• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.32-40
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• 2006

This study's objects are to suggest effective forest community-level management measures by identifying the vulnerable forest vegetation communities types to climate change through a comparative analysis with present forest communities identified and delineated in the Actual Vegetation Map. The methods of this study are to classify the climatic life zones based on the correlative climate-vegetation relationship for each forest vegetation community, the Holdridge Bio-Climate Model was employed. This study confirms relationship between forest vegetation and environmental factors using Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis. Then, the future distribution of forest vegetation are predicted derived factors and present distribution of vegetation by utilizing the multinomial logit model. The vulnerability of forest to climate change was evaluated by identifying the forest community shifts slower than the average velocity of forest moving (VFM) for woody plants, which is assumed to be 0.25 kilometers per year. The major findings in this study are as follows : First, the result of correlative analysis shows that summer precipitation, mean temperature of the coldest month, elevation, soil organic matter contents, and soil acidity (pH) are highly influencing factors to the distribution of forest vegetation. Secondly, the result of the vulnerability assessment employing the assumed velocity of forest moving for woody plants (0.25kmjyear) shows that 54.82% of the forest turned out to be vulnerable to climate change. The sub-alpine vegetations in regions around Mount Jiri and Mount Seorak are predicted to shift the dominance toward Quercus mongolica and Pinus densiflora communities. In the identified vulnerable areas centering the southern and eastern coastal regions, about 8.27% of the Pinus densiflora communities is likely to shift to sub-tropical forest communities, and 3.38% of the Quercus mongolica communities is likely to shift toward Quercus acutissima communities. In the vulnerable areas scattered throughout the country, about 8.84% of the Quercus mongolica communities is likely to shift toward Pinus densiflora communities due to the effects of climate change. The study findings concluded that challenges associated with predicting the future climate using RCM and the assessment of the future vulnerabilities of forest vegetations to climate change are significant.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.41-53
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• 2019

Recently, the damage caused by climate change has been distinguished in the world. The Korean Peninsula is also suffering from drought, so it is necessary to study the vulnerability assessment to identify and predict the state of the irrigation facility, which is a irrigation facility. As the damage caused by drought is occurring in the Korean peninsula, it is necessary to study the vulnerability assessment to know the condition of the irrigation facility, and to predict it. The target areas were Yeongdong-gun, Cheonan-si, Mungyeong-si, Geochang-gun, Muju-gun, and Yeonggwang-gun. The survey items were selected as positive impacts survey items, including precipitation, groundwater level, and pumping capacity per groundwater well. The negative impacts were selected as the cultivation acreage, Number of days without rain, and the ratio of private underground wells. The survey method was investigated by various methods such as "weather data portal", "groundwater level status information", "agricultural drought management system", "groundwater survey yearbook". The results of vulnerability assessment were expressed by the score by conducting survey and standardization. As a result, Yeonggwang-gun showed normal vulnerability, and other areas showed "vulnerable" or "very vulnerable".

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.190-203
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• 2015

VRI(Vulnerability-Resilience Index), which is defined as a function of 3 variables: climate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, has been quantified for the case of Typhoon which is one of the extreme weathers that will become more serious as climate change proceeds. Because VRI is only indicating the relative importance of vulnerability between regions, the VRI quantification is prerequisite for the effective adaptation policy for climate in Korea. For this purpose, damage statistics such as amount of damage, occurrence frequency, and major damaged districts caused by Typhoon over the past 20 years, has been employed. According to the VRI definition, we first calculated VRI over every district in the case of both with and without weighting factors of climate exposure proxy variables. For the quantitative estimation of weighting factors, we calculated correlation coefficients (R) for each of the proxy variables against damage statistics of Typhoon, and then used R as weighting factors of proxy variables. The results without applying weighting factors indicates some biases between VRI and damage statistics in some regions, but most of biases has been improved by applying weighting factors. Finally, due to the relations between VRI and damage statistics, we are able to quantify VRI expressed as a unit of KRW, showing that VRI=1 is approximately corresponding to 500 hundred million KRW. This methodology of VRI quantification employed in this study, can be also practically applied to the number of future climate scenario studies over Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.69-93
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• 2014

The aim of this research was to develop a climate change vulnerability index at the district level (Si, Gun, Gu) with respect to the health care sector in Korea. The climate change vulnerability index was esimated based on the four major causes of climate-related illnesses : vector, flood, heat waves, and air pollution/allergies. The vulnerability assessment framework consists of six layers, all of which are based on the IPCC vulnerability concepts (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) and the pathway of direct and indirect impacts of climate change modulators on health. We collected proxy variables based on the conceptual framework of climate change vulnerability. Data were standardized using the min-max normalization method. We applied the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) weight and aggregated the variables using the non-compensatory multi-criteria approach. To verify the index, sensitivity analysis was conducted by using another aggregation method (geometric transformation method, which was applied to the index of multiple deprivation in the UK) and weight, calculated by the Budget Allocation method. The results showed that it would be possible to identify the vulnerable areas by applying the developed climate change vulnerability assessment index. The climate change vulnerability index could then be used as a valuable tool in setting climate change adaptation policies in the health care sector.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.397-397
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• 2019

With the consequences of climate change becoming more evident, research on climate-associated risks has become a basis for climate adaptation and mitigation. Amongst the different sectors and natural resources considered in assessing such risks, drought is one impact to our environment that experiences stress from climate change but is often overlooked and has the potential to bring severe consequences when drought occurs. For example, when temperatures are higher, water demand increases and water supply decreases; when precipitation patterns fluctuate immensely, floods and droughts occur more frequently at greater magnitudes, putting stress on ecosystems. Hence, it is important for us to evaluate drought risk to observe how different climate change and socioeconomic scenarios can affect this vital life resource. In this study, we review the context of drought risk on the basis of climate change impacts and socioeconomic indicators. As underlined in the IPCC AR5 report, the risks are identified by understanding the vulnerability, exposure, and hazards of drought. This study analyzed drought risk on a global scale with different RCP scenarios projected until the year 2099 with a focus on the variables population, precipitation, water resources, and temperature.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.53-83
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• 2015

Recently, climate change risk assessment has been discussed as a medium process for making climate change adaptation policies in the research field of climate change adaptation. Climate change risk assessment has been understood to have an intermediary role among impact assessment, vulnerable assessment and policy, and is used in the process of devising adaptation policies in the United Kingdom (UK). This paper quantitatively assessed the risks of climate change in Korea, applied the methods used in the UK, underwent the classification process and suggested implications of Korean adaptation policies. A survey of experts, based on Delphi's method and the classification criterion developed by Klinke and Renn(2002), was also carried out. A list of climate risks was created from the climate change impact and vulnerability assessment report of Korea, first national adaptation policy of Korea, and general climate risks of the UK. From the results, 42 risks out of total 125 risks were selected based on their importance. The assessed risks with factors, such as high impact and urgency, are related to repeated and large scale damage from storms and floods caused by abnormal or extreme weather events. Ecological changes and social infrastructure risks were engaged as required as a policy response for medium to longer term. As for making the classification, types of climate risks were suggested to manage the basic capacity in relation to social trust, triggering mechanism and responsibility. Following suggestions are put forward as the base of autonomous adaptation: increasing the capacity of civil society, mutual trust and civil participation in adaptation policy process.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.132-144
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• 2023

Recently, the frequency and intensity of heat waves due to the increase in climate change temperature are increasing. Therefore, this study tried to compare the evaluation process and evaluation results of the heat wave disaster evaluation, which is the government's analysis of the heat wave disaster vulnerability and the risk evaluation method recently emphasized by the IPCC. The analysis of climate change disaster vulnerability is evaluated based on manuals and guidelines prepared by the government. Risk evaluation can be evaluated as the product of the possibility of a disaster and its impact, and it is evaluated using the Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation based on Bayesian estimation method, which uses prior information to infer posterior probability. As a result of the analysis, the two evaluation results for Busan Metropolitan City differed slightly in the spatial distribution of areas vulnerable to heat waves. In order to properly evaluate disaster vulnerable areas due to climate change, the process and results of climate change disaster vulnerability analysis and risk assessment must be reviewed, and consider each methodology and countermeasures must be prepared.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.421-435
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• 2022

As natural disasters have been increasing due to climate change, sustainable solutions are in need to alleviate the degree of drought hazard, assess and project the drought influence based on future climate change scenarios. In assessing drought risk, socio-economic factors of the region must be considered along with meteorological factors. This study categorized drought hazard, exposure, and vulnerability as three major components of drought risk according to the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) risk assessment framework, and selected indices for each component to quantify the drought risk in South Korea according to the mid-size basins. Combinations of climate scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathway; RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5) and socio-economic scenarios (Shared Socio-economic Pathways; SSP 1, SSP2 and SSP3) for the near future (2030-2050) ant the far future (2080-2099) were utilized in drought risk analysis, and results were compared with the historical data (1986-2005). In general, the drought risks for all scenarios shows large increases as time proceeds to the far furture. In addition, we analyzed the rank of drought hazard, exposure, vulnerability for drought risk, and each of their contribution. The results showed that the drought hazard is the most contributing component to the increase of drought risk in future and each basin shows varying contributing components. Finally, we suggested countermeasures for each basin according to future climate change scenarios, and thus this study provides made the basis for establishing drought management measures.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.155-165
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• 2014

In this study, using a complex of physical, chemical, and biological evaluation factors, the ecological vulnerability to climate change were evaluated at each river in the Nakdong river basin. First, runoff, sediment rate, and low flow discharge changes according to AIB climate change scenario using the SWAT model were simulated. Also, for the assessment of chemical and biological factors, 48 points that water quality monitoring sites and ecological health measurement points are matched with each other was selected. The water quality data of BOD and T-P and the biological data of IBI and KSI in each point were reflected in the assessment. Also, the future rise in water temperature of the rivers in Nakdong river basin was predicted, and the impact of water temperature rise on the fish habitat was evaluated. The top 10 most vulnerable points was presented through a summary of each evaluation factor. This study has a contribution to river restoration or management plan according to the characteristics of each river.

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