• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.363-384
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• 2009

This study aimed at finding directions for Korean agriculture to establish a new paradigm of sustainable development. Various problematic issues and concerns in the environment necessitate the transformation of Korea's development paradigm from unconditional growth to "Green Growth" through new policies on green value and review of various advanced researches. In this research, the environment-friendly agriculture's problems, particularly in agribusiness were analyzed. Drawing from Michael Porter's Value Chain Analysis, this research developed a value chain model in agriculture that reflects the environment and the present situations. Future directions in the agriculture sector were also discussed. Korea realized food self-sufficiency through the green revolution in the early 1970s. However, a lot of problems have also occurred, including ground and water pollution and the destruction of ecosystems as a result of the overuse of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. In the late 1970s, the growing interest on environment-friendly agriculture led to the introduction of sustainable methods and techniques. Unfortunately however, these were not innovative enough to foster environment-friendly agriculture. Thereafter, the consumers' distrust on agricultural products has worsened and concerns about health have increased. In view of this, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries introduced in December 1993 a system of Quality-Certified Products for organic and pesticide-free agri-foods. Although a fundamental step toward the sustainability of the global environment, this system was not enough to promote environment-friendly agriculture. In 2008, Korea's vision is for "Low Carbon Green Growth" to move forward while also coping with climate change. But primary sectors in a typical value chain do not consider the green value of their operations nor look at production from an environmental perspective. In order to attain sustainable development, there is a need to use less resources and energy than what is presently used in Korean agricultural and value production. The typical value chain should be transformed into a "closed-loop" such that the beginning and the end of the chain are linked together. Such structure allows the flow of materials, products and even wastes among participants in the chain in a sustained cycle. This may result in a zero-waste sustainable production without destroying the ecosystem.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2018

Background: In the study, the effects of elevated $CO_2$ and temperature on the nitrogen content, carbon content, and C:N ratio of seven rare and endangered species (Quercus gilva, Hibiscus hambo, Paliurus ramosissimus, Cicuta virosa, Bupleurum latissimum, Viola raddeana, and Iris dichotoma) were examined under control (ambient $CO_2$ + ambient temperature) and treatment (elevated $CO_2$ + elevated temperature) for 3 years (May 2008 and June 2011). Results: Elevated $CO_2$ concentration and temperature result in a decline in leaf nitrogen content for three woody species in May 2009 and June 2011, while four herb species showed different responses to each other. The nitrogen content of B. latissimum and I. dichotoma decreased under treatment in either 2009 and 2011. The leaf nitrogen content of C. virosa and V. raddeana was not significantly affected by elevated $CO_2$ and temperature in 2009, but that of C. virosa increased and that V. raddeana decreased under the treatment in 2011. In 2009, it was found that there was no difference in carbon content in the leaves of the six species except for that of P. ramosissimus. On the other hand, while there was no difference in carbon content in the leaves of Q. gilva in the control and treatment in 2011, carbon content in the leaves of the remaining six species increased due to the rise of $CO_2$ concentration and temperature. The C:N ratio in the leaf of C. virosa grown in the treatment was lower in both 2009 and 2011 than that in the control. The C:N ratio in the leaf of V. raddeana decreased by 16.4% from the previous year, but increased by 28.9% in 2011. For the other five species, C:N ratios increased both in 2009 and 2011. In 2009 and 2011, chlorophyll contents in the leaves of Q. gilva and H. hamabo were higher in the treatment than those in the control. In the case of P. ramosissimus, the ratio was higher in the treatment than that in the control in 2009, but in 2011, the result was the opposite. Among four herb species, the chlorophyll contents in the leaves of C. virosa, V. raddeana, and I. dichotoma did not show any difference between gradients in 2009, but decreased due to the rise of $CO_2$ concentration and temperature in 2011. Leaf nitrogen and carbon contents, C:N ratio, and chlorophyll contents in the leaves of seven rare and endangered species of plant were found to be influenced by the rise and duration of $CO_2$ concentration and temperature, species, and interaction among those factors. Conclusions: The findings above seem to show that long-term rise of $CO_2$ concentration, and temperature causes changes in physiological responses of rare and endangered species of plant and the responses may be species-specific. In particular, woody species seem to be more sensitive to the rise of $CO_2$ concentration and temperature than herb species.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.540-561
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• 2011

We carried out a study for ecological management and ideal vegetation structure selection on the shrine forest of 'Miwhang-sa' considering the species diversity and the vegetation structure analysis associated with global warming. We carried out the analyses of phytosociological vegetation structure, correlation between vegetation units and environmental variables, life form, species diversity, and species evenness. This study identified the vegetation units as 3 communities. The identified vegetation units are as follows: Quercus acuta community(DQ), Quercus serrata-Quercus variabilis community(QQ) and Celtis sinensis community(CS). According to the basis on the environmental variables; Ca, Mg and P, Celtis sinensis community and other communities were classified. Quecus serrata-Quercus variabilis comm. and Quercus acuta comm. were classified, according to the basis on the environmental variables; organic matter(OM), Ni and Zn. Sasa borealis as life form R1-2, dominated the herb layer and will dominate the herb and shrub layers. Species simplification is formed on herb layer and will be formed on shrub layer. The species diversity of Quercus serrata-Quercus variabilis community is higher than the one of Quercus acuta community, and the species diversity of shrine forest around Miwhang-sa was higher than the shrine forest around Nameun-sa where evergreen broad-leaved forests dominate. It is essential that the long-term vegetation management considering the vegetation units by phytosociological analysis, the species simplification problem of low layers by S. borealis and the species diversity and evenness in the shrine forest, Miwhang-sa.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.341-351
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• 2008

Since the damage from the torrential rain increases recently due to climate change and global warming, the significance of flood forecasting and warning becomes important in medium and small streams as well as large river. Through the preprocess and main processes for estimating runoff, diverse errors occur and are accumulated, so that the outcome contains the errors in the existing flood forecasting and warning method. And estimating the parameters needed for runoff models requires a lot of data and the processes contain various uncertainty. In order to overcome the difficulties of the existing flood forecasting and warning system and the uncertainty problem, ANFIS(Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System) technique has been presented in this study. ANFIS, a data driven model using the fuzzy inference theory with neural network, can forecast stream level only by using the precipitation and stream level data in catchment without using a lot of physical data that are necessary in existing physical model. Time series data for precipitation and stream level are used as input, and stream levels for t+1, t+2, and t+3 are forecasted with this model. The applicability and the appropriateness of the model is examined by actual rainfall and stream level data from 2003 to 2005 in the Tancheon catchment area. The results of applying ANFIS to the Tancheon catchment area for the actual data show that the stream level can be simulated without large error.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2014

This study was conducted to investigate the photosynthetic characters of Populus alba${\times}$glandulosa cuttings in response to elevated $CO_2$ concentration and air temperature for selecting tree species adaptive to climate change. The cuttings were grown in environment controlled growth chambers with two combinations of $CO_2$ concentration and air temperature conditions: (i) $22^{\circ}C$ + $CO_2$ 380 ${\mu}mol$ $mol^{-1}$ (control) and (ii) $27^{\circ}C$ + $CO_2$ 770 ${\mu}mol$ $mol^{-1}$ (elevated) for almost three months. The cuttings under the elevated treatment showed reduced tree height and photosynthetic pigment contents such as chlorophyll and carotenoid. In particular, the elevated treatment resulted in a marked reduction in the chlorophyll a closely associated with $CO_2$ fixative reaction system. Different levels of reduction in photosynthetic characters were found under the elevated treatment. A decrease was noted in photochemical reaction system parameters: net apparent quantum yield (7%) and photosynthetic electron transport rate (14%). Moreover, a significant reduction was obvious in $CO_2$ fixative reaction system parameters: carboxylation efficiency (52%) and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate(RuBP) regeneration rate (24%). These results suggest that the low level of photosynthetic capacity may be attributed to the decreased $CO_2$ fixative reaction system rather than photochemical reaction system.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.569-611
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• 2018

Rapid economic growth, urbanization, and industrialization of China have tremendously degraded the overall quality of living environments, especially the air quality, not only negatively affecting Chinese people but also impacting citizens of neighboring countries, namely Korea. The Chinese government has invested much effort to regulate the air pollution due to burning coal through introducing strict environmental monitoring policies and aggressive implementation. This paper presents an overview of Chinese air pollution prevention policy due to burning coal, and the associated trends and specifics of institutional arrangements regarding air pollutant emission regulations. It turns out that the policies have become stricter than before; some polices are geared towards enforcing extra regulation at the regional level. It is expected that the regulation will become stricter in the future. However, the actual contribution and feasibility of such policies must be analyzed based on sound science. The policies seem to care little about influencing the air quality of Korea, and this has to be improved. In order to do so, it is important to strengthen environmental cooperation between Korea and China, and better yet to research on not only the air quality but also the associated fields, such as energy, industrial technology, and global environmental governance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.128-136
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• 2008

Recently, the unusual climate change is happening from the global warming in the whole world, the Korean peninsula is also no exception. It is predicted by many researchers that, in the near future, the Super-Typhoon of overwhelming power will occur due to rising temperatures on the sea surface around the Korean peninsula. In this study, numerical simulation has been performed with the Super-Typhoons which combined route of Typhoon Maemi with typhoon conditons of Hurricane Katrina (New Oleans in U.S.A, 2005), Typhoon Durian (philippine, 2006) and Typhoon Vera (Ise Bay in Japan, 1959) at Busan and Gyeongnam coastal area which has been badly damaged due to storm surge every year. From the numerical results, it is revealed that the storm surge heights of the Super-Typhoons are higher than that of Maemi, specially the storm surge height in the case of Katrina is about 4 times larger. So, it can be pointed out that the construction of countermeasures against disasters are very important in order to prepare against an attack of the Super-Typhoons.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.169-179
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• 2017

Recently, due to global warming and climate change in Korea, local heavy storm occurs frequently. In this study, the risky areas for flooding in urban areas are analyzed for flood inundation based on two-dimensional urban flood runoff model (XP-SWMM) focusing on coastal high flood-risk urban areas. In addition, the MCDM (Multi-Criteria Decision Making) technique is utilized in order to establish the flood defense structural measures. The alternative flood reduction method are compared and the optimum flood defense measures are selected. A simulation model was used with three structural flood prevention measures (drainage pipe construction, water detention, flood pumping station). In order to decrease the flooding area, flood assessment criteria are suggested (flooded area, maximum inundation depth, damaged residential area, construction cost). Priorities of alternatives are determined by using compromise programming. As a result, the optimal flood defence alternative suggested for Janghang Zone 1 is flood pumping station and for Janghang Zone 2, 3 are drainage pipe construction.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.77-87
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• 2017

Picophytoplankton, an important primary producer especially at the oligotrophic region, is known to contribute a significant portion of the total phytoplankton biomass in the East Sea of Korea. During autumn in the southwestern East Sea, frequent upwellings and oligotrophic conditions occur and annual variation of primary productivity is known to be significant. Moreover sea surface temperature (SST) of the East Sea is steeply increasing compared to global average increase, so various changes in marine ecosystem related with increase of SST are reported. Taking such circumstances into consideration, we measured the contribution from picophytoplankton fraction to total phytoplankton composition by size fraction of phytoplankton biomass during the autumn seasons from 2011, 2013 and 2015 and examined the variation of the phytoplankton composition. As a result of size fraction analyses, we found that the variation of contribution from picophytoplankton(<$3{\mu}m$) to total community of phytoplankton was high and the average fractions of picophytoplankton were measured as 38% (2011), 59% (2013), 7% (2015), respectively. The difference between measured SST and annual mean SST (${\Delta}T$) was highest ($+1.6^{\circ}C$) in autumn of 2013 and lowest ($-0.9^{\circ}C$) in autumn of 2015. The close positive correlation between ${\Delta}SST$ and fraction of picophytoplankton was confirmed($R^2$ > 0.9). The increase in SST at the southern East Sea was confirmed as one of the main environmental factors in the increase in the increase of the contribution from picophytoplankton. Monitoring of changes in the community structure of primary producers and the influences of the environmental factors including SST in the East Sea is necessary to understand the interactions of ecosystem of the East Sea and the climate change in the near future.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.175-180
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• 2010

Many greenhouse gases occur naturally, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Others such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride ($SF_6$) result exclusively from human industrial processes. Current global warming has been linked to anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentration increases. Methods to quantify greenhouse gas emissions during animal agriculture and the possibility to apply those to circumstance in the world were studied. Various chamber methods with trace gas analyzer (TGA) were used to quantify greenhouse gas emissions from stored manure. Methane fluxes from pails storing liquid swine manure were measured. Methane emissions increased a little with time and mean was 393.2 ${\mu}g\;m^{-2}\;s{-1}$ (standard error : 4 ${\mu}g\;m^{-2}\;s{-1}$).