We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Politics of forest fragmentation: a multiscale analysis on the change in the structure of forest landscape in the North and South Korean border region.
- Authors
Sung, Chan Yong; Park, Cheon-Bo; Kim, Jong-Sub
- Abstract
In this paper, we examine the changes in forest structures in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and surrounding areas with different civilian access restrictions in the North and South Korean border region during a 23-year study period from 1992 to 2015 (four to six decades after the end of the Korean War). Forest maps were derived from Landsat images, and forest structures were assessed at multiple spatial scales using lacunarity analysis. The results show that the forest structures changed over the 23-year study period, but the directions of change varied according to the degrees of access restriction. Strict access restriction to the DMZ mitigated small-scale forest fragmentation because forests were regenerated on abandoned farmlands. In spite of the small-scale forest regeneration, infrastructure development associated with the economic cooperation between North and South Koreas in the 2000s aggravated large-scale forest fragmentation in the DMZ. Forest fragmentation was even more serious in the surrounding areas where civilian access is allowed because of farmland and suburban developments. These findings reveal the need to adopt a land use regulation system, such as transboundary protected areas, in the North and South Korean border region, to prevent deforestation under the present divided condition as well as under the one after Korean reunification.
- Subjects
FOREST management; BORDER irrigation; KOREAN Demilitarized Zone (Korea); TRANSFRONTIER conservation areas; KOREAN reunification question (1945- )
- Publication
Regional Environmental Change, 2019, Vol 19, Issue 1, p137
- ISSN
1436-3798
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10113-018-1394-7