis, A. albifrons. To sustainable manage Janghang Wetland, improving food supply systems and exploring decentralized supply methods for G. vipio and Gooses (Anser fabalis, A. albifrons) are necessary. Additionally, managing boundaries between agricultural and developmental areas to improve ecological connectivity is essential. This study reaffirmed the ecological importance of Janghang Wetland as a crucial habitat for migratory species. The result will be significant as foundational data that can be used for future policy-making and support sustainable conservation efforts.

• 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.