Tong-Mahn Ahn

Carbon Emission Study of Transplanting Large Trees from Gangwon Province to Seoul

Korean housing developers are in a very competitive market and their way of attracting buyers is landscaping better than competing firms do. Thus, transplanting larger pine trees(Pinus densiflora S. et. Z.) is in vogue. A typical case is a pine tree about 30-year old, 35 diameters at breast height, transplanted 223 km afar from the Gangwon Province to Seoul. We estimated and compared carbon emissions during the whole transplanting works, and carbon intake by the tree if it survives 50 more years on site. Findings are; first, a large tree will take up and sequestrate approximately 90 kgC if it survives 50 more years. Second, transplanting works emit approximately 113.69 kgC, which is about 1.26 times of its possible future intake of carbon. Landscaping is a legal requirement for the purposes not only of aesthetics but also of environmental quality. Transplanting larger trees that came from a dam or a road building site may be inevitable and acceptable. However, transplanting larger trees long distance was evaluated to be harmful to the environment. It is strongly recommended to prohibit transplanting large trees. Landscape professionals need to guide clients to have desirable consumer attitude.