Forest management scenarios using Korean dynamic stand growth model considering the new climate change regime

Climate change is a global issue affecting our lives, surrounding environments, and socioeconomic sectors. Accordingly, the recently published IPCC sixth assessment report emphasizes the role of forests as a source of greenhouse gas sink and shows the importance of climate resilient development pathways (CRDPs). South Korea is also putting forth policies such as the ‘2030 NDC’ and ‘2050 LED’ and is trying to find sustainable forest management measures to respond to the new climate change regime. Therefore, this study sought strategic measures to solve problems such as age class imbalance and mortality increase due to climate change in forests using the Korean dynamic stand growth model. Furthermore, CRDP was selected through recently announced SSP climate data and policy-based forest management scenarios to respond to the new climate change regime. As a result, the climate scenario is SSP1, the forest management scenario is when clear-cut harvest according to the legal final cutting age and thinning is implemented about 200,000 ha, reforestation of appropriate species to respond to climate change, and access to the forest road is within 1km, it was found that the overall growth of the forest increased. Although the current growth of 4.3m³ ha^-1 decreases to 2.39m³ ha^-1 in 2050, it is predicted to increase to 3.16m³ ha^-1 in 2100 through the growth of species suitable for the climate and balance of age classes. In addition, it was analyzed to contribute to the increase in sequestration and carbon storage in logs due to harvest. In conclusion, this study is meaningful in that it presents a future strategy for responding to the new climate regime by reflecting the environmental and ecological characteristics of South Korea.