Abstract
Ecological damage refers to the reduction in the value of the environment due to human activities such as development. The intensity of ecosystem damage is worsening worldwide. Although the importance of restoration projects to reduce ecosystem damage is increasing, they are difficult to carry out, owing to the absence of data and monitoring of damaged areas. In this study, ecologically damaged areas for restoration in South Korea were detected using remote sensing and field surveys. For the analysis, national standardized vector datasets and Google Earth images were used; field surveys were conducted from 2018 to early 2020. Our results showed that 62% of the ecological damage that occurred in South Korea existed in forest ecosystems; the damaged areas were mostly smaller than 50,000 m2 . Additionally, most of the causes and types of damage due to human activities such as development were soil erosion related. The results also suggest the importance of obtaining monitoring data on ecologically damaged areas and the importance of establishing an appropriate restoration plan using this data.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 3687 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-18 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Remote Sensing |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 22 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2020 Nov 2 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding: This research was supported by the Korea Environment Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI) grant (No. 2018000210006), funded by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE).
Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Korea Environment Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI) grant (No. 2018000210006), funded by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords
- Ecological degradation
- Field survey
- Remote sensing
- Restoration
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences