Applicability of Climate Change Impact Assessment Models to Korean forest

Su-na Kim1, Woo-Kyun Lee1*, Yowhan Son1, Yongsung Cho2 and Mi-Sun Lee1
1Dept. Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Korea
2Dept. Food and Resource Economics, Korea University, Korea

 

Abstract

 Forests store carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the major factors of global warming, in vegetation and soils through photosynthesis process. In addition, woods deposit CO2 for a long term until the harvested wood is decomposed or burned, and deforested areas could be expanded the carbon sinks through reforestation. Forests are a lso able to decrease temperature through transpiration and contribute to control the micro climate in global climate systems. Consequently, forests are considered as one of major sinks of greenhouse gases for mitigating global warming. It is very important to develop a Korea specific forest carbon flux model for preparing adaptation measures to climate change. In this study, we compared the climate change impact models in forests developed in foreign countries and analyzed the applicability of the models to Korean forest. Also we selected models applicable to Korean forest and suggested approaches for developing Korean specific model.
Key words : climate change, forests, models, carbon cycle, water cycle