• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.492-504
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• 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 Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.48 no.8
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• pp.647-657
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• 2015

This study assessed the water use vulnerability for 12 basins of South Korea. The annual runoff of 12 basins are derived using a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and the calculated runoff per unit area and population are compared with each basin. The 18 indicators are selected in order to assess the vulnerability. Those are classified by aspects of demand, loss and supply of water use. Their weighting values used Entropy method to determine objective weights. To quantitatively assess the water use vulnerability, the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) based on multi-criteria decision making are applied. The results show that the water availability vulnerability of Hyeongsan River has the highest value followed by Sapgyo River; Dongjin River; Seomjin River; Anseong River; Mangyung River; Nakdong River; Tamjin River; Youngsan River, Geum River; Taehwa River; and Han River. The result of this study has a capability to provide references for the index deveopment of climate change vulnerability assessment.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.6877-6883
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• 2014

The continuous social development has led to increasing pollution in lakes. This study proposed the LVRI (Lake Vulnerability Resilience Indicator) based on the vulnerability assessment of climate change for an environmental risk assessment in lakes sufferign water pollution in an integrated aspect of the characteristics in lake watersheds. A total of 11 representative assessment factors were selected and constructed for 6 lake basins in the Geum River Watershed to calculate the exposure, sensitivity and adaptation indicators in a vulnerability assessment classification system. The weight coefficients for assessment factors of the LVRI were also calculated using the Entropy method. This study also compared the rank results of the lake environmental risk with/without the weight coefficients of assessment factors for the practical application of the proposed lake environmental risk assessment method. The lake environmental risk results estimated in this study can be used for long-term water quality analysis and management in lakes.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.99-109
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• 2013

Increasing complexity of the basin environments makes it difficult for single decision maker to consider all relevant aspects of problem, and thus the uncertainty of decision making grows. This study attempts to develop an approach to quantify the spatial flood vulnerability of South Korea. Fuzzy TOPSIS is used to calculate individual preference by each group and then three GDM techniques (Borda count method, Condorcet method, and Copeland method) are used to integrate the individual preference. Finally, rankings from Fuzzy TOPSIS, TOPSIS, and GDM are compared with Spearman rank correlation, Kendall rank correlation, and Emond & Mason rank correlation. As a result, the rankings of some areas are dramatically changed by the use of GDM techniques. Because GDM technique in regional vulnerability assessment may cause a significant change in priorities, the model presented in this study should be considered for objective flood vulnerability assessment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2015

As environmental concerns including climate change drive the strong regulations for car exhaust emissions, electric vehicles attract the public eye. The purpose of this study is to identify rural areas vulnerable for charging infrastructures based on the spatial distributions of the current gas stations and provide the target dissemination rates for promoting electric cars. In addition, we develop various scenarios for finding optimal way to expand the charging infrastructures through the administrative districts data including 11,677 gas stations, the number of whole national gas stations. Gas stations for charging infrastructures are randomly selected using the Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) method. Evaluation criteria for vulnerability assessment include five considering the characteristic of rural areas. The optimal penetration rate is determined to 21% in rural areas considering dissemination efficiency. To reduce the vulnerability, the charging systems should be strategically installed in rural areas considering geographical characteristics and regional EV demands.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.65 no.5
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• pp.13-24
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• 2023

Due to recent climate change, the amount of rainfall during the summer season in South Korea has been decreasing, leading to an increase in areas affected by frequent droughts. Droughts have the characteristic of occurring over a wide area and being unpredictable in terms of their onset and end, necessitating proactive research to cope with them. In this study, we conducted an assessment of agricultural drought vulnerability in Taean-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, focusing on irrigation facilities and paddy fields. The assessment criteria were meteorological impact, drought occurrence status, supplementary water supply capacity, and drought response capability, with nine specific indicators selected. The drought response capability was analyzed by applying a scoring system as a key component of the agricultural drought vulnerability assessment, while the other indicators were quantified using an entropy weighting technique. The results of the assessment showed that Anmyeon-eup and Taean-eup were the safest areas, while Wonbuk-myeon, Nam-myeon, and Gonam-myeon were the most vulnerable. It is expected that the findings can be utilized to enhance understanding and proactive measures for coping with agricultural drought, and to determine the priority of drought response in different regions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.81-91
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• 2020

This study was conducted to analyse climate change impact on agriculture infrastructure and propose improved measures on vulnerable areas. Recently, Climate change has resulted in damaging effects on agricultural fields through increases in drought intensity and flood risk. It is expected that this impact will increase over time. This study shows that Gyeong-gi and Chung-nam provinces are affected by drought and Gyeong-buk and Gyeong-nam provinces are affected by heavy rain. However, there are also regional variations within each province. Agricultural infrastructure affected by drought may also be affected by heavy rain. Increased damages on the infrastructure due to increased extreme weather events require preventive measures especially in vulnerable areas. In order to minimize the damage by climate change, we need to introduce a reform in the system which selects project region by analysing climate change impacts. Furthermore, impact assessment of climate change from projects such as 'water supply diversification', 'flooded farmland improvement', and 'irrigation facility reinforcement' also need to be adopted to improve the measures. The results of this study are expected to provide a foundation for establishing measures on coping with climate change in the agricultural sector.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.6B
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• pp.561-569
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• 2010

In this study, the impact of climate change on extreme drought events is investigated by comparing drought severity-area-duration curves under present and future climate. The depth-area-duration analysis for characterizing an extreme precipitation event provides a basis for analysing drought events when storm depth is replaced by an appropriate measure of drought severity. In our climate-change impact experiments, the future monthly precipitation time series is based on a KMA regional climate model which has a $27km{\times}27km$ spatial resolution, and the drought severity is computed using the standardized precipitation index. As a result, agricultural drought risk is likely to increase especially in short duration, while hydrologic drought risk will greatly increase in all durations. Such results indicate that a climate change vulnerability assessment for present water resources supply system is urgent.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.179-188
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• 2010

To cope with various issues in the aspect of climate change adaptation of UNFCCC, Korea began preparing a Five-year National Climate Change Adaptation Plan in 2010 to be implemented from 2011~2015, for the purposes of securing a concrete system to adapt to climate change. Compared with the policies and measurement tools of developed countries, Korea's climate change adaptation capabilities suffers from a number of limitations including insufficiencies of basic information, human resources for research on climate change, and technology in risk and vulnerability assessment. At the same time, Korea maintains superior information technology systems, and comparatively strong climate change adaptation technologies. Recently, with the establishment of the Korea Adaptation Center for Climate Change as a specialized research organization in climate change adaptation, Korea has upgraded its ability to adapt to climate change and to provide support to other Asian countries which are vulnerable to climate change. In consideration of the close relation between climate change adaptation policy and technology development with the environmental industry, Korea's pursuit of cooperation and technical support for developing countries in the Asia region can be seen as the commencement of a long term investment for the nation's future. International cooperation on climate change adaptation between countries in the region can build a mutually complementary and integrated partnership in business, research, education, and other areas. Furthermore, Korea can also participate in the exploration of common issues as landmark projects that can attract global interest with developing countries.

• Atmosphere
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.213-227
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• 2005

The global mean surface temperature has already increased by $0.6{\pm}0.2^{\circ}C$ over the last century, and warming in Korea is approximately twice as large as the global average. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that the majority of warming over the past 50 years could be attributed to human activities (IPCC, 2001a). In addition, the global surface temperature is expected to increase by 1.4 to $5.8^{\circ}C$ depending on the greenhouse gas emission scenarios during the $21^{st}$ century.Climate change resulting from increased greenhouse gas concentrations has the potential to harm societies and ecosystems. Reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases and their concentration in the atmosphere will reduce the degree and likelihood of significant adverse conditions due to the anticipated climate change. Mitigation policy has generally been the primary focus of public attention and policy efforts on climate change. However, some degree of climate change is inevitable due to the combination of continued increases in emissions and the inertia of the global climate system. Adaptation actions and strategies are needed for a complementary approach to mitigation. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) currently addresses vulnerability and adaptation in the context of climate change negotiations and in future adaptation may be an important element of work under the Kyoto Protocol. There are several on-going programs to develop effective adaptation strategies and their implementation. But in general, many other countries are still on an initiating stage. The climate change science programs of the United States, Japan, England, and Germany are initiated to understand the current status of climate change science and adaptation researches in the developed countries. In this study, we propose the improvement on systems in policy and research aspects to effectively perform the necessary functions for development of nation-wide adaptation measures and their implementation. In policy aspect, the Korean Panel on Climate Change (KPCC) is introduced as a coordinating mechanism between government organizations related with climate change science, impact assessment and adaptation. Also in research aspect, there is a strong consensus on the need for construction of a national network on climate change research as trans-disciplinary research network.