• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.25-45
• /
• 2008

This review was made to discuss the issues of ecological restoration and environmental impact assessment (EIA) related to the preservation of natural environment, the central theme expressed in the National Anthem of Korea. The authors notice that the key word or the central philosophy contained in the verses of the National Anthem of Korea is the preservation of national land and eternal identity for future generations, which is thought to be pursued through the attainment of ecological sustainability. A conceptual model for the sustainable management of natural ecosystems was suggested for the efficient utilization and the preservation of them, whose activities should be promoted by those of conservation and restoration instead of destructive development and negligence, respectively. Here, the preservation of natural environment can be directly pursued through the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes and the utilization of natural environment can be directly pursued through the conservation of natural resources and wise management of natural ecosystems and landscapes. After reviewing the major characteristics and activities of the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes, discussion was further extended to points for the promotion of the EIA activities. To point out some of them, it is needed for the public to better understand the nature of sustainable management of natural environment, for the society to put extensive energy and resources in the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes, and for the government to install higher levels of ministries than that of the Ministry of Environment in dealing with the issues related to the 'preservation' of national land, people, culture and the security of the sustainability for future generations, where EIA and strategic environment assessment (SEA) can directly contribute to the sustainability of the country and future generations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.97 no.5
• /
• pp.540-546
• /
• 2008

Enrichment planting has been used as one of the promising restoration techniques to accelerate the natural restoration process of secondary forests or logged-over forests in Myanmar, The objectives of this study were to examine the growth performances of two commercial species such as Teak (Tectona grandis Linn f.) and Padauk (Pterocarpus macrocarpus Kurz) in response to different canopy opening treatments and to examine the suitability of these species in enrichment planting activities for the restoration of degraded tropical forests in Myanmar. In this study, split plot design was applied, and three levels of canopy openings were experimented. The survival rate and height growth of two species were measured four times with 6 month interval. The root collar diameter (RCD) was also measured in the last assessment. Although the survival rate of seedlings was not significantly different among the three treatments (p>0.05) as well as between two species (p>0.05) for all consecutive measurements, height (p<0.05) and RCD were significantly different (p<0.001) among the treatments, T. grandis seedlings thrived best under complete canopy opening (i.e., 5 m width canopy opening with strip-clear cutting) while P. macrocarpus seedlings under partial canopy opening (without felling of marketable tree species). Because this study is concerned with only for young stage of seedlings, continuous assessment and follow-up tending activities are needed to verify the species suitability and optimum width of canopy opening for enrichment planting activities in restoration of degraded forests of Myanmar.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.44 no.2
• /
• pp.90-97
• /
• 2020

Background: Natural forests are generally considered to be less prone to biological invasions than other modified ecosystems, particularly when canopy cover is high. Few decades of management of degraded forests by local communities in Nepal has increased canopy cover and altered disturbance regimes. These changes might have reduced the abundance of invasive alien plant species (IAPS) in forests. To understand the status of IAPS in such forests, we studied two community managed Shorea robusta forests (Sundari and Dhusheri) of Nawalpur district in central Nepal. In these two forests, vegetation sampling was done using circular plots 10 m radius at forest edge, gaps, and within canopy. Variation of IAPS richness and cover across these microhabitats were compared, and their variation with tree canopy cover and basal area analyzed. Result: Altogether 14 IAPS were recorded in the study forests; among them Chromolaena odorata, Ageratum houstonianum, and Lantana camara had the highest frequency. Mikania micrantha was at the early stage of colonization in Sundari Community Forest (CF) but absent in Dhuseri CF. Both IAPS cover and richness was higher at forest edge and gap than in canopy plots and both these attributes declined with increasing canopy cover and tree basal area. Conclusion: The results indicate that increase in canopy cover and closure of forest gaps through participatory management of degraded forests can prevent plant invasions and suppress the growth of previously established IAPS in Shorea robusta forests of Nepal. This is the unacknowledged benefit of participatory forest management in Nepal.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.302-310
• /
• 2016

The loss and degradation in tropical forest region are some of the current global concern. Hence, these issues elevated the role of rehabilitated forests in providing ecological products and services. The information on the carbon stock is important in relation to global carbon and biomass use, but lacking from the tropical region. This paper reports the assessment of tree and soil carbon stock in a chronosequence rehabilitated tropical forest stands in Malaysia. The study site was at the UPM-Mitsubishi Forest Rehabilitation Project, UPMKB. $20{\times}20m$ plot was established each and assessed in 2009 at 1-, 10- and 19-year-old sites while an adjacent ${\pm}23-year-old$ natural regenerating secondary forest plot was established for comparison. The overall total carbon stock was in the order of 19-year-old>${\pm}23-year-old$>10-year-old>1-year-old. When forest carbon stock is low, the soil component plays an important role in the carbon storage. The forest carbon recovery is crucial to increase soil carbon stock. The variations in the carbon stock showed the different stages of the forest recovery. Species survived after 19-years of planting are potential species for carbon sequestration activities in rehabilitated forest. Human intervention in rehabilitating degraded forest areas through tree planting initiatives is crucial towards recovering the forest ecological role especially in forest carbon stock capacity.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.128-138
• /
• 2018

Background: This study investigated the variation of soil organic carbon in four land cover types: natural and mixed forest, cultivated land, Eucalyptus plantation and open bush land. The study was conducted in the Birr watershed of the upper Blue Nile ('Abbay') river basin. Methods: The data was subjected to a two-way of ANOVA analysis using the general linear model (GLM) procedures of SAS. Pairwise comparison method was also used to assess the mean difference of the land uses and depth levels depending on soil properties. Total of 148 soil samples were collected from two depth layers: 0-10 and 10-20 cm. Results: The results showed that overall mean soil organic carbon stock was higher under natural and mixed forest land use compared with other land use types and at all depths ($29.62{\pm}1.95Mg\;C\;ha^{-1}$), which was 36.14, 28.36, and 27.63% more than in cultivated land, open bush land, and Eucalyptus plantation, respectively. This could be due to greater inputs of vegetation and reduced decomposition of organic matter. On the other hand, the lowest soil organic carbon stock under cultivated land could be due to reduced inputs of organic matter and frequent tillage which encouraged oxidation of organic matter. Conclusions: Hence, carbon concentrations and stocks under natural and mixed forest and Eucalyptus plantation were higher than other land use types suggesting that two management strategies for improving soil conditions in the watershed: to maintain and preserve the forest in order to maintain carbon storage in the future and to recover abandoned crop land and degraded lands by establishing tree plantations to avoid overharvesting in natural forests.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.96-104
• /
• 2023

The successful restoration program requires a comprehensive understanding of variables influencing seedling efficiency. Below-ground is hypothesized to have a major impact on seedling performance of species when planted in agriculture, and degraded areas with different types of mulching. This study investigated on Sg. Terla Forest Reserve in Cameron Highlands Pahang, Malaysia. In this study randomized complete block design (RCBD) was used. The excavation method was applied to study the root system development, above, and below ground biomass distributions under different types of mulching: coconut mulching (CM), oil palm mulching (OM), plastic mulching (PM) and control (CK). The root diameter, main root length, lateral root length, root coiling, and root direction toward to sun were recorded. The results in this study indicate that mulching had significant effect on root diameter, main root length, and root distributions among treatments while for lateral root length, root: shoot ratio, dry biomass distributions, and above and below ground biomass did not showed significant effect among treatments. The highest values for root diameter, lateral root length, main root length, root distributions, dry biomass distributions and above and below ground biomass were showed in CM treatments. However 75% of root coiling was observed in seedlings between treatments.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.194-207
• /
• 2009

The study is to suggest a management method for improvement of natural and cultural landscape of Hwayang valley which is degraded in Songnisan National Park. It was carried out to study original shape of landscape of it and analyse nine major properties of Hoayang Gugok, based on old literatures. The landscape of Gugok was composed of rocks and small ponds, Pinus densiflora community and most of them were degraded by the situation of covered rocks by growth of vegetation, destructed small ponds by sedimented sands and degradation of natural landscape by artificial forest. Vegetation landscape of artificial forest composed of Populus tomentiglandulosa, Robinia pseudo-acacia, Pinus koraiensis in periphery of the valley was not matched with natural landscape. The goal of landscape management was established to conserve natural and cultural landscape in Joseon Dynasty. For this, It was needed to protect landscape values of gugok through the management of vegetation and visitors. In addition, it was required to provide opportunity to easily access to the landscape of Gugok. As a management method of vegetation, it was suggested to maintain P. densiflora community and to restore artificial forest to natural forest through the density management.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.135-151
• /
• 2015

DMZ is considered as an ecologically sensitive landscape and one of the highest biodiversity regions in the Republic of Korea. There have been, albeit the significant value, increased interests in developing this region for a variety of purposes including tourism and commemorative events. As this region has been already facing a range of problems derived from previous development, natural disaster and invasive species, the necessity for active management of ecological health within this region has been increased, which weighs the importance of executing ecological restoration. The objective of this study was to develop evaluation indices as an effective management means of properly evaluating ecological restoration and sustainably maintaining the restored conditions on a long-term scale. Through literature review existing evaluation indices related to restoration were collected, and then the most suitable indices were selected based upon two interviews and one questionnaire survey targeting experts in the relevant field to ecological restoration. They were categorized by two major division and their subclasses (Ecological base - vegetation structure & composition, habitat characteristics, soil environment; landscape ecology - connectivity, landscape patch, boundary & surrounding) and 40 indices. These indices were considered helpful to comprehensively evaluate ecological restoration on degraded environments within ecologically sensitive areas, and sustainably manage target areas by employing a long-term monitoring approach. As this result played a meaningful role in providing the fundamentals of evaluating ecological restoration, it should develop a suitable evaluation system through further research.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.96 no.5
• /
• pp.567-571
• /
• 2007

This study was conducted to clarify the differences in breeding bird communities between deciduous forests of Gwangneung and Mt. Namsan areas from April to August 2006. Two 10ha area were selected for territory mapping of breeding bird community in both study area. The DBH distribution of trees and average foliage profiles were significantly different between study areas. Also, breeding bird communities were different. Number of breeding species and pairs, breeding density, and bird species diversity were higher in Gwangneung area than in Mt. Namsan area. When examining relationship between forest habitat structure and bird community, Number of bird species and breeding pairs belonged to hole and canopy guild were increase as the increase of coverstory coverage and number of large trees. Therefore, it is necessary to make vertical structure more various to plant bushes, and to make DBH distribution more diverse for enhancing bird species diversity in the degraded ecosystem.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2016

Since forest is an important part of ecological system, the deforestation is one of global substantive issues. It is generally accepted that the climate change is related to the deforestation. The issue is worse in developing countries because the forest is one of important natural resources. In the case of North Korea, the deforestation is on the rise from forest reclamation for firewood collection and food production. Moreover, a secondary effect from flood intensifies the damage. Also, the political situation in North Korea presents difficulty to have in-situ measurements. It means that the accurate information of North Korea is nearly impossible to obtain. Thus, assessing the current situation of the forest in North Korea by indirect method is required. The objective of this study is to monitor the forest status of North Korea using multitemporal Landsat images, from 1980s to 2010s. Since the deforestation in North Korea is caused by local residents, we selected two study areas of high population density: Pyeongyang and Hyesan. In North Korea, most of clean Landsat images are acquired in fall season. The fall images have an advantage that we can easily distinguish agriculture areas from forest areas, also have an disadvantage that the forests cannot be easily identified because some of trees have turned red. To identify the forests exactly, we proposed a modified Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (mNDVI) value. The deforestation in Pyeongyang and Hyesan was analyzed by using mNDVI. The dimension of forest has decreased approximately 36% in Pyeongyang for 27 years and approximately 25% in Hyesan for 16 years. The results show that the forest areas in Pyeongyang and Hyesan have been steadily reduced.