• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2023.04a
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• pp.59-59
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• 2023

• Atmosphere
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.483-492
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• 2007

The objective of this study is to describe scientific progresses in understanding of climate change in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports, contributed by Working group I. Since 1988, IPCC's four assessment reports showed significant improvements in understanding of observed climate change, drivers of climate change, detection and attribution of climate change, climate models, and future projection. The results are based on large amounts of observation data, sophisticated analyses of data, improvements of climate models and the simulations. While the First Assessment Report (FAR) in 1990 reported that a detectable anthropogenic influence on climate has little observational evidence, the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) reported that warming of the climate system is unequivocal and is very likely due to human influences. It is also noted that anthropogenic warming and sea level rise would continue for centuries due to the time scales associated with climate processes and feedbacks, even if greenhouse gas were to be stabilized.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2019

This study applies the concept of climate change vulnerability assessment in order to suggest climate change adaptation effects in a quantitative manner, given that previous studies have hitherto rely on qualitative assessment, as climate change adaptive policies are currently being implemented by local governments of Korea. The vulnerability assessment tool used in this study is VESTAP ("Vulnerability assESsment Tool to build a climate change Adaptation Plan"), which was developed by the Korea Adaptation Center for Climate Change (KACCC), and applied to gauge the vulnerability of pine trees to diseases and pests within Chungcheongnam-do. The climate change adaptation project for vulnerability improvement was assessed only in terms of forest disaster prevention and change in regional climate change vulnerabilities within 16 regions of Chungcheongnam-do as the result of 2016 Climate Change Adaptation Project (Forest Disaster Prevention Project). As a result, it was observed that climate change adaptive capacity has improved according to change in the area of forestland with disaster prevention, and the vulnerability indicator decreased, confirming the impact of the climate change adaptation (forest disaster prevention) project. Also, analysis of regional climate change adaptation project scales and change in vulnerabilities allowed us to determine the regional propriety of climate change adaptation (forest disaster prevention) projects launched in 2016.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.188-200
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• 2014

The IPCC 5th Assessment Report (Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis) was accepted at the 36th Session of the IPCC on 26 September 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden. It consists of the full scientific and technical assessment undertaken by Working Group I. This comprehensive assessment of the physical aspects of climate change puts a focus on those elements that are relevant to understand past, document current, and project future of climate change. The assessment builds on the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and the recent Special Report on Managing the Risk of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. The assessment covers the current knowledge of various processes within, and interactions among, climate system components, which determine the sensitivity and response of the system to changes in forcing, and they quantify the link between the changes in atmospheric constituents, and hence radiative forcing, and the consequent detection and attribution of climate change. Projections of changes in all climate system components are based on model simulations forced by a new set of scenarios. The report also provides a comprehensive assessment of past and future sea level change in a dedicated chapter. The primary purpose of this Technical Summary is to provide the link between the complete assessment of the multiple lines of independent evidence presented in the main report and the highly condensed summary prepared as Policy makers Summary. The Technical Summary thus serves as a starting point for those readers who seek the full information on more specific topics covered by this assessment. Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased. Total radiative forcing is positive, and has led to an uptake of energy by the climate system. The largest contribution to total radiative forcing is caused by the increase in the atmospheric concentration of $CO_2$ since 1750. Human influence on the climate system is clear. This is evident from the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, observed warming, and understanding of the climate system. Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all components of the climate system. Limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. The in-depth review for past, present and future of climate change is carried out on the basis of the IPCC 5th Assessment Report.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.347-357
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• 2009

This study conducted a vulnerability assessment on Korea's physical infrastructure to provide base data for developing strategies to strengthen Korea's ability to adapt to climate change. The assessment was conducted by surveying professionals in the field of infrastructure and climate change science. A vulnerability assessment was carried out for seven climate change events: average temperature increases, sea level rise, typhoons and storm surges, floods and heavy rain, drought, severe cold, and heat waves. The survey asked respondents questions with respect to the consequences of each climate change event, the urgency of adaptation to climate change, and the scale of investment for adaptation to each climate change event. Thereafter, management priorities for infrastructure were devised and implications for policy development were suggested. The results showed that respondents expected the possibility of "typhoons and storm surges" and "floods and heavy rain" to be the most high. Respondents indicated that infrastructure related to water, transportation, and the built environment were more vulnerable to climate change. The most vulnerable facilities included river related facilities such as dams and riverbanks in the "water" category and seaports and roads in the "transport and communication" category. The results found were consistent with the history of natural disasters in Korea.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.106-117
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• 2012

In an effort to analyze the impact of climate change, Gangwon provincial forest was divided into three sectors; forest ecology, forest disaster, and forest productivity and analysis of their current status from 2000 to 2009 and vulnerability assessment by climate change has been carried in this study. In case of vulnerability assessment, except for the forest ecology, forest disaster (forest fires and forest pests) and forest productivity sectors were analyzed in current status, the year of 2020, and 2050. It turned out that vulnerability of forest fires in the field of disaster would become worse and forest pests also would make more impact even though there is some variation in different areas. In case of the vulnerability of forest productivity there would be not a big difference in the future compared with current vulnerability. Systematic research on the sensitivity index used for vulnerability assessment is necessary since vulnerability assessment result greatly depends on the use of climate exposure index and adaptive capacity index.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.339-346
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• 2017

The Korea Adaptation Center for Climate Change (KACCC) located in Korea Environment Institute has serviced a climate change vulnerability assessment support tool (VESTAP) since 2014 in order to help local governments to establish their own adaptation plans. Owing to its easy usage, the VESTAP has been utilized by not only local governments but also academia for examination of climate change vulnerability in various fields. However, the KACCC has not suggested a standard usage how to compose indices for climate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptation capacity which are main components of vulnerability although the KACCC manages operation and application of the VESTAP. Many users had no choice but to compose indices based on their own interpretation on the components of vulnerability. This technical note suggests the standard usage of VESTAP by reevaluating some vulnerability assessments previously developed. This may help users to correctly compose indices for climate change vulnerability assessment, and may minimize possibility of inter-user inconsistency in definition of vulnerability assessments.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.275-285
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• 2017

Chungnam region has established and executed the 2nd Climate Change Adaptation Initiative Execution Plan (2017~2021) based on the Framework Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth. The Execution Plan is established based on the results of climate change vulnerability assessment using the CCGIS, LCCGIS, and VESTAP analysis tools. However, the previously developed climate change vulnerability assessment tools (CCGIS, LCCGIS, VESTAP) cannot reflect the local records and the items and indices of new assessment. Therefore, this study developed a prototype of climate change vulnerability assessment analysis tool that, unlike the previous analysis tools, designs the items and indices considering the local characteristics and allows analysis of grid units. The prototype was used to simulate the vulnerability to forest fires of eight cities and seven towns in Chungcheongnam-do Province in the 2010s, 2020s, and 2050s based on the RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) 8.5 Scenario provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration. Based on the analysis, Chungcheongnam-do Province's vulnerability to forest fires in the 2010s was highest in Seocheon-gun (0.201), followed by Gyeryong-si (0.173) and Buyeo-gun (0.173) and the future prospects in the 2050s was highest in Seocheon-gun (0.179), followed by Gyeryong-si (0.169) and Buyeo-gun (0.154). The area with highest vulnerability to forest fires in Chungcheongnam-do Province was Biin-myeon, Seocheon-gun and the area may become most vulnerable was Pangyo-myeon, Seocheon-gun. The prototype and the results of analysis may be used to establish the directions and strategies in regards to the vulnerability to wild fires to secure each local government's 2nd execution plan and attainability.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.68-73
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• 2020

Korean fir (Abies koreana) is an evergreen coniferous tree species that is unique to South Korea. A. koreana is found in a limited sub-alpine habitat and is considered particularly vulnerable to climate change. Identification of populations vulnerable to climate change is an important component of conservation programs. In this study, a heat stress-induced transcriptome RNA-seq dataset was used to identify a subset of six genes for assessment as candidate marker genes for ecologically vulnerable populations. Samples of A. koreana were isolated from ecologically stable and vulnerable regions of the Halla and Jiri mountains, and the expression levels of the six candidate markers were assessed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. All six of the candidate genes exhibited higher expression levels in samples from vulnerable regions compared with stable regions. These results confirm that the six high temperature-induced genes can be used as diagnostic markers for the identification of populations of A. koreana that are experiencing stress due to the effects of climate change.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.04a
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• pp.6-6
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• 2022