The Full Picture

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KoFlux contribution to GEOSS:

HydroKorea II and CarboEastAsia

Joon Kim, Department of Atmospheric Sciences & Global Environmental Laboratory,

Yonsei University, Seoul; Sung Kim, Sustainable Water Resources Research Center/KICT, Korea

n-hyuk Choi always knew there was something special

about being in nature. But it took several years after his

trips to developing countries in Africa, the Middle East,

and Asia to discover what was so special about it. His encoun-

ters with numerous people in desperate need had completely

changed his

Weltanschauung

(world view). And Choi, who was

trained as a hydrogeologist through the HydroKorea project

with Yonsei University, has begun to serve as an ‘Informed

Steward’ in Kenya by practicing what he learned from classes

and laboratories.

Now, Choi leads a non-governmental organization (‘Team &

Team’) as water and sanitation coordinator – cleaning, rehabili-

tating and repairing wells and pumps to provide clean water to

more than 50 villages in Kenya. “What we really lack in Turkana

and Garissa isn’t water,” he says. “It’s water management. The

people are poor, they have poor water quality, and their animals are

dying at a worrying rate. The environment here is collapsing due

to population pressure.”

Fifteen years ago Anthes (1993), the president of the University

Corporation for Atmospheric Research, projected the accountability of

scientists in shaping the quality of human life on Earth in the 21st

century and beyond. He used a metaphor known as the ‘global trajec-

tory,’ pointing out a modern version of the ‘Four horsemen of the

Apocalypse.’ These four death-dealers are: overpopulation, unsustain-

able economic development, poverty and environmental degradation.

Driven by the first three horsemen, our environment has worsened over

the last three decades. The concept of global trajectory forces us, as stew-

ards of the Earth, to make certain assumptions and then to project the

trajectory into the future. Having comprehended further the unknowns

and the uncertainties in global change science and history, we are chal-

lenged to participate proactively in this escalating battleground as leaders

and stewards – people who are willing and able to make tough yet

informed choices that will protect our planet and its people.

The present disturbance in our Earth system calls for

pressing attention from every discipline towards coping

with one another. One of the main concerns is the

potential role of terrestrial ecosystems under such

unparalleled environmental changes in the history of

human civilization. The scope of this question is very

broad and deep due to close linkage and feedback mech-

anism in the fundamental processes with wide ranges

of spatiotemporal scales. Clearly, this requires new scien-

tific approaches and syntheses that cross both

geographic and disciplinary boundaries, with particu-

lar emphasis on cycles of energy, water and carbon as

an integral part of the human-environment system. In

this context, terrestrial ecosystems in the Asian conti-

nent play a unique role due to dramatic alterations in

land use and cover change through an alarming rate of

economic developments. This is further complicated by

the growing evidence that global climate changes, partic-

ularly over the Asian region covered by the seasonal

brown clouds, could be significantly modified along

with subsequent changes in hydrological cycles.

Water and carbon are essential for life. They circulate

on Earth, and the past and today’s world exhibits clear

evidence of the significant influence of their cycling on

the global climate and the growth of human civilization.

The cyclic nature of water at the local scale is clearly

manifested in one of the longest precipitation records

for Seoul, Korea. At first glance, the precipitation of

Seoul has recurring dry and wet periods with a notably

severe drought from 1884 to 1910. If the climate does

cycle, should we not expect another brutal and

prolonged drought in the very near future? In fact, the

more important question is how much impact our

human activities are having on this water cycle. The

answer is clearer in the case of carbon, where the

couplings between water and carbon cycles signify the

implication. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC) Working Group 1 (WG1) Fourth

Assessment Report warns that a range of forcing, origi-

nating from human activities, is expected to have

planet-wide effects and perturb biogeochemical cycles

of the Earth system. Furthermore, some systems, sectors

and regions of less-developed countries would be partic-

ularly vulnerable to climate changes.

From the cowardice that dares not face new truth,

From the laziness that is contented with half-truth,

From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,

Good Lord, deliver me. Amen.

Prayer from Kenya

GEOSS C

OMPONENTS

– O

BSERVING

YSTEMS