• 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 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 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.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.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.133-142
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to compare the results of climate change prospect and vulnerability assessment and the awareness of those by public officials and citizens at Yeongwol county, Gangwon province where experiencing the most climate change vulnerability. Data of 12 meteorological categories such as mean temperature at Yeongwol weather station from 1995 to 2013 were analyzed. Climate change vulnerability was assessed with 29 sub-categories in 6 categories (health, emergency/disaster, agriculture, forestry, water management, ecosystem) of National Institute of Environment Research's LCCGIS (2013). The awareness of climate change and its vulnerability was surveyed with 154 citizens and 130 officials at Yeoungwol county. The climate change prospect and its vulnerability was similar to the actual climate change effect. However, the awareness of climate change was different between some officials and citizens. The results of this study would be base data for the Yeoungwol county's future climate change adaptation poicy making.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.57-70
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• 2011

Fisheries are subject to unexpected weather condition. While some change of it may be positive for some fisheries, the current state suggests that the effects will be undesirable for many fisheries. The aim of this study is to assess the vulnerability to climate change in 11 regional fisheries of Korea using the framework of IPCC. The vulnerability assessment depends upon the interrelation of three key elements; exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, which were derived from Analytical Hierarchy Process method in this study. These elements would contribute to comprehend relative importance at the regional characteristics of fisheries. We compared the vulnerability index of 11 regional fisheries so as to look for strategies and adaptation methods to the impacts of potential climate change. Jeoun-Nam, Kyeong-Nam, and Jeju are identified as the most vulnerable provinces to climate change on their fisheries because they have high level of sensitivity to predicted climate change and relatively low adaptive capacity. The relatively low vulnerability of Ulsan, Gyeonggi reflects high financial independence, well-equipped infrastructure, social capital in these regions. Understanding of vulnerability to climate change suggests future research directions. This paper will provide a guide to local policy makers and fisheries managers about vulnerability and adaptation planning to climate change.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.789-798
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• 2011

Climate change assessment, together with climate change adaptation process, would be one of the worldwide important issues, and the study on climate change vulnerability indicator has been an essential problem for climate change adaptation. Vulnerability indicator can be used as a good tool to estimate the impact of climate change and to map out the distribution of its vulnerability over the given area both in Korea and other countries. This study addressed the conceptual summary on the assessment of climate change and its adaptation process. Previous studies on how to yield the vulnerability indicators of climate change are reviewed and several previous results of vulnerability indicators applied to Korean provinces are also discussed here.

• 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 The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to evaluate climate change vulnerability over the agricultural infrastructure in terms of flood and drought using principal component analysis. Vulnerability was assessed using vulnerability resilience index (VRI) which combines climate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Ten flood proxy variables and six drought proxy variables for the vulnerability assessment were selected by opinions of researchers and experts. The statistical data on 16 proxy variables for the local governments (Si, Do) were collected. To identify major variables and to explain the trend in whole data set, principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted. The result of PCA showed that the first 3 principal components explained approximately 83 % and 89 % of the total variance for the flood and drought, respectively. VRI assessment for the local governments based on the PCA results indicated that provinces where having the relatively large cultivation areas were categorized as vulnerable to climate change.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2016

Climate change is the issue that attracts the most attention in the field of environment, as well as the most challenging task faced by the human race. There are various ways to resolve this issue. South Korea has established the primary and secondary national climate change adaptation plans at the national level, and is making it compulsory for each local government (lower and municipal-level) to establish climate change adaptation plans. Climate change vulnerability assessment plays an essential role in establishing climate change adaptation action plans. However, vulnerability assessment has a difficulty performing individual assessments since the results are produced through complex calculations of multiple impact factors. Accordingly, this study developed a web-based supporting tool(VESTAP) for climate change vulnerability assesment that can be used by lower and municipal-level local governments. The VESTAP consists of impact DB and vulnerability assessment and display tool. The index DB includes total 455 impacts of future climate data simulated with RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) 4.5 and 8.5, atmospheric environment data, other humanities and social statistics, and metadata. The display tool has maximized convenience by providing various analytical functions such as spatial distribution, bias and schematization of each vulnerability assessment result. A pilot test of health vulnerability assessment by particulate matters in Sejong Metropolitan Autonomous City was performed using the VESTAP, and Bukang-myeon showed the highest vulnerability. By using the developed tool, each local government is expected to be able to establish climate change adaptation action plans more easily and conveniently based on scientific evidence.