Calculating total urban forest volume considering the carbon cycle in an urban area – focusing on the city of Chuncheon in South Korea.

Abstract

With the recent threat of climate change, the issue of carbon emission mitigation has become one of the fastest growing international agendas. The major cause of pan-international climate change is the increase of CO2 intensity in the atmosphere. It is possible, nonetheless, to sustain the carbon cycle when green plants, the only organic sink, exist in proper quantity. The main purpose of this current study is to quantitatively analyze the urban forest volume required to absorb carbon from a densely populated area. The study calculates CO2 emissions and uptake by urban forest volume in a given area, as well as the total urban forest volume required to absorb all of the emitted CO2. In a survey in the city of Chuncheon, the volume of CO2 emissions and that of the CO2 that can be absorbed was 2,211,586.74 and 30,455.48 tons, respectively, which means that approximately 2,181,129.26 additional tons need to be absorbed by urban forest volume. By the second-grade vegetation standard, it is necessary to secure 101,921.93 ha of coniferous forest, 103,371.06 ha of broad-leaved forest, or 103,863.30 ha of mixed forest. The urban area within the city of Chuncheon covers only 5303.04 ha, which clearly implies that urban forest alone cannot absorb the CO2 emissions in the area. Therefore, it follows that additional mitigation efforts need to be taken along with securing as much urban forest as possible.