• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.115-125
• /
• 2020

Background: The phenomenon of tree dieback in forest ecosystems around the world, which is known to be associated with high temperatures that occur simultaneously with drought, has received much attention. Korea is experiencing a rapid rise in temperature relative to other regions. Particularly in the growth of evergreen conifers, temperature increases in winter and spring can have great influence. In recent years, there have been reports of group dieback of Pinus densiflora trees in Korea, and many studies are being conducted to identify the causes. However, research on techniques to diagnose and monitor drought stress in forest ecosystems on local and regional scales has been lacking. Results: In this study, we developed and evaluated an index to identify drought and high-temperature vulnerability in Pinus densiflora forests. We found the Drought Stress Index (DSI) that we developed to be effective in generally assessing the drought-reactive physiology of trees. During 2001-2016, in Korea, we refined the index and produced DSI data from a 1 × 1-km unit grid spanning the entire country. We found that the DSI data correlated with the event data of Pinus densiflora mass dieback compiled in this study. The average DSI value at times of occurrence of Pinus densiflora group dieback was 0.6, which was notably higher than during times of nonoccurrence. Conclusions: Our combination of the Standard Precipitation Index and growing degree days evolved and short- and long-term effects into a new index by which we found meaningful results using dieback event data. Topographical and biological factors and climate data should be considered to improve the DSI. This study serves as the first step in developing an even more robust index to monitor the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.304-314
• /
• 2015

We have reviewed the current status of coastal vulnerability index(CVI) to be guided into an appropriate CVI development for Korean coast and applied a methodology into the east coast of Korea to quantify coastal vulnerability by future sea_level rise. The CVIs reviewed includes USGS CVI, sea_level rise CVI, compound CVI, and multi scale CVI. The USGS CVI, expressed into the external forcing of sea_level rise, wave and tide, and adaptive capacity of morphology, erosion and slope, is adopted here for CVI quantification. The range of CVI is 1.826~22.361 with a mean of 7.085 for present condition and increases into 2.887~30.619 with a mean of 12.361 for the year of 2100(1 m sea_level rise). The index "VERY HIGH" is currently 8.57% of the coast and occupies 35.56% in 2100. The pattern of CVI change by sea_level rise is different to different local areas, and Gangneung, Yangyang and Goseong show the highest increase. The land use pattern in the "VERY HIGH" index is dominated by both human system of housing complex, road, cropland, etc, and natural system of sand, wetland, forestry, etc., which suggests existing land utilization should be reframed in the era of climate change. Though CVI approach is highly efficient to deal with a large set of climate scenarios entailed in climate impact assessment due to uncertainties, we also propose three_level assessment for the application of CVI methodology in the site specific adaptation such as first screening assessment by CVI, second scoping assessment by impact model, and final risk quantification with the result of impact model.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.57 no.1
• /
• pp.37-45
• /
• 2015

Recent droughts in South Korea have had large economic and environmental impacts across the country. Changes in rainfall and hydrologic patterns due to climate change can potentially increase the occurrence of extreme droughts and affect the future availability of water resources. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate drought vulnerability for water resources planning and management, and identify the appropriate mitigation actions to conduct a drought risk analysis in the context of climate change. The objective of this study is changes in the temporal trends of drought characteristics in South Korea to examine drought impacts under climate change. First, the changes of drought occurrence were analyzed by applying the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) for meteorological data on 54 meteorological stations, and were analyzed for the past 30 years (1981-2010), and Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) climate change scenarios (2011-2100). Second, the changes on the temporal trends of drought characteristics were performed using run theory, which was used to compare drought duration, severity, and magnitude to allow for quantitative evaluations under past and future climate conditions. These results show the high influence of climate change on drought phenomenon, and will contribute to water resources management and drought countermeasures to climate change.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.12-22
• /
• 2018

In order to improve the vulnerability of current cities due to climate change, the disaster vulnerability analysis manual for various disasters is provided. Depending on the spatial units, the disaster vulnerability levels, and the conditions of the climatic factors, the results of the disaster vulnerability analysis will have a significant impact. In this study, relative assessments are conducted by adding the eup, myeon and dong unit in addition to census output area unit to analyze the impact on the spatial unit, and relative changes are analyzed according to the classification stages by expanding the natural classification, which is standardized at level four stage, to level two, four and six stage. The maximum rainfalls(10min, 60min, 24hr) are added for the two limited rainfall characteristics to determine the relativity of disaster vulnerable districts by index. The relative assessment results of heavy rainfall vulnerability index showed that the area ratio of disaster areas by spatial unit was different and the correlation analysis showed that the space analysis between the eup, myeon and dong unit in addition to census output area unit was not consistent. And it can be seen that the proportion of disaster vulnerable districts is relatively different a lot due to indexes of rainfall characteristics, spatial unit analysis and disaster vulnerability level stage. Based on the above results, it can be seen that the ratios of disaster vulnerable districts differ relatively significantly due to the level of the disaster vulnerability class, and the indexes of rainfall characteristics. This suggests that the impact of the disaster vulnerable districts depending on indexes is relatively large, and more detailed indexes should be selected when setting up the disaster vulnerabilities analysis index.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.31 no.3B
• /
• pp.243-252
• /
• 2011

The change of rainfall pattern due to recent climate change increases the occurrence probability of drought in Korea. Unlike other natural disasters, a drought has long duration, extensive area subject to damage, and greater socioeconomic damage than other disasters. In order to evaluate drought severity, meteorological drought indices are mainly used in practice. This study presents a more realistic method to evaluate drought severity considering drought climate factors as well as socioeconomic factors which are vulnerable to disaster. To perform a spatial evaluation of drought risk in Gyeongsang-do, drought risk was defined and analyzed through the hazard index and the vulnerability index. The drought hazard index was spatially assessed using the drought index and GIS. The drought vulnerability index was also spatially assessed using the 5 socioeconomic factors. As a result, the drought risks were compared and used for evaluating regional drought risk considering regional characteristics of Gyeongsang-do.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.492-504
• /
• 2013

Objectives: This analysis seeks to evaluate the impact of environmental health factors (EHF; e.g. hospital beds per capita, employees of medical institutions) on extreme-heat vulnerability assessment in Busan Metropolitan City during 2006-2010. Methods: According to the vulnerability concept suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), extreme-heat vulnerability is comprised of the categories of Exposure, Sensitivity, and Adaptive Capacity (including EHF). The indexes of the Exposure and Sensitivity categories indicate positive effects, while the Adaptive capacity index indicates a negative effect on extreme-heat vulnerability. Variables of each category were standardized by the re-scaling method, and then each regional relative vulnerability was computed with the vulnerability index calculation formula. Results: The extreme-heat vulnerability index (EVI) excepting EHF was much higher in urban areas than in suburban areas within the metropolitan area. When EHF was considered, the difference in the EVI between the two areas was reduced due to the increase of the Adaptive capacity index in urban areas. The low EVI in suburban areas was induced by a dominant effect of natural environmental factors (e.g. green area) within the Adaptive capacity category. Conclusions: To reduce the vulnerability to extreme heat in urban areas, which were more frequently exposed to extreme heat than others areas, public health and natural environments need to be improved in sensitive areas.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.35-55
• /
• 2008

Assessing vulnerability to climate change is the first step to take when setting up appropriate adaptation strategies. Adaptive capacity to climate change is the important factor comprising vulnerability. An adaptive capacity index in agricultural water management system was developed considering agricultural water supply and demand for rice production in Jeolla-do, Korea. The agricultural water supply was assumed to be equal to the amount of water stored in the major agricultural reservoirs, while data on the agricultural water demand was obtained from the dynamic simulation results by Korea Agriculture Corporation(KAC). The spatial unit for analysis was conducted at the county(Si, Gun, Gu) level and temporal scale was based on every month from 1991-2003. Adaptive capacity for drought stress index(ACDS index) was calculated as the percentage of data points where the irrigated water supply was greater than the crop water demand. The ACDS index was compared with SWSCI(Standard Water Storage Capacity Index) and the relationship showed high degree of fit($R^2$=0.84) using the exponential function, indicating that the developed ACDS index is useful for evaluating the status of the balance between agricultural water supply and demand, especially for the small sized agricultural reservoirs. This study provided the methodological basis for developing climate change vulnerability index in agricultural water system which is projected to be more frequently exposed to drought condition in the future due to climate change. Further research should be extended to the study on the water demand of the crops other than rice and to the projection of the change in ACDS index in the future.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.383-411
• /
• 2010

Climate change and related policies and regulations influence the performance of the firms in various ways. Climate change influences corporate competitiveness through physical impacts, GHG regulations, changes in asset values, demand shift, etc. Therefore, corporate competitiveness could be maintained by reducing vulnerability to climate change and adapting to new circumstances. Without effective responses to the challenges, the firms would have difficulties in maintaining their competitiveness in the market and the cost of national economy will significantly increase as well. Even though it seems fairly easy to understand the meaning of competitiveness, deriving the driving forces of and measuring changes in competitiveness are complicated and disputable processes. A common way to overcome it is to develop a 'competitiveness index'. The objective of this study is to derive the main factors influencing corporate competitiveness related to climate change and develop 'competitiveness index' reflecting those factors. The index will make contribution to enhance the response capacity of the firms to climate change and increase the effectiveness of climate change policies for the industry by providing a quantitative tool to measure the changes in corporate competitiveness related to climate change.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
• /
• v.10 no.6
• /
• pp.89-97
• /
• 2010

In this study, the impact of climate change on the spatio-temporal behavior of extreme drought events is investigated by comparing drought severity-area-duration curves under present and future climate conditions. In our climate-change impact experiments, the future climate is based on two GCMs(CGCM3.1-T63 and CSIRO-MK3.0). As a result, in the case of CGCM3.1-T63 future drought events are similar to the present, but in the case of CSIRO-MK3.0 future drought risk is likely to increase. Such results indicate that a climate change vulnerability assessment for present water resources supply system is urgent.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.45 no.5
• /
• pp.711-716
• /
• 2012

Due to the climate change in South Korea the annual total precipitation will increase by 17 percent by 2100. Rainfall is concentrated during the summer in South Korea and the landslide of farmland by heavy rain is expected to increase. Because regional torrential rains accompanied by a storm continue to cause the damage in farmland urgent establishment of adaptation plant for minimizing the damage is in need. In this study we assessed vulnerability of landslide of farmland by heavy rain for local governments. Temporal resolution is 2000 year and the future 2020 year, 2050 year, 2100 year via A1B scenario. Vulnerability of local government were evaluated by three indices such as climate exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity and each index is calculated by selected alternative variable. Collected data was normalized and then multiplied by weight value that was elicited in delphi investigation. Current vulnerability is concentrated in Jeju island and Gyeongsangnam-do, however, it is postulated that Kangwon-do will be vulnerable in the future. Through this study, local governments can use the data to establish adaptation plans for farmland landslide by climate change.