산림탄소상쇄제도의 사업참여자 인식 및 현황 분석 = Investigation of Korean Forest Carbon Offset Program : Current Status and Cognition of Program Participants

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

To raise awareness of carbon reduction in climate change, the Korea Forest Service has developed and adopted a forest carbon offset program, which aims to reduce carbon levels based on forest management. However, to maintain the forest carbon offset program, challenges such as the lack of a forest monitoring system to manage and maintain the program, must be faced. In this context, we investigated the limitations of conducting forest carbon offset programs using a number of interview techniques, including in-depth interview and questionnaire survey methods. The questionnaire surveys were developed based on the results of a literature review along with a preinterview and in-depth survey of the people in charge of the forest carbon offset program. The Irving Seidman technique was adopted for the in-depth interviews. Additionally, descriptive and frequency analyses were conducted to identify the characteristics of perception. Lastly, logistic regression was used to identify the limiting factors that affect the willingness to perform forest carbon offset monitoring activity. Results showed that the project managers or people in charge of the forest carbon offset program lacked expertise in forest carbon offset programs, which negatively affected their willingness to perform monitoring activity. Additionally, the study revealed a number of limiting factors that hindered the monitoring of forest carbon offset projects. Improving understanding using the approaches presented in this study may contribute to increasing the benefits associated with the forest carbon offset program in South Korea.