By Kim Se-jeong
North Korea has become a major greenhouse gas-emitter because many mountains there are left "treeless," a study showed Tuesday.
Chronic poverty is the primary reason for rampant logging in the North Korean mountains. Poverty-stricken people and the military have cut trees to create land for cultivation, or to use wood for heating and cooking. And many treeless mountains are left abandoned without new trees being planted.
According to Professor Lee Woo-kyun of Korea University, since 2000 North Korea has emitted 0.04 tons of carbon per hectare annually because forests there could not absorb carbon.
Up until then, carbon was completely absorbed by the forests ― 0.83 tons in the 1980s and 0.23 tons in the 1990s.
"Absorbing greenhouse gas is forests' important role. Many countries have enough forests to protect the environment from carbon, but that is not the case in North Korea," Lee said, calling for worldwide attention to address the problem.
Lee's team obtained the results by analyzing carbon generation data that covered the span of 30 years, between 1981 and 2010. A complete version of the report will be presented Wednesday at an ongoing Global Carbon Project meeting in Seoul.
It's not a surprise that mountains in North Korea are becoming barren, but this result carries implications in that it presents environmental impacts.
A large portion of North Korea's land is covered by mountains. According to Korea Forest Service, it's almost 73 percent.
The situation worsened in mid-1990s after North Korea founder Kim Il-sung died, and the country was hit by large-scale floods, the report showed.
The Korea Forest Service also raised an alarm for the environmental impact of treeless mountains in North Korea.
In its latest report, the agency said, between 1999 and 2008, a total of 1.21 hectares of mountains were destroyed. That means about 32 percent of mountains in North Korea is now devastated.
The report also cited logging as the prime reason for devastation. This also makes North Korea more vulnerable to natural disasters.
Last year, a non-profit organization Germanwatch placed North Korea seventh on its global climate risk index.
North Korea has become a major greenhouse gas-emitter because many mountains there are left "treeless," a study showed Tuesday.
Chronic poverty is the primary reason for rampant logging in the North Korean mountains. Poverty-stricken people and the military have cut trees to create land for cultivation, or to use wood for heating and cooking. And many treeless mountains are left abandoned without new trees being planted.
According to Professor Lee Woo-kyun of Korea University, since 2000 North Korea has emitted 0.04 tons of carbon per hectare annually because forests there could not absorb carbon.
Up until then, carbon was completely absorbed by the forests ― 0.83 tons in the 1980s and 0.23 tons in the 1990s.
"Absorbing greenhouse gas is forests' important role. Many countries have enough forests to protect the environment from carbon, but that is not the case in North Korea," Lee said, calling for worldwide attention to address the problem.
Lee's team obtained the results by analyzing carbon generation data that covered the span of 30 years, between 1981 and 2010. A complete version of the report will be presented Wednesday at an ongoing Global Carbon Project meeting in Seoul.
It's not a surprise that mountains in North Korea are becoming barren, but this result carries implications in that it presents environmental impacts.
A large portion of North Korea's land is covered by mountains. According to Korea Forest Service, it's almost 73 percent.
The situation worsened in mid-1990s after North Korea founder Kim Il-sung died, and the country was hit by large-scale floods, the report showed.
The Korea Forest Service also raised an alarm for the environmental impact of treeless mountains in North Korea.
In its latest report, the agency said, between 1999 and 2008, a total of 1.21 hectares of mountains were destroyed. That means about 32 percent of mountains in North Korea is now devastated.
The report also cited logging as the prime reason for devastation. This also makes North Korea more vulnerable to natural disasters.
Last year, a non-profit organization Germanwatch placed North Korea seventh on its global climate risk index.
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