Blog Part 3
The overall consensus of the Regional Climate Projections is that precipitation and Temperature will go up.  In all seasons Precipitation is set to increase in Korea but the season effected the most will be winter.  Winter-time precipitation rates will increase in all Asian regions except central Asia.  Temperature will also increase over the next 100 years.  Asia with its extensive coastal areas will experience greater than average warming, an estimated 3.3C increase.  While there is consensus over the increase in heat and precipitation, there is less consensus between what the effects will be on the monsoonal flows.  Links have been found between Eurasian snow cover and monsoonal strength.  The less the snow cover the greater the monsoon strength.  On the other hand a weaker ocean circulation and high amounts of aerosols may have to opposite effect. 

The Impacts and Vulnerabilities of the East Asian region in the 2007 IPCC report are quite grim.  The availability of freshwater decreasing and the population increasing coupled with the higher standards of living will make fresh water a scarce commodity.  Coastal areas will be at a greater risk of flooding bringing with a higher risk of mortality due to diseases associated with flooding.  Crop yields in the area are projected to increase 20% by 2050 but with population growth, urbanization and industrialization may offset these gains.

The IPCC Executive Report on Asia is mixed with High Confidence and Medium Confidence markers for climate change.  The High Confidence effects are “Marine and Coastal ecosystems in Asia are likely to be affected by sea-level rise and temperature increases,” due to the mixture of fresh and saltwater in coastal areas, waters will become brackish and unable to support the life it once did.  “Future climate change is likely to continue to adversely affect the human health in Asia,” the increase in diseases associated with climate change and increase in the coastal water temperatures will increase the toxicity and abundance of Cholera.  And finally, “Multiple stresses in Asia will be compounded further due to climate change,” due to the urbanization, industrialization, and increased population will put further stresses on the fragile balance South Korea now has.

This photo shows the populations centers of  Korea
Picture stolen from http://www.cotf.edu/ete/images/modules/korea/Koreapopulation.gif

It seems that with the industrialization of South Korea there has been a domino effect of worsening climate change.  With more and more Koreans flocking to the cities and leaving the farms for the benefit of a higher quality of life that benefit comes at the cost of higher rates of consumption per person.  This rate of higher consumption creates more need that is being taken up by the increase in population.  East Asia's rate of food production is expected to increase over the next 40 years but there is no way of knowing it will be enough.  Also in neighboring regions food production is set to decrease creating a greater need in the region; hopefully this won't lead to conflict.

Picture stolen from http://www.indexmundi.com/graphs/population-pyramids/south-korea-population-pyramid-2012.gif