Research Reports
The Strategy of the Restoration and Conservation of Deforested and Degraded Mountainous Areas in North Korea
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AuthorSeok, Hyundeok
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Publication Date2014.06.30
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Original
The purpose of this study is to develop the strategy of the restoration and conservation of deforested and degraded mountainous areas in North Korea, through inter-Korean cooperation in the field of forestry. Previous studies fell short of suggesting realistic inter-Korean cooperation projects for restoring deforested and degraded forests in North Korea. This study contributes to suggesting practical, feasible projects for restoring and managing devastated mountainous areas, 2.84 million ha (2008, base year), by scientific approaches. The forested area of North Korea is 5.22 million ha in 2012. Since 2000, deforested areas have increased by 13,464ha per year on average. Between 2000 and 2012, about 160,515ha was deforested, which is 11.7 times as large as the newly planted area (13,680ha). Thus, North Korea has experienced a very serious forest degradation. Although the North Korean government recognized the critical issue, degraded forests are more likely to increase because North Korea still faces the issues of food and fuel shortage.
This study explores how to restore deforested and degraded mountainous areas according to the regional characteristics by focusing on study areas in which GIS data are available from 2000 to 2012. Based on elevation, slope, and canopy, indicating the accessibility and the risk of soil erosion of a region, we defined three types of potential projects: Agroforestry, A/R CDM, and REDD/REDD+. Also, we consider the threshold of those projects: the elevation: 600m; the slope: 20 degrees; and the canopy coverage: 50 to 80 percent.
From results, we found that the low slope area (88,553ha) is appropriate for practicing agroforestry that targets not only forest restoration but also food production. For the high slope area (71,963ha), the A/R CDM project is applicable by targeting only forest restoration. Because high elevation limits human access to an area of over 600m, for other areas at high risk of degradation due to the low slope, we may consider REDD+ projects. Depending on the coverage of crown canopy, we can apply three types of combining projects: (1) agroforestry and REDD+, (2) forest management and REDD+, and (3) REDD projects. We also suggest REDD projects for steep areas despite low elevation (<600m) because of soil erosion risk.
For the success of these projects, a good relationship between South Korea and North Korea is necessary. For inter-Korean cooperation in the field of forestry, institutions such as laws need to be established. It is also important that a national consensus can be made before inter-Korean cooperation projects begin. Thus, the government, research institutes, universities, NGOs and other public agencies and private organizations need to cooperate and involve in the national needs together to build inter-Korean cooperation. In order to overcome the political difficulties and uncertainties, we may build a cooperative system with international organizations and use international conferences in the academic world.
Researchers: Seok Hyun-deok, Kim Young-hoon, Lee Yo-han, Koo Ja-choon, Park So-hee, Lee Chan-hwi, Yoon Taek-seung
Research period: 2014. 4. ~ 2014. 6.
E-mail address: hdseok@krei.re.kr
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