Turning to Arirang now, the effects of climate change are being felt in many parts of our lives. Here’s Lee Ji-won with a report on how people in various industries are attempting to adjust to our warming planet.
Extreme weather events have been striking all parts of the globe... and scientists are making stronger links between climate change, global warming and extreme weather.

But, its impacts don't end there. Climate change has important implications for nearly every aspect of life on Earth.

[Interview]
Shin Yong-he / Senior researcher, APEC Climate Center
(Korean)
"Climate change coming from global warming is expected to have a serious impact on the biodiversity of the ecosystem. Extreme weather conditions such as flood and drought are also increasing."

[slug]
Rice production expected to decrease

Korea's Rural Development Administration predicts... rising temperatures will contribute to a roughly 14-percent drop in rice production by 2040, and about 40-percent by 2090.

Korean farmers and rural organizations have been adjusting to the changes through research on different kinds of grains and inventing new methods of transplantation and fertilization.

[Interview]
Heo Tae-ho / Farmer
(Korean)
"The climate in the southern region is changing to that of the sub-tropics. Different types of rice that can be harvested within nine to ten days were recently developed as well."

The average temperature of the seawater around the Korean Peninsula has been rising in the last few decades... increasing 1-point-2 degrees Celsius in the span of 46 years.

A change of a single degree in seawater corresponds to a difference of ten degrees on Earth.

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Seaweed harvest, pollock catch dropping

Harvesting seaweed usually takes place in the winter... but warmer seawater has created an unfavorable environment. Between 1997 and 2004, roughly 24-hundred hectares of seaweed culture area disappeared. Marine institutes and government organizations have been making various efforts such as releasing fish eggs and imposing restrictions on catch to bring back the pollock population.

[CAMERA]
Park Tae-yeul

But some experts say there is only so much humans can do to minimize the impact of climate change.

[Interview]
Im Yang-jae / National Fisheries Research & Development Institute
(Korean)
"Climate change is something that is happening on a global scale... and the variables humans can control to minimize the effect of it on the sea are so small. We can only study how marine organisms respond to such changes."

[REPORTER]
Lee Ji-won

"Climate change is a global problem that concerns every nation, region, and individual... and its impacts becoming more profound and pronounced in our daily lives, industries... on our dinner tables. Lee Ji-won, Arirang News."