The Sustainability of Land use and Land cover changes (LULCC) in Korean peninsula

Land use and land cover changes (LULCC) as a part of ecosystems has a significant impact on carbon budget. According to IPCC, approximately 23% of carbon was emitted from the human activities in agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) from 2007 to 2016. However, land cover includes crucial sector for carbon stock, as well. The land cover consists of five categories which are used area, agricultural land, forest, grass, wet land, and barren. Among these categories, forest counts because of its capacity of carbon sequestration. It is essential to manage the land use and land cover changes effectively since it has lots of influences on carbon cycles. Also, the sustainable management of land use and land cover changes could contribute to reducing the carbon emissions such as preventing deforestation and revegetation. Therefore, this study aims at identifying the sustainability of land cover for four decades in Korean peninsula. We analysed the land cover maps in 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s to detect the general trends of land cover changes in South Korea and North Korea, respectively. Each country showed apparent discrepancy in land cover changes. Based on the individual land cover characteristics of both countries, we evaluated the land cover sustainability using hot spot analysis. This research figured out the limited land use in Korean peninsula and could contribute to improving land use management.