ID: 2029
Presenting Author: KIM DONGJOO
Session: 516 - Asian S3EA: Strategic, Spatial and Sustainable EA with effective information
Status: pending
This study develops a spatial model integrating climate suitability to support scientifically grounded tree transplant decisions in EIA, in an effort to address challenges in species selection.
In South Korea’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)process, developers are required to transplant at least 10% of trees affected by development. However, current selection practices primarily rely on physical criteria(e.g., diameter at breast height under 10 cm) with limited scientific guidance regarding species suitability. This lack of ecological criteriahas resulted in unavoidable problems. In several cases, pine trees were selected without considering site-specific regulations, such as pine wilt disease export-restricted zones. With relocation prohibited in these areas, the selected trees could not be transplanted and were ultimately discarded. To address these issues, this study proposes a spatial decision-support modelfor more informed species selectionin EIA contexts. Even though transplanted trees are actively managed, they remain subject to long-term climatic constraints. Therefore, the model incorporates future climate suitabilityinto the planning process. Using MaxEnt (a machine learning algorithm) modeling, the potential distribution of three native species (Machilus thunbergii, Stewartia pseudocamellia, and Taxus cuspidata) was projected under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 climate scenariosat decadal intervals from 2030 to 2090. Habitat suitability maps were categorized into five spatiotemporal types: Sustainable, Risk, Inflow, Lost, and Variable zones. The results may contribute to establishing a more informed, climate-responsive approachto transplant species selection, aligning ecological insights with regulatory planningin environmental assessments.
KIM DONG-JOO is an Environmental Planning Researcher focusing on integrating ecological insights into regulatory processes. His expertise includes EIA, spatial modeling, and climate change
Coauthor 1: SEO CHANGWAN