Residents in Jeju island have built a close relationship with Mt. Halla, and they have taken advantage of the ecosystem by gaining food, educating people, and hiking the mountain. The mountain has given natural resources and enjoyments to humans. Unfortunately, humans have not given back positive impacts on the mountain. Rather, humans have negatively influenced the mountain's ecosystem. Today, I would like to introduce what kind of negative impacts humans have done to the mountain.
* Economic activities (development of various industries)
As people in Jeju Island have broadened their economic activities, the human impact on Mt. Halla's ecosystem has also increased. People mainly use middle part of the Mt. Halla and the mountain’s surrounding area for agriculture, farming, forestry and tourism. Fortunately, these industries are not fully developed - they are steadily broadening their activities - so the impact is not as ugly as that in the Korean peninsula. But we should still be aware of the possible environmental harm.
As people in Jeju Island have broadened their economic activities, the human impact on Mt. Halla's ecosystem has also increased. People mainly use middle part of the Mt. Halla and the mountain’s surrounding area for agriculture, farming, forestry and tourism. Fortunately, these industries are not fully developed - they are steadily broadening their activities - so the impact is not as ugly as that in the Korean peninsula. But we should still be aware of the possible environmental harm.
Tangerine farming in Mt. Halla
http://jejuqueen.tistory.com/entry/감귤농장-방문
* Hiking
Hiking is one of the activities that many people do in Mt. Halla. Humans have damaged the ecosystem not
only by economic activities but also by hiking. Nowadays, Mt. Halla has gained
its value as one of the most beautiful hiking courses. As more people have
begun to use Mt. Halla for hiking, damages on the mountain’s ecosystem, such as
soil loss, soil erosion, demolition of the ground, and damages on vegetation by
trampling, have increased.
*Climate Change - Global Warming
Fortunately, the preservation status of the mountain is fairly good compared to other ecosystems in the world. This is contributed to local and global effort to preserve the ecosystem. Next time, I would like to talk about what is done to preserve the beautiful Mt. Halla on both the local and world scales. Thank you!
*Climate Change - Global Warming
Though the mountain is generally known to be dominated by deciduous trees, other kinds of plants, such as conifers and alpine plants, grow as altitude gets higher. Woo-Seok Kong published an article about the distribution of alpine plants in Mt. Halla in 1998. He pointed out that alpine plants in Mt. Halla, some of which are endemic to the region or endangered, are predicted to become extinct. This is because there is no appropriate corridor
or refuge for those plants to move to when the temperature gets warmer. I understand global warming is a natural part of earth's climate change, but I put this content under human impact section because it is undeniable that humans affect climate to change faster than it supposed to be.
Fortunately, the preservation status of the mountain is fairly good compared to other ecosystems in the world. This is contributed to local and global effort to preserve the ecosystem. Next time, I would like to talk about what is done to preserve the beautiful Mt. Halla on both the local and world scales. Thank you!
<References>
Jung, Kwang-Joong, et al. The series for Mt. Halla: Human Geography of
Mt. Halla. Jeju: Gak, 2006. Web.
Jung, Kwang-Joong, et al. The series for Mt. Halla: History and
remains of Mt. Halla. Jeju: Gak, 2006. Web.
Kong,
Woo-Seok. “The Distributional Patterns of Alpine Plants of Mt. Halla, Cheju
Island, Korea.” Journal of the Korean Geographical Society (1998): 191 – 208. Web.
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