[Jung Wook-Sik Column] Inter-Korean Forest Cooperation and 'Vigilant Ace'
Registration: 2021-11-22
To offset the amount of carbon emitted by 200 military aircraft, we need to plant 450,000 trees
.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at the 26th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) held in Glasgow, England, on November 10 (local time). DPA/Yonhap News
----
“The apocalyptic clock shows one minute before midnight.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at the opening ceremony of the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) held in Glasgow, England, in early November. "Humanity has long used up the remaining time on climate change," he said. "If we don't take climate change seriously today, it will be too late for our children tomorrow to do so."
As if in response to these appeals, various measures were poured out to cope with climate change at this meeting. However, the attempt to close the 'giant hollow' did not work well in this meeting. Although military activities around the world account for about 6% of total greenhouse gas emissions, the military sector is still left as an exception.
Looking at the two landscapes in early November, the reality of North and South Korea is also bitter. At the 26th COP summit, President Moon Jae-in announced his plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the Korean Peninsula through inter-Korean forestry cooperation, urging North Korea to respond. North Korea's Kim Jong-un regime, which is known to have degraded about 28% of the total forest as of 2018, is also very interested in forest restoration. Accordingly, inter-Korean forest cooperation has been regarded as a powerful inter-Korean cooperation project, and its necessity is further emphasized in terms of coping with climate change.
However, the reality of the two Koreas is that 'forest cooperation' is far from being and the 'arms race' is intensifying. There is a scene that shows this well. When President Moon Jae-in was emphasizing the necessity of coping with climate change and inter-Korean forestry cooperation in Glasgow, about 200 military planes were flying over South Korea. South Korea and the United States conducted a joint aerial exercise called 'Vigilant Ace' from November 1 to 5. The amount of greenhouse gas emitted by about 200 cars is considerable.
It is impossible to know how much greenhouse gas emissions were emitted by the military aircraft participating in this exercise as the South Korean and US governments did not disclose it. However, a rough estimate can be made. According to the results of analysis by a research team at Brown University's 'War Cost Project' based on data from the Ministry of Energy, the maximum fuel capacity of the F-35A is about 10,000 liters, and the A-10, a close air support aircraft, is about 6,000 liters. In addition, when these military aircraft were not refueled in the air and used their maximum on-board fuel, carbon emissions were analyzed to be 27.9 metric tons and 17.5 metric tons, respectively.
Assume that 200 military planes mobilized for Vigilant Ace training used an average of 5,000 liters of fuel per unit and emitted 15 metric tons of carbon per unit. According to Brown University's analysis and these assumptions, the amount of carbon emitted by military aircraft during this training period reached 3,000 metric tons. This is equivalent to the amount of carbon emitted by 1,700 vehicles in one year.
So, how many trees do you need to plant to offset this? According to the Korea Forest Research Institute, a 30-year-old pine tree absorbs 6.6 kg of carbon per year. According to this, about 450,000 trees would need to be planted to offset the 3,000 metric tons of carbon emitted by Vigilant Ace training.
This reality tells us that 'cooperation' for coping with climate change and 'competition' for arms, including military training, are difficult to reconcile. The more large-scale military exercises are conducted, the more distant inter-Korean forestry cooperation becomes. Conversely, this means that reducing military activity can contribute not only to reducing carbon emissions but also to inter-Korean cooperation.
As the corona crisis continues, human society faces two serious challenges. One is 'climate change', which is moving from crisis to disaster, and the other is 'New Cold War' that is once again spreading across the globe as the strategic competition between the US and China becomes sharper. And the two are not separated, and the future of the Korean Peninsula, trapped in the trap of the Cold War, cannot be free from it. This is the reason why 'Green Détente' is proposed as a new countermeasure against climate change and the new Cold War. And that is why we are appealing to start this on the Korean Peninsula.
Wook-Sik Jung, Director of the Hankyoreh Peace Research Institute and CEO of Peace Network
원문보기:
https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/politics/defense/1020205.html?fbclid=IwAR3vjKtMCwgmA93XIHMLEMTgsxntLpBGPidNY0I9iEdUa_x0XqsO49RWJq8#csidxd79f110c7a820cdac6d8f3d7c4ccf39
No comments:
Post a Comment