The environmental contribution of South Korea's domestic timber supply chains is gaining increasing attention amid efforts toward sustainable forest management and a low-carbon economy. Although undisturbed forests store more carbon in the short term, the long-term climate mitigation potential of timber utilization, especially through product substitution and carbon storage, can surpass that of preservation of forests. This study assessed how different timber utilization scenarios and by-product strategies affect environmental benefits, focusing on carbon storage and substitution effects. Using sawing simulation models and empirical stand data for larch (Larix kaempferi), the study compared environmental outcomes across scenarios involving the production of temporary construction lumber, general lumber, and structural lumber. The analysis revealed that producing high-value products such as structural lumber resulted in environmental benefits approximately 3 to 7 times greater than those of temporary construction lumber. This enhancement was primarily driven by significantly higher substitution effect of structural-grade products. Furthermore, utilizing by-products for bioplastic production enhanced environmental benefits by up to 17 to 20 times compared to conventional applications. These findings underscore the importance of integrating both primary timber and by-product utilization strategies to maximize the environmental benefits of domestic timber resources. The results will contribute to designing sustainable timber utilization strategies that support South Korea's transition to a renewable and low-carbon bioeconomy.
As a consequence of climate change, forest fires are increasingly threatening Europe's forest ecosystems, including regions where such events have historically been rare, such as Central and Northern Europe. Remote sensing technologies now offer innovative methods for analyzing and collecting data on fire activity, providing valuable insights for both researchers and practitioners. This study analyzes novel data from the Sentinel 5-P TROPOMI satellite to monitor chemical emission during the largest fire in modern Czech, which occurred in the Czech Switzerland National Park. We evaluated the responses of individual data products using the changepoint package in R and a space-time cube with change-point analysis in ArcGIS Pro. The carbon monoxide (CO) data product provided significant differences in the emission plume during the fire compared to the unaffected areas. Our analysis identified an affected area of approximately 27,000 hectares, and the infestation lasted 6 days from the fire outbreak. Satellite observations indicated a 37.6% increase in CO emissions during the first three days of the fire, and an 18.5% increase in CO during the fourth to sixth days of the fire compared to background data. This mapping approach offers a valuable tool for post-disturbance assessment and strategic planning.
