• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2003

Microalgae are a diverse group of photosynthetic organisms and abundant in every ecosystem in the biosphere. They are common in aqueous environments including marine, brackish and fresh waters and in some habitats that lack eukaryotic life such as some hot springs and highly alkaline lakes. Microalgal biotechnology that is focused on the microalgae-based production of a variety of useful materials such as pharmaceutical comfounds, health foods, natural pigments, and biofuels is considered as an important discipline with the development of biotechnology. In addition, the mass cultivation of microalgae can also contribute to improving the environmental quality by reducing the concentration of $CO_2$ which is one of major gases lead to global warming. Consequently, it seems that the microalgae can be used as an efficient, renewable, environmentally friendly source of high-value biomaterials such as chemicals, pigments, energy, etc. and the microalgal biotechnology will most likely represent a larger portion of modern biotechnology.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.81-91
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• 2021

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea did not have direct legislation on natural environmental conservation until the early 1970s when the regime was still in the early stage. The Law on Land was enacted in 1977 to provide the legal basis for protecting the natural environment, including land protection, protection zones, and forest formation and protection. The enactment of the Law on Environmental Protection in 1986 made progress on environmental conservation in the DPRK. The constitutional amendment in 1992 stipulated "the preservation and creation of the natural environment as the responsibility of the state." Based on the Framework Law on Environmental Protection, subordinate statutes in various fields were enacted after the1990s. While the committee designated and managed the protected zones in the early days, the Framework Law on Environmental Protection established the ground for the designation of legally protected areas, and the Law on Protection of Scenic Spots and Natural Monuments enacted in 1995, and the Law on Environmental Protection enacted in 2009 provided the details. Furthermore, the types of nature reserves include biosphere reserves, primeval forest reserves, animal reserves, plant reserves, and scenic reserves. The 2nd National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan established in 2007 based on the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD) stated 326 protected zones in the DPRK. However, the 2018 United Nations list of Protected Areas shows only 31 registered zones, indicating the need to establish basic information on protected areas in DPRK. This study can provide basic information for a better understanding of the nature conservation system in the DPRK. Considering that environmental protection activities such as protection of endangered species and recovery of environmental pollution are subject to exceptions under the current sanctions against North Korea (UN Security Council, the United States), it will be possible to contribute to identifying possible inter-Korean cooperation projects in the field of the natural environment.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.119-135
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• 2021

Korea has stepped up efforts to investigate and catalog its flora and fauna to conserve the biodiversity of the Korean Peninsula and secure biological resources since the ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits (ABS) in 2010. Thus, after its establishment in 2007, the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR) of the Ministry of Environment of Korea initiated a project called the Korean Indigenous Species Investigation Project to investigate indigenous species on the Korean Peninsula. For 15 years since its beginning in 2006, this project has been carried out in five phases, Phase 1 from 2006-2008, Phase 2 from 2009-2011, Phase 3 from 2012-2014, Phase 4 from 2015-2017, and Phase 5 from 2018-2020. Before this project, in 2006, the number of indigenous species surveyed was 29,916. The figure was cumulatively aggregated at the end of each phase as 33,253 species for Phase 1 (2008), 38,011 species for Phase 2 (2011), 42,756 species for Phase 3 (2014), 49,027 species for Phase 4 (2017), and 54,428 species for Phase 5(2020). The number of indigenous species surveyed grew rapidly, showing an approximately 1.8-fold increase as the project progressed. These statistics showed an annual average of 2,320 newly recorded species during the project period. Among the recorded species, a total of 5,242 new species were reported in scientific publications, a great scientific achievement. During this project period, newly recorded species on the Korean Peninsula were identified using the recent taxonomic classifications as follows: 4,440 insect species (including 988 new species), 4,333 invertebrate species except for insects (including 1,492 new species), 98 vertebrate species (fish) (including nine new species), 309 plant species (including 176 vascular plant species, 133 bryophyte species, and 39 new species), 1,916 algae species (including 178 new species), 1,716 fungi and lichen species(including 309 new species), and 4,812 prokaryotic species (including 2,226 new species). The number of collected biological specimens in each phase was aggregated as follows: 247,226 for Phase 1 (2008), 207,827 for Phase 2 (2011), 287,133 for Phase 3 (2014), 244,920 for Phase 4(2017), and 144,333 for Phase 5(2020). A total of 1,131,439 specimens were obtained with an annual average of 75,429. More specifically, 281,054 insect specimens, 194,667 invertebrate specimens (except for insects), 40,100 fish specimens, 378,251 plant specimens, 140,490 algae specimens, 61,695 fungi specimens, and 35,182 prokaryotic specimens were collected. The cumulative number of researchers, which were nearly all professional taxonomists and graduate students majoring in taxonomy across the country, involved in this project was around 5,000, with an annual average of 395. The number of researchers/assistant researchers or mainly graduate students participating in Phase 1 was 597/268; 522/191 in Phase 2; 939/292 in Phase 3; 575/852 in Phase 4; and 601/1,097 in Phase 5. During this project period, 3,488 papers were published in major scientific journals. Of these, 2,320 papers were published in domestic journals and 1,168 papers were published in Science Citation Index(SCI) journals. During the project period, a total of 83.3 billion won (annual average of 5.5 billion won) or approximately US $75 million (annual average of US $5 million) was invested in investigating indigenous species and collecting specimens. This project was a large-scale research study led by the Korean government. It is considered to be a successful example of Korea's compressed development as it attracted almost all of the taxonomists in Korea and made remarkable achievements with a massive budget in a short time. The results from this project led to the National List of Species of Korea, where all species were organized by taxonomic classification. Information regarding the National List of Species of Korea is available to experts, students, and the general public (https://species.nibr.go.kr/index.do). The information, including descriptions, DNA sequences, habitats, distributions, ecological aspects, images, and multimedia, has been digitized, making contributions to scientific advancement in research fields such as phylogenetics and evolution. The species information also serves as a basis for projects aimed at species distribution and biological monitoring such as climate-sensitive biological indicator species. Moreover, the species information helps bio-industries search for useful biological resources. The most meaningful achievement of this project can be in providing support for nurturing young taxonomists like graduate students. This project has continued for the past 15 years and is still ongoing. Efforts to address issues, including species misidentification and invalid synonyms, still have to be made to enhance taxonomic research. Research needs to be conducted to investigate another 50,000 species out of the estimated 100,000 indigenous species on the Korean Peninsula.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.224-238
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• 2022

North Korea has actively participated in the international community related to environmental agreements. It has proposed various environmental policies internally since the Kim Jong-un regime. In particular, it emphasizes activities related to climate change response, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the conservation of ecosystems including forests and wetlands. In this study, a new security cooperation plan was proposed with an understanding of the climate crisis and environmental regime as a starting point. To this end, trends and recent activities for climate-environment cooperation in the international community and on the Korean Peninsula were analyzed. In addition, North Korea's conditions for cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, technology demand, and the projected future environment of the Korean Peninsula were dealt with. Ultimately, through advice of experts, we were able to discover cooperation agendas by sector and propose short-term and long-term environmental cooperation strategies for the Korean Peninsula based on them. In this study, conditions and directions for cooperation in fields of climate technology, biological resources, air/weather, water environment, biodiversity, renewable energy, bioenergy, and so on were considered comprehensively. Among 21 cooperation agendas discovered in this study, energy showed the largest number of areas. Renewable energy, forest resources, and environmental and meteorological information stood out as agendas that could be cooperated in the short term. As representative initiatives, joint promotion of 'renewable energy' that could contribute to North Korea's energy demand and carbon neutrality and 'forest cooperation' that could be recognized as a source of disaster reduction and greenhouse gas sinks were suggested.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.101 no.4
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• pp.606-612
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• 2012

We developed four qualitative criteria for evaluating Indonesia's REDD+ strategy by analysing REDD+ related decisions from the Cancun agreements adopted by the 16th Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the important elements developed by Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative to evaluate Indonesia's REDD+ strategy: (1) Criterion 1 is assessing how accurately the developed strategy identifies substantial underlying and direct causes of deforestation and forest degradation; (2) Criterion 2 is whether the strategy establishes a scientifically reliable national-level MRV (Measurement, Reporting and Verification) system; (3) Criterion 3 is whether the strategy achieves real greenhouse gas emissions reductions; and (4) Criterion 4 is whether the strategy includes safeguards to ensure equity and co-benefits from REDD+ related projects for relevant stakeholders, in particular local communities and indigenous peoples. Criteria 1 and 2 can be the fundamental bases of real GHG emissions reduction (Criteria 3). Criteria 3 is recognised as the ultimate objective of REDD+. Criterion 4 is for both bases of the effective GHG emission reduction and complementary objective of REDD+. These criteria and indicators developed can provide basic framework to understand their REDD+ national strategies of the other developing countries as well as Indonesia.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.106-113
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• 2019

In order to respond to the global environmental issues, developed countries have been helped the developing countries as the Official Development Assistance (ODA). It is important to understand technology needs of the developing countries to provide the optimum solutions. In this study, the information of the environmental R&D dealing with appropriate technology were comprehensively collected based on the conducted R&D projects from the ministry of environment in Korea. The technology needs by UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and Korean government were analyzed named as TNA and CPS according to the target developing countries. In South-East Asia and Africa region, there were technology needs on water, biota, air, solid wastes, infrastructures and resources. And they were related to the issues such as environmental pollution, construction, climate change, biodiversity, energy and water management. The technology needs by UNFCCC and Korean government were also compared. Furthermore, the environmental R&D on appropriate technology should be focused on localization and maintenance to provide sustainable solutions to the developing countries.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.318-326
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• 2022

The Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) recommends that 17% of the land be designated as a protected area to counter global environmental problems. Korea also realized a need to designate protected areas according to the international level and explain the significance of designating protected areas. Accordingly, studies on ecosystem services are required. In Korea, the protected areas are designated as national parks, provincial parks, and county parks by hierarchy under the Natural Parks Act. However, as priority was on political and administrative aspects, research on ecosystem service value evaluation and habitat management were concentrated in national parks, and provincial and county parks were relatively neglected. Therefore, more studies on provincial and county parks are necessary. In this study, habitat quality for Gajisan Provincial Park, where there were few studies on habitat management and ecosystem service valuation, was evaluated using the InVEST Habitat Quality model among the InVEST models. The analysis results were compared with 16 mountainous national parks. The results showed that the habitat quality value of Gajisan Provincial Park was 0.83, higher than that of the surrounding areas. The analysis of habitat quality in three districts showed 0,84 for the Tongdosa and Naewonsa districts and 0.83 for the Seoknamsa district. By use district, the nature conservation district, the natural environment district, the cultural heritage district, and the park village district had the highest habitat quality value in that order. Compared with the existing habitat quality analysis results of national parks, Gajisan Provincial Park showed naturalness at the level of Mudeungsan National Park. These results can be used as objective data for establishing policies and management plans to preserve biodiversity and promote ecosystem services in provincial parks.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.512-527
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• 2012

Jangdo Island (area $1.54km^2$) located in the western end of Dadohae Haesang National Park has been recognized as an prominent ecoregion possessing high moor and national biodiversity hotspot. In terms of the Z$\ddot{u}$rich-Montpellier School's phytosociology, we investigate the diversity of plant communities on the island and reevaluate the Jangdo wetland designated as Ramsar site. Ten physiognomic types of the Jangdo's vegetation were classified into 22 syntaxa (3 associations, 15 communities and 4 subcommunities). Jangdo wetland was actually denominated as 'eutrophic wetland' by Pharagmitetea and Orizetea rather than 'high moor'. Nevertheless, existence value of the Jangdo wetland is evaluated very high as a stepping stone for migratory birds and even plant dispersions. A new site of the northernmost distribution of Arachniodo-Castanopsietum sieboldii, which is a kind of cold-resistant phytocoenosis among the Camellietea japonicae of the warm-temperate broad-leaved forests, was described. Hosta yingeri-Carpinus turczaninovii var. coreana community and Carex wahuensis var. robusta-Juniperus chinensis var. procumbens community were described specifically as an endemic and an edaphic vegetation type, respectively. The unique Jangdo's vegetation reflects regional environmental conditions such as much higher frequency of frost-free days and the highest number of annual average foggy days in Korea and a well-developed aquifer in the depressed basin formed by differential erosion. We identified that human interventions (pasture, logging, forest fire, cultivation, etc.) has been involved intensively on every vegetation types, even though a rugged and inaccessible topography of the island. Particularly the Jangdo wetland has been recently threatened by fundamental distortion on hydrological system. We request an immediate establishment of the conservation prescription manual.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.154-160
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• 2017

The Korean plant names Changpo and Sukchangpo, including their related names Suchangpo and Kyeson, were somewhat confusingly used in both the Korean classics and even now. To clarify these names, the names written in the Chinese classics and the Korean classics were examined closely and compared to those of the modern flora of China and Korea. In the Chinese classics, Changpo and Sukchangpo were considered as conspecific with Acorus calamus, which has leaves with distinct veins, whereas Sukchangpo and Kyeson have leaves without distinct veins and are considered as A. gramineus. However, in the Korean classics, these names have been confusingly used thus far. Sukchangpo and Gyeson were considered as A. gramineus, and Sukchangpo and Changpo were considered as A. calamus, erroneously. Therefore, the following corrections are needed: plants having distinct leaf veins were named Changpo (A. calamus), and plants having vague leaf veins were named Sukchangpo (A. gramineus), and the names of Sukchangpo and Kyeson should be discarded to avoid confusion. In addition, to respond to the Convention on Biological Diversity, we propose a study to clarify the taxonomic identities of the plant names written in Chinese script and an examination of the Korean plant names listed in the Korean classics.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.10a
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• pp.9-10
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• 2019

순천만은 순천시의 남쪽에 위치하여 여수반도와 고흥반도의 사이에 있는 만 지형 형태로 만 전체를 순천만이라고도 하나, 보통 고흥군반도와 여수반도 사이의 만을 여자만이라 하고 만내부에 위치한 여자도라는 섬의 위쪽으로 순천시의 해안하구에 형성된 지역을 순천만이라 일컫는다. 순천만은 순천시에서 유입되는 동천과 이사천 및 해룡천의 하류에 형성되어 있어서 육지부에서 유입되는 퇴적물과 유기물로 인하여 갯벌과 갈대등이 잘 형성된 습지로서 2003년 12월 31일 해양수산부 갯벌 습지보존지역으로 지정되어 관리되고 있으며, 2004년에는 동북아 두루미 보호 국제네트워크에 가입하였고, 2006년 1월 국내 연안습지로는 최초로 람사르협약에 "Suncheon Bay"로 등록되었으며, 2016년 6월에는 람사르습지로 지정된 국내외적으로 중요한 습지이다. 순천만습지에 형성되어 있는 갯벌($28.0km^2$)은 세계 5대 연안습지 중 하나로서, 넓은 사니질 갯벌과 갈대군락이 잘 발달되어 있는 생태계의 보고(寶庫)이자 소중한 생태자원으로서, 순천시에서는 순천만을 자연생태공원으로 지정하여 보호 관리하고 있으며, 각종 자연학습자료들과 영상물들을 갖춘 생태전시관과 갈대숲 탐방로, 용산전망대, 야생화 정원, 담수습지, 갈대정자, 갯벌관찰대 등 사계절 생태체험을 위한 각종 시설들을 잘 갖춰놓고 많은 관광객의 이용할 수 있도록 하고 있다. 갯벌은 바닷가의 넓은 벌판이란 뜻으로서 삼면이 바다인 우리나라는 갯벌의 전체 면적이 약 $2,500km^2$에 달하는데 여기에는 많은 종류의 다양한 생물들이 살아가고 있으며 어민들의 생계에 지대한 영향을 주고있다. 이러한 갯벌은 퇴적된 입자의 구성에 따라 펄갯벌, 모래갯벌, 혼합갯벌 등으로 구별되는데 이에 따라 갯벌 생태계를 구성하고 있는 생물들의 종류도 바뀌게 된다. 순천만갯벌과 여기에 조성되어 있는 습지환경에 따라 확인되고 있는 수산자원으로는 새꼬막, 꼬막, 눈알고둥, 갯고둥, 비툴이고둥, 돌조개, 접시조개, 새알조개, 가무락조개, 바지락, 우럭, 가재붙이, 방게, 칠게, 농게 등의 저서 생물들과 짱뚱어, 문절망둑 등의 어류가 있으며, 해조류로 우뭇가사리 등이 있고, 인근의 어민들의 어업형태는 꼬막 등 패류의 채취나 종패를 뿌려 일정기간 양성하여 수확하는 양식업, 육상부에서 폐염전 등을 활용한 전어나 새우 등을 양식하는 양식업, 수산물을 직접 손이나 간단한 도구를 이용하여 잡는 맨손 어업 형태가 주를 이루고 있는 것으로 나타나고 있다. 이와 같이 국내외적으로 중요할 뿐만 아니라 인근의 어민들의 생계에도 지대한 영향을 미치고 있는 순천만의 습지는 뻘층이 깊고, 분해성 미생물이 다양하게 서식하여 유기물 분해능력이 뛰어나며, 유기영양분이 풍부하여 우리나라에서 가장 질이 좋은 습지로 평가되고 있으나, 순천시 등 순천만 인근에 거주하고 있는 인간의 활동에 따른 간섭에 많은 영향을 받고 있으며, 이에 따라 끊임없는 생태환경이 변화하고 있어서 순천만의 효율적인 보전 및 지속가능한 이용을 위해서는 생태계에서 가장 기본적인 요소인 수 저질 환경의 지속적이고 체계적인 조사 및 관리가 필요하다. 한편, 오염물질의 70% 이상은 하천이나 강을 통해서 해역으로 유입된다고 알려져 있기 때문에 생태계의 보고(寶庫)라고 알려진 순천만의 지속적인 보존 및 관리를 위해서는 유입수계 하천의 수질현황 및 오염물질의 주요 배출원을 파악하고, 이에 대한 저감대책을 수립할 필요가 있다. 따라서 본 연구는 순천만의 수저질 특성과 여기에 유입되는 하천의 수질환경 현황 및 오염원을 파악함으로써 순천만의 보전을 위한 효율적 관리방안을 제시하는 것을 목적으로 수행되었다. 연구의 결과에 따르면, 순천만의 수질평가지수에 의한 등급(WQI)은 III등급으로 나타나고 있으며, 득량만, 광양만 등에 비해 비교적 높은 유기물 및 T-N, T-P의 농도 분포를 보이고 있는 것으로 조사되었다. 이는 순천만에 유입되는 하수종말처리장의 방류수와 도시하수가 유입되어 그대로 방류되고 있는 해룡천 및 연안에 위치한 어촌으로부터 직접 방류되고 있는 일부 정화조 유출수 등, 다양한 원인에 의한 것으로 판단되며 이들의 관리가 부실할 경우 순천만의 갯벌과 습지의 지속가능한 생태환경유지는 쉽지 않다. 따라서 이를 효율적으로 관리하기 위해서는 순천만 연안의 오염물질 방류를 총량관리로 전환하여 철저히 관리하는 것이 필요할 것으로 판단된다.