Short biography:
Prof. Woo-Kyun Lee finished his PhD course at the College of Forestry at Goettingen University in Germany. His research focuses mainly on forest planning, forest growth model, climate change impact assessment and adaptation. He is also an expert in GIS/RS (Geographic Information System/Remote Sensing), and spatial data analysis.
He is currently a Professor at the Division of Environment Science & Ecological Engineering at Korea University. He is also the Director of BK21+ Eco-Leader Education Center and Environmental GIS/RS Center, Korea University.
He served as President of Korean Society of Forest Management Information and currently serves as President of Korean Society of Climate Change, Vice President of Remote Sensing Society, and Co-Director of SDSN Korea.
Research interests: Assessing Impact and Vulnerability in Environmental Sectors (especially Agriculture, Forest Ecosystem, Urban Area) in relation to Climate Change and Carbon Cycle and preparing Vulnerability Map with different spatial scale for making Adaptation and Mitigation Measures in National and Local Level. Assessing Ecosystem Services (Support, Provision, Regulation, Culture) using GIS and Spatial Analysis and preparing Ecosystem Service Map for reasonable Decision-making in Environmental sectors.
Abstract:
Korean peninsula is located over the latitude of 38 in Asia. This region is characterized as temperate climate zone with relatively low precipitation. South Korea can be also characterized as high-densed country with population density of 400 people per square km. And almost 25 % of Korean People live in Seoul and 40 % in Seoul and surrounding area. While South Korean forest with 65% of land area and agricultural area with 20% of land area is intensively managed and relatively well maintained, North Korean forest is severely degraded and causing negative impact on agricultural area and livelihood. Mid-latitude region including Korean peninsula, northern China, Central Asian countries, and mediterranean region has same problems of water shortage, food and energy supply with low precipitation in temperate climatic zone. This water-food-energy shortage bring about land use conflicts and has caused to land cover degradation. Severe climatic conditions as drought, heat, and heavy rain with climate change also is worsening condition in land cover and ecosystem degradation in Mid-latitude ecotone. We found that most of Mid-latitude countries is still in degradation phase in terms of land cover development, while European countries manage their land use and cover with sustainable strategies. So we recognized that the climate change adaptation strategies in Mid-latitude should be prepared with sustainable land use or land cover management strategies focusing on sustainable water-food-energy supply chain.
Arranged date for the seminar talk: Aug 25, 2017