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AI reshapes conservation efforts for Korea’s ecological backbone
Mount Jiri / Courtesy of the National Institute of Forest Science
By Lee Kyung-min
Korea is turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to protect its most critical ecological asset from the accelerating threats of the climate crisis.
The National Institute of Forest Science (NIFOS), an agency under the Korea Forest Service, announced a major technological initiative to systematically assess and safeguard the Baekdudaegan. This vast mountain system spans the length of the Korean Peninsula and serves as the region's core ecological spine and a critical sanctuary for biodiversity.
The initiative leverages decades of comprehensive datasets accumulated by the state, including the National Forest Inventory and the Baekdudaegan Resource Status Change Survey. After aggregating this massive volume of data, researchers applied advanced statistical techniques alongside nine distinct machine-learning models.
The result is a highly sophisticated, predictive mapping system detailing the distribution of 989 distinct biological species across the mountain range. This allows conservationists to analyze and categorize biodiversity health levels across the entire Baekdudaegan territory at a glance.
Korean forest officials anticipate that these precise, AI-generated insights will fundamentally reshape environmental planning. The data will dictate immediate priorities for forest conservation and ecosystem restoration, identify candidates for other effective area-based conservation measures, and optimize ecological corridor management.
To introduce these findings, NIFOS hosted a field forum to demonstrate how big data and AI are transitioning South Korea toward a digital, highly targeted forest management infrastructure.
"The Baekdudaegan is an invaluable ecological asset that we must pass down entirely intact to future generations," said Kim Su-jin, a senior researcher at the NIFOS Forest Ecosystem Division. "By actively integrating advanced technologies like artificial intelligence into forest science, we plan to preemptively counter climate and biodiversity crises while pioneering the digital transformation of smart forest management."
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.