Abstract
Afforestation of forests in South Korea may provide an example of the benefit of afforestation on precipitation storage and erosion control. In this study, we presented the effects of afforestation on water supply and soil loss prevention. A spatio-temporal simulation of forest water yield and soil loss was performed from 1971–2010 using InVEST water yield and SWAT models. A forest stock change map was produced by combining land cover data and National Forest Inventory data. The forest water yield increased about twice with changes in forest stock and climate from 1971–2010 and showed a spatially homogeneous water supply capacity. In the same period, the soil loss decreased more than three times, and the volatility of soil loss, in the 2010s, was smaller than before. The analysis of the change in forest stock without considering climate change showed an increase of 43% in forest water yield and a decrease of 87% in soil loss. An increase in precipitation increased the water yield, but also increased the soil loss volume. A change in forest stock led to positive changes in both. This study presents functional positive effects of the afforestation program in South Korea that can be useful in various afforestation programs in other countries.
Highlights
Forest has many diverse environmental functions, and afforestation is the most effective way to promote and restore environmental functions and ecosystems [1,2,3]
Water supply potential is the difference between the annual precipitation and actual evapotranspiration (AET) of the forest area, which means the maximum amount of water that can be supplied by forests
Since precipitation in forests represents the total amount of water input and AET represents the total amount of water used by forests, the difference can be defined as the amount supplied by forests
Summary
Forest has many diverse environmental functions, and afforestation is the most effective way to promote and restore environmental functions and ecosystems [1,2,3]. South Korea is one of the four countries and the only (former) developing country that has a successful history of forest rehabilitation following World War II [6]. The success of afforestation promotes the diverse functions of forests and affects national security by focusing on disaster reduction and water supply issues [7,8]. Many studies have analyzed the effects of forestation in Korea, but most focused only on forestry or carbon uptake issues [9,10,11]. It is necessary to quantitatively analyze the carbon uptake, and the effects derived from forest functions
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