Evaluation of the function of suppressing changes in land use and carbon storage in green belts

The carbon storage function is an important ecosystem service negatively affected by land-use changes. Recently, the establishment and management of protected areas have emerged as a policy tool for climate change mitigation. As such, this study attempts to analyze the effect of Korea's development restriction zones (green belts, GBs) to suppress urban expansion and aid in climate change mitigation. The effect was analyzed by simulating future land use and carbon storage changes based on whether a GB was set up. The development regulatory and Free Development Scenarios were set as scenarios, and the results were compared. The analysis showed GBs affect carbon storage in two ways – carbon sink and urban growth inhibition. This study suggests that GB regions could contribute to climate change mitigation by serving as current carbon storage reservoirs and securing future carbon storage while also suppressing urban expansion, identified to be an existing function of the GBs.