This study evaluated the feasibility of integrating the carbon storage of grasslands in Gangwon province into the InVEST carbon storage and sequestration model using large-scale digital land cover maps. Land cover maps from 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010, obtained from the Environmental Geographic Information Service, were analyzed, with 28 maps examined for each year. Grassland carbon storage in Gangwon province was estimated through the InVEST software. The findings indicated that the grassland area showed an increase in 1990, followed by a declining trend, contrasting with the continuous reduction observed in actual managed grassland areas. Discrepancies between mapped and managed grassland areas were attributed to the classification criteria of the land cover maps, which included non-forage land uses such as golf courses, ski resorts, and green spaces, resulting in overestimations of grassland areas. To enhance accuracy, the adoption of land cover maps with refined grassland classification criteria is necessary. Accurate representation of grassland areas in land cover maps is critical for reliable estimation of grassland carbon storage using the InVEST software.

Emission reduction of CH4 (methane gas) from rice paddy soil is a very important measure for climate change mitigation in agricultural sector. In this study, we investigated the changes in crop yield and CH4 emissions in response to application of biochar and fertilizers. The experimental site is located in Hwasung, Kyunggido and experimental design is the split-plot method with three replicates. Treatments included rice straw (RS) and biochar (BC) amendments nested with the conventional NPK fertilizer (NPK) and slow release fertilizer (SRF). Control was also prepared with the soil with the conventional NPK fertilization with no amendment. Measurement of CH4 emission was conducted during the growing season of 2014 using a dynamic chamber method. The results showed that application of rice straw increased daily CH4 emission rate by 15%, while application of biochar reduced daily CH4 emission rate by 38%. When we combined biochar application with slow release fertilizer, CH4 emission was reduced by 45%. Further, the crop yield was also increased in all treatments compared with the control except for the treatment of rice straw application with slow release fertilizer. Overall results imply that biochar amendment to agricultural soil can be an effective strategy to decrease annual CH4 emission with no reduction in crop yield.

Biochar amendment to agricultural soil is regarded as a promising option to mitigateclimate change and enhance soil quality. It could sequester more carbon within the soil systemand increase plant yield by changing soil physicochemical characteristics. However, sustainableuse of biochar requires comprehensive environmental assessment. In this sense, it is important tomeasure additional greenhouse gas emission from soils after biochar addition. We investigatedemissions of CO2, N2O, and CH4from incubated soils collected from rice paddy and cultivatedgrassland after amendment of 3% biochar(wt.) produced from rice chaff. During incubation,soils were exposed to three wet-dry cycles ranging from 5~~85% soil gravimetric water content(WC) to investigate the changes in effect of biochar when influenced by different water levels. TheCO2emission was reduced in biochar treatment compared to the control at WC of 30~~70% bothin rice paddy and grassland soils. This indicates that biochar could function as a stabilizer for soilorganic carbon and it can be effective in carbon sequestration. The N2O emission was alsoreduced from the grassland soil treated with biochar when WC was greater than 30% because thebiochar treated soils had lower denitrification due to better aeration. In the rice paddy soil,biochar addition resulted in decrease in N2O emission when WC was greater than 70%, while anincrease was noted when WC was between 30~~70%. This increase might be related to the factthat available nutrients on biochar surface stimulated existing nitrifying bacterial community,resulting in higher N2O emission. Overall results imply that biochar amendment to agriculturalsoil can stabilize soil carbon from fast decomposition although attention should be paid toadditional N2O emission when biochar addition is combined with the application of nitrogenfertilizer.