Environment of North Korea

More than 80 percent of North Korea is mountainous with cultivation largely confined to coastal strips in the east and west.

[4] According to a United Nations Environmental Programme report in 2003, forest covers over 70 percent of the country, mostly on steep slopes.

[2] However, a group of birdwatchers from the Pukorokoro Miranda Naturalists' Trust, New Zealand, visited the Yellow Sea shore of Mundŏk County in South P'yŏngan province in 2016 and reported that the mudflats there were a haven for bird life.

The relative lack of development there compared to nearby China and South Korea had provided a refuge for several internationally important birds on their migration along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway - such as the critically endangered eastern curlew, the Eurasian curlew and the bar-tailed godwit.

[16] In 2003, the pollution of rivers and streams was reported to be "severe" due to a decrease in investment in environmental protection and the improper discharge of untreated sewage and industrial effluent.

The quality of the Taedong River, which flows through Pyongyang, was reported to be "deteoriating", exacerbated by the construction of the West Sea Barrage.

Rather, the human waste was used as fertilizer on fields, creating the potential health risk of spreading intestinal worms.

[22] In 2018, North Korea had a Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 8.02/10, ranking it 28th globally out of 172 countries.

[22] North Korea is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to its weak food security, which in the past has led to widespread famine.

[25] In the 2013 edition of Germanwatch's Climate Risk Index, North Korea was judged to be the seventh hardest hit by climate-related extreme weather events of 179 nations during the period 1992–2011.

[33] Official pronouncements have labeled illegal forest destruction as "treachery" and threatened perpetrators with the death penalty.

[36] The North Korean government has ratified the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and has been co-operating with international efforts to combat climate change.