Abstract
Despite its ecological importance of wetlands in our life, wetlands around cities and villages have been steadily disappearing. It is mainly due to either natural geological changes or man-made causes such as permitted land zone changes for the purpose to convert to agriculture land. This study aims to establish a comprehensive database of wetlands using GIS in a historic conservation city Gongju City. The systemic data management would enable to identify distribution of wetlands and their ecological attributes, and to estimate the conservation value of the wetlands. The data base will be able to use in strategic way to preserve the local ecological areas for local residents and tourists and manage the quality of wetlands in the historic and conservation city. For the purpose, it is suggested organising a wider network with not only local residents but local authorities and relevant stakeholders would be beneficial. This study also recommends that long-term strategic plan to preserve the existing wetlands. This study findings as a seminal case example can be used to apply to other geographical areas of the country and can contribute to create a national ecological nature map as well as evaluate the attributes and quality of natural ecosystem service of the region.
