• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.93-107
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• 2002

The choice of big public investment project needs an appropriate feasibility analysis before it is implemented, bemuse a rot wisely chosen one would bring about big and longrun societal costs. But the feasibility analysis for the big public investment project in Korea has been done without linking the economic benefits and environmental damages. Consequently social conflicts arose frequently during and after project implementation, owing to such concerns asincreasing costs and serious ecological damages. The recent social conflict over the Saemangeum Project is a typical case. This reclamation project began in 1991 and finished 60% of the whole process in 1999, when its feasibility was again assessed under the public pressure by the joint assessment team consisting of both citizen's and government's professionals. Even the assessment report by this joint team could not show the convincing results owing to the improper assessment procedure and failure to set proper feasibility criteria. This paper pointed out the limitations of our current procedure of feasibility assessment and identified the concrete problems that atosee during the recent reassessment process of the Saemangeum reclamation project by the joint team. In order to improve the current problem-ridden practices, it is concluded by the policy recommendation for establishing a right feasibility assessment procedure for the public investment projects.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.303-313
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• 1997

A new evaluation technique, i.e. multicriterion matrix technique, on the vegetation assessment was proposed and compared with several techniques having been previously used in the environmental impact assessment. Four criterias and 10 subcriterias were selected for two evaluation indices such as vegetation naturalness value and vegetation class. These criterias were characterized by syntaxonomical informations of hemeroby concept and potential vegetation, hierarchical system between criterias, and ordinal scale of vegetation naturalness valuse. Vegetation naturalness values were classified into 11 ordinal levels and condensed to five vegetation classes for facilitating practical use. In the example study two sites were compared by using two indices. This technique could have useful applications for ssessment of regional vegetation. A vegetation map of naturalness described by combination of two indices was proposed in order to illustrate regional vegetation naturalness.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.39-50
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• 2014

The goal of this work is to develop a framework of methods to entirely evaluate effects of LID (Low Impact Development) on soil-groundwater environmental quality as well as land-scape and ecological factors. For this study, we conducted an extensive literature review. As outcomes, soil-groundwater environmental quality is newly conceptualized as a comprehensive index reflecting (i) groundwater pollution sensitivity (hydrogeological factor), (ii) biochemical contamination, and (iii) biodegradability. The methods of classifying and indexing is shown by combining selection of the items to be measured for soil-groundwater environmental quality and integrating the resulted items comprehensively. In addition, from soil-groundwater environmental quality, land-scape and ecological factors in existing environmental impact assessment a method was developed an overall index which can evaluate effects to environment by using GIS (Geographic Information System) and AHP (Analytic Hierachy Process). For optimizing LID planning, designing and post-evaluation, LCIA (Life Cycle Impact Assessment) was regarded as an appropriate method.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.357-366
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• 2008

It is certain that urbanization has transformed the ecological consequences severely, but urban ecosystem is not fully understood yet. Urban growth is not like a static form and it spreads spatially and temporally. Therefore in studying urban ecosystem, it is important to relate the spatial pattern of urbanization to ecological processes. Using gradient analysis, we attempted to quantify the urbanization's spatial impacts in Daejeon-city and Cheonan-city, Chungcheong-province, Korea. Because of Multifunctional Administrative City Planning (MACP), a lot of development projects are planned in Chungcheong-province, Korea. It's important to study about original cities' patterns and impacts. These results can be adopted to future city planning. So several measures such as fragmentation, vegetation index, surface temperature, population density, and income rate were computed along a 75km long and 3km wide transect. The results showed that Daejeon-city has a wider urban center, lower vegetation indexes, and higher surface temperature than Cheonan-city. Therefore in the perspective of urban environments and sustainable urbanism, it seems that Cheonan-city is better than Daejeon-city. The changes along the transect have important ecological implications, and quantifying the urbanization gradient is an important step in understanding urban ecology.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.208-219
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• 2014

This work aims to establish the landscape ecological countermeasures to improve the sustainability of urban mountain forest and to enrich the biodiversity in twenty mountains of the Seoul Metropolitan City. Landscape ecological analysis was conducted based upon various criteria, such as area and elevation of mountains, flora, naturalized plants, vegetation, forest types, mountain trails, and public facilities. Various measures were suggested for the better maintenances of floristic diversity, introduced plants, vegetation and forest types of urban mountain forests. Sustainable recommendations for land use adminstration were developed for the preparations of a climate change-adapted urban mountain forests, as well as rational managements of ecosystem, walking trails, and public facilities within mountain forest. Rich and diverse natural vegetation as well as high floristic diversity were reported at mountains with higher elevations, larger area size, and rich landscape diversity. Mountains with low elevation, small size with easy public access, however, might require an urgent action to decrease the burdens by anthropogenic disturbances and urban development.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.509-523
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• 2012

This basic study is to present the methods and raw data for carrying out to objectively assess an ecosystem by developing the plant ecological indices. The results are as follows. The plant ecological indices were 7 units including RI (Rare Index), EI (Endemic Index), SI (Specific Index), NI (Naturalized Index), UI (Urbanized Index), Pte-Q (Pteridophyta Index) and HI (Halophytes Index). The vascular plants in Mt. Waryong, Mt. Bongmyeong and Bito island were summarized as 471 taxa including 104 families, 294 genera, 419 species, 3 subspecies, 41 varieties and 8 forms. We surveyed 5 taxa of rare plants, 7 taxa of endemic plants, 38 taxa of specific plants by floristic region, 40 taxa of naturalized plants, 1 taxa of invasive alien plant, 19 taxa of pteridophyta and 14 taxa of halophytes. Bito island had the highest RI was 1.2%. Mt. Bongmyeong was 1.4% higher than other sites. If the SI of 2.9% was the highest in Bito island. Bito island was the highest NI, and the UI was the hightest in Mt. Waryong. Mt. Bongmyeong was the lowest NI and UI. In Mt. Waryong and Bito island, the highest DI was 9.1%. The Pte-Q of Mt. Waryong was 1.3 higher than the other sites. Bito island, the highest HI was 8.1%. Overall, 1.5% of RI, 1.9% of EI, 2.3% of SI, 8.5% of NI, 14.3% of UI, 9.1% of DI, 1.0 of Pte-Q and 3.0% were analyzed with HI.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.359-368
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• 2022

It is essential to increase the implementation rate in order to increase the effectiveness of mitigation measures that can mitigate the negative impact of development projects. In the case of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA),research on the implementation evaluation of development projects is insufficient, even though the effectiveness of mitigation measures has been steadily raised. Therefore, this study evaluated the implementation rate of the mitigation measures and identified the cause of the difference in the implementation rate for each mitigation measures in order to understand the current status of the ecological mitigation measures. The implementation rate of urban and road development projects mitigation measures was 56.0% and 64.4%, respectively. the implementation rate of 'Monitoring' mitigation measures was the highest in all development project. But, 'Habitat creation' and 'Accident prevention measures' were low. In addition, it was found that the implementation rate of the mitigation measures were high when the contents of the mitigation measure described in the report were specific. Through this study, it was found that in order to increase the implementation rate of the EIA ecological environment animal mitigation measures, it is necessary to reflect the environmental and geographical characteristics of the target site in detail. Furthermore, it is judged that this study can be used as a basic basis for enhancing the effectiveness of the EIA system introduced to mitigate the negative impact on the environment.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.30-41
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• 2024

The way we work is changing significantly with the rapid development of digitaltechnology, and paper documents are being replaced by electronic documents. However, in accordance with the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Regulation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, the environmental impact assessment report must submit a set number of paper reports to organizations related to the project, and about 42 years have passed since it was submitted as a paperreport. In 2022, the National Institute of Ecology introduced a system to review paperreports as electronic documents in line with the trend of digital transformation. The cost reduction and carbon emission reduction effects of electronic document review were analyzed for 1,398 environmental impact assessments submitted and reviewed in 2022. In addition, a satisfaction survey was conducted targeting type 1 environmental impact assessment companies that were directly affected, and a total of 134 people responded. As a result of analyzing the effect of reviewing electronic documents, costs are reduced by a total of 101,424,900 won per year and carbon emissions are reduced by about 59.7 tons. As a result of the satisfaction survey, 94.8% of the respondents said electronic documentreview was very helpful, and 4.5% said it was helpful. The effectiveness of electronic documentreview was high, with 94.8% of respondents saying it was helpful in economic terms and 91.8% saying it was helpful in reducing work hours. If electronic documents are reviewed through the revisions to the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Regulation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, the implementation of electronic document review is expected to have a ripple effect across the country, not only reducing costs and carbon emissions, but also reducing administrative time and saving storage space. Rapid changes in law and administration are needed to adapt to the digital transformation era.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.205-215
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• 2011

Ozone ($O_3$) is a main component of photochemical oxidants and a phytotoxic air pollutant. Although the current levels of tropospheric $O_3$ in East Asia could adversely affect productivity of forest tree species, risk assessments of $O_3$ impact were limited. In this paper, we summarize the methodology of risk assessment of $O_3$ on forest tree species based on our two previous studies, risk assessments of $O_3$ impact on the growth of Fagus crenata by Watanabe et al. (2012) and on the annual carbon absorption of three representative conifers, Cryptomeria japonica, Pinus densiflora and Larix kaempferi by Watanabe et al. (2010). $O_3$ sensitivity of each tree species obtained from an experimental study, $O_3$ exposure and atmospheric N deposition based on field monitoring and vegetation survey were integrated by geographic information system method. Based on the results, we conclude that the area with high risk of $O_3$ impact does not necessarily correspond to the area with high $O_3$ exposure. The varieties of tree habitat, tree sensitivity to $O_3$ and annual carbon absorption among the tree species, and N deposition-induced change in the $O_3$ sensitivity of F. crenata are raised as the factors of discordance between areas with high risk and those with high $O_3$ exposure. In the last part of this paper, we discuss the present uncertainty and perspectives of risk assessment for the future studies on the impact of $O_3$ on forest tree species in East Asia.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.335-343
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• 2017

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an important policy implemented before starting development projects to estimate and reduce environmental impact. However, the difficulty of quantification on several rating categories has hampered comprehensive analysis. Instead of it, the current EIA just summarizes outcome of investigation. Therefore, EIA fails to definitively ascertain whether the development shold be approved or not. This study aimed at providing the way to comprehensive decision-making by applying Emergy analysis and Emergy indicators to EIA. Production (P), Emergy Yield Ratio (EYR), Environmental Loading Ratio (ELR) and Emergy Sustainability Index (ESI) were selected for indicators. The indicators of range approving the development were set up with comparing before and after development or according to circumstances of which view of average that was classified as region or industry is appropriate to analysis. As a result, the value after development of P should be higher than the value before development. EYR and ESI of the value before development should be higher than region or industry average. On the contrary to these, ELR of the value after development should be lower than region or industry average. To verify applying Emergy indicators to EIA comprehensive analysis, Emergy evaluation was conducted to real case. As a result, applying Emergy analysis could suggest whether the development is appropriate or not. These indices and the result of this research are expected to be applied decision-making on environmental impact for sustainable development.