• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.56-72
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• 2018

North Korea has been in ecologically deficit state since 1966, despite of lack of energy and food resources. Trends of the Biocapacity (BC), the Ecological Footprint (EF), and the Ecological Deficit (ED) of North Korea were shown and five factors influencing on the Overshoot Rate (OSR) which is the ratio of the BC and the EF in North Korea was analyzed in this study. The five factors consist of two factors affecting to the EF and three factors affecting to the BC in North Korea. Two of the five factors are affecting to the EF those are population, the EF per capita (EFPC) which indicates the individual environmental consumption intensity, and three are affecting to the BC those are the land area, the yield factor, and the value multiplying the equivalence factor and the intertemporal yield factor. The EF has contributed more than the BC to the OSR. From 1966 to mid-1990s, the EFPC was the most contributing factor at about 60%, and after mid-1990s, population at about 40~60%. Contribution ratio of land area and the yield factor have increased after mid-1990s up to 15% and 18%, respectively. The BC of cropland which has decreased due to a decrease in productivity. In order to reduce the ED of North Korea, improvement of productivity of cropland and restoration of forest. Forest area has decreased significantly since 1990 in NK. And ways to solve the food shortage problem which influences on decrease of both productivity of cropland and forest area.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.364-378
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• 2014

Ecological Footprint (EF) in Korea has increased steeply over the past 50 years and, thus, the overshoot. It has been known that the main causes of the overshoot are population growth and the increase of the consumption intensity per person. In this study, the EF trend in Korea is analyzed for the past 50 years and it is found the major cause of the rapid increase of EF in Korea is the increase of the consumption intensity per person. Among the sectors of the consumption, Carbon Footprint (CF) from the energy consumption and Grazing Land Footprint and Fishing Grounds Footprint from the protein consumption are the major players for the increase. It is also found that if current trend of the EF per person would be maintained until 2060, EF in Korea would be expected to increase also continuously, despite of the decrease of the population from 2031. Therefore, the direction of the environmental management should be considered for inducing the change of the individual consumption patterns and the behavioral changes.