Multi-temporal Analysis of Deforestation in Pyeongyang and Hyesan, North Korea

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.