• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.158-167
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• 2006

The object of this study is to detect of land-cover change in western DMZ and vicinity. This was performed as a basic study to construct a decision support system for the conservation or a sustainable development of the DMZ and Vicinity near future. DMZ is an is 4km wide and 250km long and it's one of the most highly fortified boundaries in the world and also a unique thin green line. Environmentalists want to declare the DMZ as a natural reserve and a biodiversity zone, but nowadays through the strengthening of the inter-Korean economic cooperation, some developers are trying to construct a new-town or an industrial complex inside of the DMZ. This study investigates the current environmental conditions, especially deforestation of the western DMZ adopting remote sensing and GIS techniques. The Land-covers were identified through the linear spectvral mixture analysis(LSMA) which was used to handle the spectral mixture problem of low spatial resolution imagery of Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery. To analyze quantitative and spatial change of vegetation-cover in western DMZ, GIS overlay method was used. In LSMA, to develop high-quality fraction images, three endmembers of green vegetation(GV), soil, water were driven from pure features in the imagery. Through 15 years, from 1987 to 2002, forest of western DMZ and vicinity was devastated and changed to urban, farmland or barren land. Northern part of western DMZ and vicinity was more deforested than that of southern part. ($52.37km^2$ of North Korean forest and $39.04km^2$ of South Korean were change to other land-covers.) In case of North Korean part, forest changed to barren land and farmland and in South Korean part, forest changed to farmland and urban area. Especially, In North Korean part of DMZ and vicinity, $56.15km^2$ of farmland changed to barren land through 15 years, which showed the failure of the 'Darakbat' (terrace filed) project which is one of food increase projects in North Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.79-97
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• 2012

This study examines on the impact of biodiversity in circular greenspace of Cheongju city since 2002 greenbelt release. Research has carried out to investigate the biotope pattern change with landscape fragmentation. Major landscape fragmentation has occurred with development of residential sector and build-up of major highways. Settlement has been expanded to the entire area connected to urban district excluding the eastern forest. North-south district shows high road density, where inter-regional roads meet in the cross-section. It is found that landscape fragmentation impact on species richness as well as population size of the species varies depending on the animal species. The birds show high species richness in N2, N3, N4, S2(north-south zone) even with high fragmentation rate. This can be explained that birds can access to aquatic environment where they can find abundant food resources. The amphibians and the reptiles show almost no zonal variation in species richness than the birds. The more a zone fragmented in small patches, the species richness of the amphibians and the reptiles also tends to be declined. Information accumulation on biodiversity for integrating landscape planning in urban planning, various level of community participation in decision making process, and cross border cooperation with neighbouring Cheongwon-gun will be required for sustainable greenspace management of Cheongju City.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.81-91
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• 2021

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea did not have direct legislation on natural environmental conservation until the early 1970s when the regime was still in the early stage. The Law on Land was enacted in 1977 to provide the legal basis for protecting the natural environment, including land protection, protection zones, and forest formation and protection. The enactment of the Law on Environmental Protection in 1986 made progress on environmental conservation in the DPRK. The constitutional amendment in 1992 stipulated "the preservation and creation of the natural environment as the responsibility of the state." Based on the Framework Law on Environmental Protection, subordinate statutes in various fields were enacted after the1990s. While the committee designated and managed the protected zones in the early days, the Framework Law on Environmental Protection established the ground for the designation of legally protected areas, and the Law on Protection of Scenic Spots and Natural Monuments enacted in 1995, and the Law on Environmental Protection enacted in 2009 provided the details. Furthermore, the types of nature reserves include biosphere reserves, primeval forest reserves, animal reserves, plant reserves, and scenic reserves. The 2nd National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan established in 2007 based on the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD) stated 326 protected zones in the DPRK. However, the 2018 United Nations list of Protected Areas shows only 31 registered zones, indicating the need to establish basic information on protected areas in DPRK. This study can provide basic information for a better understanding of the nature conservation system in the DPRK. Considering that environmental protection activities such as protection of endangered species and recovery of environmental pollution are subject to exceptions under the current sanctions against North Korea (UN Security Council, the United States), it will be possible to contribute to identifying possible inter-Korean cooperation projects in the field of the natural environment.