• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.33-39
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• 2019

The upsurge of population, internal migration, economic activities and developmental works has brought significant land use and land cover (LULC) change over the period of 1990 and 2010 in the Bagmati basin of Nepal. Along with alteration on various other ecosystem services like water yield, water quality, soil loss etc. carbon sequestration is also altered. This study thus primary deals with evaluation of LULC change and its impact on the soil carbon storage for the period 1990 to 2010. For the evaluation, InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) Carbon model is used. Residential and several other infrastructural development activities were prevalent on the study period and as a result in 2010 major soil carbon reserve like forest area is decreased by 7.17% of its original coverage in 1990. This decrement has brought about a subsequent decrement of 1.39 million tons of carbon in the basin. Conversion from barren land, water bodies and built up areas to higher carbon reserve like forest and agriculture land has slightly increased soil carbon storage but still, net reduction is higher. Thus, the spatial output of the model in the form of maps is expected to help in decision making for future land use planning and for restoration policies.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.420-431
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• 2015

As biodiversity and climate change have become main issues in recent times, the role of the forest ecosystem has been more important and forest conservation has been highlighted. The purpose of this study is to estimate forest area with high conservation values in Gapyung-gun by considering forest ecosystem services. The indicators of biodiversity, climate regulation, and water regulation were selected for assessment in this study. To assess biodiversity, habitat structural features and distribution characteristics of species were analyzed. Climate regulation and water regulation were assessed through analysis of carbon absorption volume and water storage. The result showed that, 50.1% of the forests in Gapyung-gun had high conservation values. The results were verified by comparing them with distribution tendencies of other environmental maps, which represent forest ecological values, and showed similar distribution tendencies. The study was conducted on only Gapyung-gun in Korea; however, the methods used in this study could be utilized for assessment of other areas to identify forests with high conservation values.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.84 no.4
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• pp.525-535
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• 1995

The western-style industrial forest management practice involving large scale clearcutting, silviculture with industrially desirable species, and inadequate consideration on ecosystem preservation, has faced severe criticisms from environmentalists, ecologists and conservationists. With an increasing concern about environmental degradation the general public has also been becoming vocal in demanding ecologically sound alternative forest management. An age-old practice of sustainable ecosystem management variously defined as community forestry, social forestry or homestead forestry, has received increased attention in recent days. This type of traditional, and often not very organized method of natural resource management has been practised in many countries from the prehistoric times. It is believed that with a clear understanding of the functioning of ecosystem and community needs, the existing landuse method can be developed into a more productive one. The nature of community forestry management will vary depending on the scale, geographical location, social/community structure and expectations. This article argues that although the rate of economic growth may be lower with community forestry than with industrial forestry, the former fosters the principle of ecosystem sustainability. Industrial forestry may have an initial high growth rate but often it is associated with unsustainable harvesting leading to ecosystem degradation. A review of the traditional methods of economic analyses shows that they do not take into account the many social and environmental costs associated with forestry. It is argued that a well managed community forestry can maintain the critical balance between economic and ecosystem sustainability. An integrated model of community/homestead forestry development is proposed by coordinating the extension services of the departments of agriculture, forestry and environment.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.159-173
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• 2015

This paper presents a study on the Internet of Things based low-power wireless sensor networks for remote monitoring of wildlife ecosystem due to climate change. Especially, it is targeting the wild vegetation communities ecological monitoring. First, we performed a pre-test and analysis for selecting the appropriate frequency for the sensor network to collect and deliver information reliably in harsh propagation environment of the forest area, and selected for sensors for monitoring wild vegetation communities on the basis of considerations for selecting the best sensor. In addition, we have presented the platform concept and hierarchical function structures for effectively monitoring, analyzing and predicting of ecosystem changes, to apply the Internet of Things in the ecological monitoring area. Based on this, this paper presents the system architecture and design of the Internet of Things based low-power wireless sensor networks for monitoring the ecosystem of the wild vegetation communities. Finally, we constructed and operated the test-bed applied to real wild trees, using the developed prototype based on the design.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.421-434
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• 2022

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has been the biggest environmental problem in Korea since the 2010s. The present study considers the value of urban forests and green infrastructure as an ecosystem service (ES) concept for PM2.5 reduction based on satellite and spatial data, with a focus on Seoul, Korea A method for the spatial ES assessment that considers social demand variables such as population and land price is suggested. First, an ES assessment based on natural environment information confirms that, while the vitality of vegetation is relatively low, the ES is high in the city center and residential areas, where the concentration of PM2.5 is high. Then, the ES assessment considering social demand (i.e., the ESS) confirms the existence of higher PM2.5 values in residential areas with high population density, and in main downtown areas. This is because the ESS of urban green infrastructure is high in areas with high land prices, high population density, and above-average PM2.5 concentrations. Further, when a future green infrastructure improvement scenario that considers the urban forest management plan is applied, the area of very high ESS is increased by 74% when the vegetation greenness of the green infrastructure in the residential area is increased by only 20%. This result suggests that green infrastructure and urban forests in the residential area should be continuously expanded and managed in order to maximize the PM2.5 reduction ES.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.1-13
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• 2021

This study was performed to investigate the ecosystem service patterns in relation to climate change acceleration utilizing big data analysis. This study aimed to use big data analysis as one of the network of views to identify convergent thinking in two fields: climate change and ecosystem service. The keywords were analysed to ascertain if there were any differences in the perceiving problems, policy direction, climate change implications, and regional differences. In addition, we examined the research keywords of each continent, the centre of ecosystem service research, and the topics to be referred to in domestic research. The results of the analysis are as follows: First, the keyword centrality of climate change is similar to the detailed indicators of The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) regulations, content, and non-material ecosystem services. Second, the cross-analysis of terms in two journals showed a difference in value-oriented point; the Ecosystem Service Journal identified green infrastructure as having economic value, whereas the Climate Change Journal perceives water, forest, carbon, and biodiversity as management topics. The Climate Change Journal, but not the former, focuses on future predictions. Third, the analysis of the research topics according to continents showed that water and soil are closely related to the economy, and thus, play an important role in policy formulation. This disparity is due to differences in each continent's environmental characteristics, as well as economic and policy issues. This fact can be used to refer to the direction of research on ecosystem services in Korea. Consistent with the recent trend of expanding research regarding the impacts of climate change, it is necessary to study strategies to scientifically predict and respond to the negative effects of climate change.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.413-425
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• 2017

This manuscript describes the relationship between climate change and forest growth, forest species, carbon stocks, and tree mortality. 1) In the aspect of forest growth, the growth of major coniferous species, including Pinus densiflora, had a negative correlation with temperature. On the other hand, major deciduous oak species, including Quercus variabilis and Quercus mongolica, had a positive correlation with temperature. 2) When considered in the aspect of the forest species distribution, various models commonly showed a decrease in the distribution of coniferous species and an increase in oak species due to climate change in the medium to long term. 3) From the carbon stock perspective, there was a difference in the estimation according to the status of forest management. Most of Korean forests will mature to become over-matured forest after year 2030 and are estimated to produce approximately 410 million ton forest biomass until 2090 with the current cutting regulations for sustainable forest management announced by the Korean Forest Service. 4) In the forest mortality, the mortality rate of the major coniferous species showed a clear tendency to increase higher temperatures while it decreased for the oak species with no verification of statistical significance. Moreover, the mortality of the subalpine coniferous species was projected to progress rapidly. considering the overall impacts described above, there should be a management strategy for coniferous species that are relatively vulnerable to climate change. Moreover, a sustainable forest plan in the aspect of ecosystem services, carbon sequestration and storage, which is linked to global issues such as Sustainable Development Goals, ecosystem services and negative emission.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.385-403
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• 2017

This study showed the national ecosystem classification for the spatial standards of ecosystems-based approaches to the risk assessments and adaptation plan. The characteristics of climate change risk assessment, implement national adaptation plans, and ecosystem/habitat classification status was evaluated. Focusing on the land cover classification widely utilized as spatial data for the assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the UK and other countries in Europe, the applicability of the national land cover classification for climate change risk assessments was reviewed. Considering the ecosystem classification for climate change risk assessment and establishing adaptation measures, it is difficult to apply rough classification method to the land cover system because of lack of information on habitat trend by categorization. The results indicated that forest ecosystems and agro-ecosystem occupied 62.3% and 25.0% of land cover, respectively, of the entire country. Although the area is small compared with the land area, wetland ecosystem (2.9%), marine ecosystem (0.4%), coastal ecosystem (0.6%), and urban ecosystem (6.1%) can be included in the risk assessments. Therefore, it is necessary to subdivide below the medium classification for the forest and agricultural land, as well as Inland wetland, which has a higher proportion of habitat preference of taxa than land area, marine/coastal habitat, and transition areas such as urban and natural ecosystem.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.281-294
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• 2017

Tropical forests constitute almost half of the global forest cover, account for 35% of the global net primary productivity and thereby have potential to contribute substantially to sequester atmospheric $CO_2$ and offset climate change impact. However, deforestation and degradation lead by unsustainable management of tropical forests contribute to the unprecedented species losses and limit ecosystem services including carbon sequestration. Sustainable forest management (SFM) in the tropics may tackle and rectify such deleterious impacts of anthropogenic disturbances and climatic changes. However, the existing dilemma on the definition of SFM and lack of understanding of how tropical forest sustainability can be achieved lead to increasing debate on whether climate change mitigation initiatives would be successful. We reviewed the available literature with a view to clarify the concept of sustainability and provide with a framework towards the sustainability of tropical forests for enhanced carbon stock and climate change mitigation. We argue that along with securing forest tenure and thereby reducing deforestation, application of reduced impact logging (RIL) and appropriate silvicultural system can enhance tropical forest carbon stock and help mitigate climate change.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.204-216
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• 2024

Understanding the trade-off effect in ecosystem services and measuring the interrelationships between services are crucial for managing limited environmental resources. Accordingly, in this study, we identified the dominant trends and increases and decreases in ecosystem services derived from changes in land cover over about 30 years and tracked changes in the relationships between ecosystem services that occurred over time. Through it, we determined the relationship between land cover changes and ecosystem service changes, as well as the distinct characteristics of service changes in different areas. The research primarily utilized the InVEST model, an ecosystem service assessment model. After standardizing the evaluation results between 0 and 1, it went through principal component analysis, a dimensionality reduction technique, to observe the time-series changes and understand the relationships between the services. According to the research results, the area of urbanized regions dramatically increased between 1989 and 2019, while forests showed a significant increase between 2009 and 2019. Between 1989 and 2019, the national ecosystem service supply witnessed a 13.9% decrease in water supply, a 10.5% decrease in nitrogen retention, a 2.6% increase in phosphorus retention, a 0.9% decrease in carbon storage, a 1.2% increase in air purification, and a 3.4% decrease in habitat quality. Over the past 30 years, South Korea experienced an increase in urbanized areas, a decrease in agricultural land, and an increase in forests, resulting in a trade-off effect between phosphorus retention and habitat quality. This study concluded that South Korea's environment management policies contribute to improving ecosystem quality, which has declined due to urbanization, and maximizing ecosystem services. These findings can help policymakers establish and implement forestry policies focusing on sustainable environmental conservation and ecosystem service provision.