• Title/Summary/Keyword: global change

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Study on Plans for the Establishment of Strategy on Climate Change Adaptation in Korea (국가 기후변화 적응 전략 수립 방안에 관한 연구)

  • Kwon, Won-Tae;Baek, Hee-Jeong;Choi, Kyung-Cheol;Chung, Hyo-Sang
    • 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.

Global Assessment of Climate Change-Associated Drought Risk

  • Kim, Heey Jin;Kim, Yeonjoo
    • 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.

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Environmental Foreign Policy as a Soft Power Instrument: Cases of China and India

  • Karakir, Irem Askar
    • Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.5-26
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    • 2018
  • Joseph S. Nye defined soft power as the power of attraction to affect the behavior of other states through the use of non-coercive instruments including culture, political values and foreign policy. Over the last two decades, environmental issues have grown in importance on the international agenda and become critical components of states' foreign policy-making. This paper aims to analyze environmental foreign policy as a soft power instrument focusing on two major rising powers: China and India. Traditionally, China and India had been reluctant to make any commitments in the field. However, they have shown greater willingness to act in global environmental governance in the past decade. They started playing more active roles in global climate change negotiations and supported a number of initiatives. Their current rise in global environmental governance has even been praised by the international community as the Paris agreement case demonstrated. This study evaluates China's and India's recent efforts in global environmental governance with a focus on climate change negotiations linking their constructive position to their soft power potential. It is argued that environmental issues are used by these two states as foreign policy strategy to gain more influence in international politics. This study finds out that China's climate-related environmental diplomacy has been more ambitious than that of India and thus has been closer to fulfill its potential as a soft power asset.

Impact of Future Chinese Emissions on Ozone Air Quality and Human Health in Northeast Asia (동북아 지역에서 중국의 미래 배출량 변화가 오존농도와 보건에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Hyeon-Kook;Lyu, Youngsook;Woo, Jung-Hun;Hong, Sung-Chul;Kim, Deok-Rae;Seo, Jeonghyeon;Shin, Myunghwan;Kim, Sang-Kyun
    • Journal of Climate Change Research
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    • v.7 no.4
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    • pp.451-463
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    • 2016
  • We explore the impact of Chinese future air pollutant emissions on ozone air quality in Northeast Asia (NEA) and health in South-Korea using an assessment framework including ICAMS (The Integrated Climate and Air Quality Modeling System) and BenMAP (The Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program). The emissions data sets from the climate change scenarios, the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) (emission scenarios, EMSO), are used to simulate ozone air quality in NEA in the current (1996~2005, 2000s), the near future (2016~2025, 2020s) and the distant future (2046~2055, 2050s). Furthermore, the simulated ozone changes in the 2050s are used to analyze ozone-related premature mortality and economic cost in South-Korea. While different EMSOs are applied to the China region, fixed EMSO are used for other country regions to isolate the impacts of the Chinese emissions. Predicted ozone changes in NEA are distinctively affected by large changes in NOx emission over most of China region. Comparing the 2020s with the 2000s situation, the largest increase in mean ozone concentrations in NEA is simulated under RCP 8.5 and similarly small increases are under other RCPs. In the 2050s in NEA, the largest increase in mean ozone concentrations is simulated under RCP 6.0 and leads to the occurrence of the highest premature mortalities and economic costs in South-Korea. Whereas, the largest decrease is simulated under RCP 4.5 leads to the highest avoided premature mortality numbers and economic costs. Our results suggest that continuous reduction of NOx emissions across the China region under an assertive climate change mitigation scenario like RCP 4.5 leads to improved future ozone air quality and health benefits in the NEA countries including South-Korea.

A Historical Review of Japanese Area Studies and the Emergence of Global Studies

  • Fukutake, Shintaro
    • SUVANNABHUMI
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.77-88
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    • 2015
  • This article will review the historical background of the development of area studies and the adoption of global studies in Japan. Global studies, which focuses on global issues such as migration, mainly developed in the United States and Europe, but more recently found home in universities in Japan. A characteristic of the development of global studies in Japan is that specialists in area studies have played an important role in institutionally establishing this new discipline. "Japanese area studies" has an affinity with the concepts of global studies contrary to the situation with area studies in the United States. Conventional academic societies based on area studies in Japan, however, have been forced to change as a result of globalization and the establishment of global studies in Japan. I would like to point out that there is some discrepancy between the scholarship boundaries and the actual research and educational program in area studies. I will also discuss how we should reconsider the concept of "area" by tackling global issues.

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Effect of Climate Change on Water Quality in Seonakdong River Experimental Catchment (기후변화에 따른 서낙동강 시험유역에서의 수질영향 분석)

  • Kang, Ji Yoon;Kim, Jung Min;Kim, Young Do;Kang, Boo Sik
    • Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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    • v.27 no.2
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    • pp.197-206
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    • 2013
  • Recently, climate change causes climatic anomaly such as global warming, the typhoon and severe rain storm etc. and it brings damage frequently. Climate change and global warming are prevalent all over the world in this century and many researchers including hydrologists have studied on the climate change. In this study, Seonakdong river watershed in the Nakdong river basin was selected as a study area. Real-time monitoring system was used to draw the rating curves, which has 0.78 to 0.96 of $R^2$. To predict runoff change in Seonakdong river watershed caused by climate change, the change in hydrologic runoff were predicted using the watershed model, SWAT. As a result, the runoff from the Seonakdong river watershed was increased by up to 45 % in summer. Because of the non-point sources from the farmland and the urban area, the water quality will be affected by the climate change. In this study, the operating plan of the water gates in Seonakdong river will be suggested by considering the characteristics of the watershed runoff due to the climate change. The optimal watergate opening plan will solve the water pollution problems in the reservoir-like river.

A Comparative Study of World Wide Views on Climate and Energy 2015 (유엔기후변화협상에 관한 세계시민회의 결과의 국제비교)

  • Kim, Jik-Soo;Lee, Young Hee
    • Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.65-97
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    • 2015
  • This essay aims to investigate the characteristics of the views of citizen participants of World Wide Views on Climate and Energy which was organized internationally targeting global policy making in Paris at COP21. It also analyzes the views of Korean citizen participants on climate change from the international comparative perspective. For this purpose, we try to outline the results of the consultations which offer 29 issues categorized into five sessions, such as importance of tackling climate change, tools to tackle climate change, UN negotiations and national commitments, fairness and distribution of efforts, making and keeping climate promises. As a result, we come to show some patterns and characteristics of the views of citizen participants in global and national context. Finally, we discuss some policy and theoretical implications of our findings regarding the future of international convention for climate change and of global citizenship formation.

Uncertainty Characteristics in Future Prediction of Agrometeorological Indicators using a Climatic Water Budget Approach (기후학적 물수지를 적용한 기후변화에 따른 농업기상지표 변동예측의 불확실성)

  • Nam, Won-Ho;Hong, Eun-Mi;Choi, Jin-Yong;Cho, Jaepil;Hayes, Michael J.
    • Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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    • v.57 no.2
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    • pp.1-13
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    • 2015
  • The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), coordinated by the World Climate Research Programme in support of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR5, is the most recent, provides projections of future climate change using various global climate models under four major greenhouse gas emission scenarios. There is a wide selection of climate models available to provide projections of future climate change. These provide for a wide range of possible outcomes when trying to inform managers about possible climate changes. Hence, future agrometeorological indicators estimation will be much impacted by which global climate model and climate change scenarios are used. Decision makers are increasingly expected to use climate information, but the uncertainties associated with global climate models pose substantial hurdles for agricultural resources planning. Although it is the most reasonable that quantifying of the future uncertainty using climate change scenarios, preliminary analysis using reasonable factors for selecting a subset for decision making are needed. In order to narrow the projections to a handful of models that could be used in a climate change impact study, we could provide effective information for selecting climate model and scenarios for climate change impact assessment using maximum/minimum temperature, precipitation, reference evapotranspiration, and moisture index of nine Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios.