IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i8p1354-d106602.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Deforestation on Agro-Environmental Variables in Cropland, North Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Chul-Hee Lim

    (Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02481, Korea)

  • Yuyoung Choi

    (Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02481, Korea)

  • Moonil Kim

    (Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02481, Korea
    Ecosystem Services and Management Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria)

  • Seong Woo Jeon

    (Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02481, Korea)

  • Woo-Kyun Lee

    (Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02481, Korea)

Abstract

Deforestation in North Korea is becoming the epitome of the environmental change occurring in the Korean Peninsula. This study estimates the agro-environmental variables of North Korea’s croplands and analyzes the impact of deforestation using the GEPIC (GIS-based EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate)) model and time-series land cover maps. To identify the changes in agricultural quality under deforestation, wind erosion, water erosion, organic carbon loss, and runoff were selected as the agro-environmental variables having an impact on cropland stability and productivity. Land cover maps spanning the past three decades showed that 75% of the forests were converted to croplands and that 69% of all converted croplands were originally forests, confirming the significant correlation between deforestation and cropland expansion in North Korea. Despite limitations in the verification data, we conducted qualitative and quantitative validation of the estimated variables and confirmed that our results were reasonable. Over the past 30 years, agro-environmental variables showed no clear time-series changes resulting from climate change, but changes due to spatial differences were seen. Negative changes in organic carbon loss, water erosion, and runoff were observed, regardless of the crop type. On newly-converted agricultural lands, runoff is 1.5 times higher and water-driven erosion and soil organic loss are more than twice as high compared to older croplands. The results showed that the agro-environment affected by deforestation had an impact on cropland stability and productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Chul-Hee Lim & Yuyoung Choi & Moonil Kim & Seong Woo Jeon & Woo-Kyun Lee, 2017. "Impact of Deforestation on Agro-Environmental Variables in Cropland, North Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-19, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:8:p:1354-:d:106602
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/8/1354/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/8/1354/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kraemer, Roland & Prishchepov, Alexander V & Müller, Daniel & Kuemmerle, Tobias & Radeloff, Volker C & Dara, Andrey & Terekhov, Alexey & Frühauf, Manfred, 2015. "Long-term agricultural land-cover change and potential for cropland expansion in the former Virgin Lands area of Kazakhstan," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(5), pages 1-17.
    2. Liu, Junguo & Williams, Jimmy R. & Zehnder, Alexander J.B. & Yang, Hong, 2007. "GEPIC - modelling wheat yield and crop water productivity with high resolution on a global scale," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 478-493, May.
    3. Knisel, Walter G. & Turtola, Eila, 2000. "Gleams model application on a heavy clay soil in Finland," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 285-309, April.
    4. Rinaldi, Michele, 2001. "Application of EPIC model for irrigation scheduling of sunflower in Southern Italy," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 185-196, August.
    5. Ranjan Bhattacharyya & Birendra Nath Ghosh & Prasanta Kumar Mishra & Biswapati Mandal & Cherukumalli Srinivasa Rao & Dibyendu Sarkar & Krishnendu Das & Kokkuvayil Sankaranarayanan Anil & Manickam Lali, 2015. "Soil Degradation in India: Challenges and Potential Solutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-43, March.
    6. Chul-Hee Lim & Seung Hee Kim & Yuyoung Choi & Menas C. Kafatos & Woo-Kyun Lee, 2017. "Estimation of the Virtual Water Content of Main Crops on the Korean Peninsula Using Multiple Regional Climate Models and Evapotranspiration Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-17, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chul-Hee Lim & Yuyoung Choi & Moonil Kim & Soo Jeong Lee & Christian Folberth & Woo-Kyun Lee, 2018. "Spatially Explicit Assessment of Agricultural Water Equilibrium in the Korean Peninsula," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Chul-Hee Lim & Seung Hee Kim & Yuyoung Choi & Menas C. Kafatos & Woo-Kyun Lee, 2017. "Estimation of the Virtual Water Content of Main Crops on the Korean Peninsula Using Multiple Regional Climate Models and Evapotranspiration Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Yaqian He & Jieun Oh & Eungul Lee & Yaeone Kim, 2022. "Land Cover and Land Use Mapping of the East Asian Summer Monsoon Region from 1982 to 2015," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-21, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chul-Hee Lim & Yuyoung Choi & Moonil Kim & Soo Jeong Lee & Christian Folberth & Woo-Kyun Lee, 2018. "Spatially Explicit Assessment of Agricultural Water Equilibrium in the Korean Peninsula," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Chul-Hee Lim & Seung Hee Kim & Yuyoung Choi & Menas C. Kafatos & Woo-Kyun Lee, 2017. "Estimation of the Virtual Water Content of Main Crops on the Korean Peninsula Using Multiple Regional Climate Models and Evapotranspiration Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Ren, Dongyang & Xu, Xu & Engel, Bernard & Huang, Quanzhong & Xiong, Yunwu & Huo, Zailin & Huang, Guanhua, 2021. "A comprehensive analysis of water productivity in natural vegetation and various crops coexistent agro-ecosystems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    4. Dono, Gabriele & Cortignani, Raffaele & Doro, Luca & Giraldo, Luca & Ledda, Luigi & Pasqui, Massimiliano & Roggero, Pier Paolo, 2013. "Adapting to uncertainty associated with short-term climate variability changes in irrigated Mediterranean farming systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-12.
    5. Bin Huang & Zaijian Yuan & Mingguo Zheng & Yishan Liao & Kim Loi Nguyen & Thi Hong Nguyen & Samran Sombatpanit & Dingqiang Li, 2022. "Soil and Water Conservation Techniques in Tropical and Subtropical Asia: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-19, April.
    6. Zamani, Omid & Azadi, Hossein & Mortazavi, Seyed Abolghasem & Balali, Hamid & Moghaddam, Saghi Movahhed & Jurik, Lubos, 2021. "The impact of water-pricing policies on water productivity: Evidence of agriculture sector in Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    7. Scheierling, Susanne M. & Treguer, David O. & Booker, James F. & Decker, Elisabeth, 2014. "How to assess agricultural water productivity ? looking for water in the agricultural productivity and efficiency literature," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6982, The World Bank.
    8. Lohan, Shiv Kumar & Jat, H.S. & Yadav, Arvind Kumar & Sidhu, H.S. & Jat, M.L. & Choudhary, Madhu & Peter, Jyotsna Kiran & Sharma, P.C., 2018. "Burning issues of paddy residue management in north-west states of India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 693-706.
    9. Tiziano Gomiero, 2016. "Soil Degradation, Land Scarcity and Food Security: Reviewing a Complex Challenge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-41, March.
    10. Arjen Y. Hoekstra, 2017. "Water Footprint Assessment: Evolvement of a New Research Field," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 3061-3081, August.
    11. Drall, Anviksha & Mandal, Sabuj Kumar, 2021. "Investigating the existence of entry barriers in rural non-farm sector (RNFS) employment in India: A theoretical modelling and an empirical analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    12. Thomas, Timothy S., 2015. "US maize data reveals adaptation to heat and water stress:," IFPRI discussion papers 1485, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. Saw Min & Martin Rulík, 2020. "Comparison of Carbon Dioxide (CO 2 ) Fluxes between Conventional and Conserved Irrigated Rice Paddy Fields in Myanmar," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-19, July.
    14. Xiong, Wei & Balkovič, Juraj & van der Velde, Marijn & Zhang, Xuesong & Izaurralde, R. César & Skalský, Rastislav & Lin, Erda & Mueller, Nathan & Obersteiner, Michael, 2014. "A calibration procedure to improve global rice yield simulations with EPIC," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 273(C), pages 128-139.
    15. Chen, Ming & Kang, Yaohu & Wan, Shuqin & Liu, Shi-ping, 2009. "Drip irrigation with saline water for oleic sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(12), pages 1766-1772, December.
    16. María Jesús Beltrán & Esther Velázquez, 2011. "Del metabolismo social al metabolismo hídrico," Documentos de Trabajo de la Asociación de Economía Ecológica en España 01_2011, Asociación de Economía Ecológica en España.
    17. Gaiser, Thomas & Judex, Michael & Hiepe, Claudia & Kuhn, Arnim, 2010. "Regional simulation of maize production in tropical savanna fallow systems as affected by fallow availability," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(9), pages 656-665, November.
    18. Sheng, Meiling & Liu, Junzhi & Zhu, A-Xing & Rossiter, David G. & Zhu, Liming & Peng, Guoqiang, 2018. "Evaluation of CLM-Crop for maize growth simulation over Northeast China," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 377(C), pages 26-34.
    19. Zwart, Sander J. & Bastiaanssen, Wim G.M. & de Fraiture, Charlotte & Molden, David J., 2010. "WATPRO: A remote sensing based model for mapping water productivity of wheat," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(10), pages 1628-1636, October.
    20. Cinny Makkar & Jaswinder Singh & Chander Parkash & Sharanpreet Singh & Adarsh Pal Vig & Salwinder Singh Dhaliwal, 2023. "Vermicompost acts as bio-modulator for plants under stress and non-stress conditions," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 2006-2057, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:8:p:1354-:d:106602. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.