Ongoing climate change is resulting in extreme weather
phenomena unexperienced in the past, which are adversely
affecting not only humans but also national heritage exposed
to the elements.
According to the findings from investigations by NRICH
affiliated with Korea Heritage Service, 324 incidents of
wooden-built heritage damage (89.5%) among 362 incidents
witnessed during the period of 2016-2019 were caused by
termites.
Korea Heritage Service plans to invest KRW 23.1 billion into
the R&D Project for the Damage Restoration and Adaptive
Management of National Heritage in Response to Climate
Change over the following five years from 2024 to 2028 to
better respond to climate change. Of this budget, KRW 1.5
billion will be allocated this year to support the industrial,
academic, and research circles in developing a severe
weather phenomenon projection system and necessary
protective materials.
This R&D project can be divided into “Damage Restoration
Technology Development” (for supporting the prompt and
accurate restoration of damage to national heritage incurred
by climate change and mitigating damage) and “Adaptive
Source: Ministry of Environment, DC Inside
Management Technology Development” (for projecting
and preventing damage and advancing conservation and
maintenance using state-of-the-art technology).
Through “Damage Restoration Technology Development,” four
research tasks are being executed this year: the “development
and verification of technology to control invasive species” to
advance foreign termite detection capacity, develop high
durability population repelling and extermination compounds, and thus ensure a preemptive response to termite-induced
damage to wooden-built heritage; the “development and
verification of fire prevention treatment technology for
wooden-built heritage” to develop lightweight flame-resistant
fabric with a greater fire-retardant effect to provide protection
against forest fires and a modular protection cover for large
scale wooden-built heritage using this fabric; the “development
and verification of technology to restore wooden parts of
Damage Restoration Technology Development
We support the development and successful verification of technologies for the restoration of climate change induced damage inflicted on national heritage by material type (wood, stone, metal, etc.).
1. Developing and verifying control technology for invasive species that can damage architectural heritage
Advancing foreign termite detection technology and
developing high-durability population repelling and
extermination compounds
2. Developing and verifying fire prevention treatment technology for wooden built heritage
Developing fire-retardant modular equipment for the protection of architectural heritage against forest fires
3. Developing and verifying restoration and treatment technology for wooden builtheritage in response to climate change-induced damage
Developing materials to enhance and restore the performance of structural members of architectural heritage requiring repair and restoration (material
reusability)
4. Developing and verifying intelligent architectural heritage data modeling technology based on data scanning to assist the restoration of damage due to climate change
Developing and commercializing assistance tools to conserve/maintain architectural heritage in response to climate change and restore damaged architectural heritage to its original state based on H-BIM
Adaptive Management Technology Development
We support the development and successful verification of technologies for the restoration of climate
change-induced damage inflicted on national heritage by material type (wood, stone, metal, etc.).
1. Developing and verifying a monitoring/projection system for the conditions of on-site botanical heritage in response to severe weather phenomena
Assessing the current conditions and growing
environments of botanical heritage (old giant trees, etc.)
and to collect/manage related data based on ICT
2. Developing damage-specific indicators for architectural heritage and risk assessment technology for adaptive management for climate change
Enhancing adaptive management capacity by developing an ICT-based damage projection platform for architectural heritage exposed to the elements
architectural heritage” to enhance capacity for the restoration
of engineering/physical performance of major structural
members of architectural heritage and establish cutting-edge
repair and conservation techniques; and the “development
and verification of intelligent architectural heritage data
modeling technology based on data scanning for climate
change-induced damage restoration support” to develop
and commercialize assistance tools for the conservation/
maintenance of architectural heritage in response to climate
change and the restoration of damaged architectural heritage
based on the architectural heritage data model (H-BIM). We
expect that our efforts will contribute to realizing a more rapid
and flexible response to climate change and protecting the
rights of future generations to enjoy cultural heritage once the
tasks are completed by 2028.
Through “Adaptive Management Technology Development,”
tasks requiring an urgent response are being conducted with
priority. These include the “development and verification of a monitoring/projection system for the conditions of on-site
botanical heritage in response to severe weather phenomena”
to define climate change-induced physical/chemical/biological
damage inflicted on wooden-built heritage, develop damage
indicators and assessment/monitoring technology, and also
advance technology to assess the current conditions and growing
environments of botanical heritage (old giant trees, etc.) and
to collect/manage related data based on ICT. Another pressing
task is the “development of damage-specific indicators for
architectural heritage and risk assessment technology for adaptive
management for climate change” to enhance the adaptive
management capacity by developing a damage projection
platform for architectural heritage exposed to the elements.
Through this five-year project (2024-2028), we aim to expand
the value of our cultural heritage by enabling the projection
and monitoring of climate change-induced damage in real
time and thus laying the foundation for smart national heritage conservation and maintenance.
01~02 Foreign termites reported in Asan, Chungcheongnam-do