• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.618-629
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• 2019

Along with growing population and economic development, increasing waste generation rates in developing countries have become a major issue related to the negative impacts of waste management on the environment. Currently, the business-as-usual waste management practices in Myanmar are largely affecting the environment and public health. Therefore, this study developed an alternative approach to waste management for reducing the environmental impacts in Myanmar by highlighting the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from business-as-usual practices and three proposed scenarios during 2018-2025. The calculation methods of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Institute for Global Environmental Strategies were used for estimating the GHG emissions from waste management. It was estimated that the current waste management sector generated approximately 2,000 gigagrams of CO₂-eq per year in 2018, trending around 3,350 Gg of CO₂-eq per year in 2025. It was also observed that out of the proposed scenarios, Scenario-2 significantly minimized the environmental impacts, with the lowest GHG emissions and highest waste resource recovery. Moreover, the GHG emissions from business-as-usual practices could be reduced by 50% by this scenario during 2018-2025. The target of the similar scenario could be achieved if the local government could efficiently implement waste management in the future.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.309-322
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• 2006

During the last decade, Health Impact Assessment (HIA) has been discussed worldwide as being an important tool for the development of healthy public policy. HIA has been advanced as a means of bringing potential health impacts to the attention of policy makers, particularly in sectors where health impacts may not otherwise be considered. HIA, a systematic assessment of potential health impacts of proposed public polices, programs, and projects, offers a means to advance population health by bringing public health research to bear on questions of public policy. In Korea, health-related items under current EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) system can only be found in the categories of hygiene and public health. However, environment and public health are not adequately connected and also health is underestimated even though health is an important objective component for the implementation of Environmental Assessments (EA). As a result, health is not well integrated within criteria for investigating the impacts on environment. This study examines linkages for HIA from the related and relatively well-developed field of Prior Environmental Review System (PERS) which is similar to SEA and EIA in Korea.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.104-111
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• 2017

As carcass disposal is increasing widely in Republic of Korea, there is a need to comprehensively analyze the impacts and subsequent damages of carcass disposal. Especially, since environmental policy aims to not only reduce environmental damages, but also enhance overall sustainability, we apply the concept of environmental welfare to assess the comprehensive impact of carcass disposal, especially focusing on the rural area. In specific, assessment criteria were suggested based on the four categories related to environmental welfare, which were 'environmental quality', 'level of environmental service', 'environmental safety', and 'participation, openness to public, and communication'. The results showed negative impacts of carcass disposal in environmental, social and economical elements. Overall decrease in environmental quality negatively impacts the other elements of environmental welfare. Furthermore, there were discrepancies of level of impacts and damages among stakeholder. In the end, we suggest critical elements that need to be applied in relevant policies and regulation to promote effective carcass disposal management.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.51-61
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• 2018

Transportation and storage technologies, which are key drivers for trade, has increased global trade of agricultural products about 165% from 1995 to 2015. Korea imports 76.2% of grain from major food exporters such as USA, Australia, Brazil, and China. The expected long shipping distances from these countries can seriously cause environmental impacts on various environmental categories such as climate change, particulate matter, and acidification. The goal of this study is to assess the environmental implications focused on greenhouse gases (GHGs) and particulate matters (PMs) emissions of imported grains (wheat, corn, and bean) using food miles analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA). The environmental impacts of imported crops are estimated by transportation modes using the national LCI database provided by Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI). The results of this study are as follows; (1) Imported wheat comes from USA (29%), AUS (27%), and URK (20%), corn is imported from USA (34%), BRA (29%), and URK (16%), and bean comes from BRA (57%), USA (40%), and CHN (2%); (2) the food miles of imported crops (wheat, corn, and bean) are 3.62E+10, 1.30E+11, and $2.20E+10ton{\cdot}km$, respectively; (3) the potential GHGs and PMs of wheat, corn, and bean are 5.02E+08, 1.67E+09, and 2.84E+08 kg $CO_2e$ and 5.89E+05, 1.83E+06, 3.07E+05 kg $PM_{10}e$, respectively. The outputs of this study could provide environmental impacts and carrying distances of imported agricultural products for preparing a plan to reduce environmental impacts.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.8 no.6 s.31
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• pp.581-585
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• 2005

In this study, the environmental impacts of a bogie in the electric motor unit(EMU) were evaluated quantitatively using simplified life cycle assessment(S_LCA). Target was the bogie and life cycle inventory(LCI) database for the bogie was established. The software used for simplified LCA was PASS. Environmental impacts with the parts of the bogie were dependent on their weight significantly. Among impact categories, abiotic resource depletion(ARD) and global warming(GW) were shown dominantly. Global warming was occurred mainly due to the emission of CO₂released from energy consumption and abiotic resource depletion was caused mostly by the consumption of iron ore for the manufacturing of steel. Therefore, the environmental impacts of the bogie could be reduced by the light-weighting of EMU and the improvement of energy efficiency.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 2004

The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was ratified in 1991. With the aim to ensure comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment, it contains provisions on environmental protection and conservation of the Antarctic area, including provisions for Environmental Impact Assessment. Environmental Impact Assessment is a method used to predict environmental impacts at an early stage in project planning and design, and find ways to mitigate or prevent adverse impacts in order to maintain balance between development activities and environmental conservation. Internationally, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the Antarctic is classified into three types - preliminary, Initial, and Comprehensive - based on the environmental impacts of the proposed activities. In case of the Preliminary Environmental Review (PER), proposed activity may proceed in accordance to the national procedures and drafting of an outline. However, Initial (IEE) and Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation (CEE) assess and verify the impacts of the proposed activity, and require methods or alternatives for mitigating or eliminating negative impacts on the environment. Although Korea's Act of 'Activities and Environmental Protection in Antarctica' also includes provisions on EIA for activities in Antarctica, there are obvious contrasts with the EIAs currently being conducted in Korea, in regards to deciding the level of EIA through screening and identifying key issues for assessment through scoping. In order to implement the proper EIA, more improved methods for drafting and reviewing the EIA to Antarctica in Korea are necessary.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.87-94
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• 1995

At both international and national levels, such as in the Rio Declaration and the EU's Fifth Environmental Action Plan, governments have committed themselves to the adoption of the precautionary principle (UNCED 1992, CEC 1992). These commitments mean that the existence of uncertainty in appraising policies and proposals for development should be acknowledged. Uncertainty arise in both the prediction of impacts and in the evaluation of their significance, particularly of those cumulative impacts which are individually insignificant but cumulatively damaging. The EC network of EIA experts, stated at their last meeting in Athens that indirect effects and the treatment of uncertainty are one of the main deficiencies of current EIA practice. Uncertainties in decision-making arise where choices have been made in the development of the policy or proposal, such as the selection of options, the justification for that choice, and the selection of different indicators to comply with different regulatory regimes. It is also likely that a weighting system for evaluating significance will have been used which may be implicit rather than explicit. Those involved in decision-making may employ different tolerances of uncertainty than members of the public, for instance over the consideration of the worst-case scenario. Possible methods for dealing with these uncertainties include scenarios, sensitivity analysis, showing points of view, decision analysis, postponing decisions and graphical methods. An understanding of the development of cumulative environmental impacts affords not only ecologic but also socio-economic investigations. Since cumulative impacts originate mainly in centres of urban or industrial development, in particular an analysis of future growth effects that might possibly be induced by certain development impacts. Not least it is seen as an matter of sustainability to connect this issue with ecological research. The serious attempt to reduce the area of uncertainty in environmental planning is a challenge and an important step towards reliable planning and sustainable development.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2008

Recently a new technology called the flexible-fiber deep-bed filter (FDF) claimed to replace the conventional sand filter including coagulation and sedimentation filter (CSF) processes in the water treatment plant. Therefore the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was applied for evaluating the life cycle impacts of FDF compared with those of CSF. The used LCA softwares were the Simapro 6 and PASS and their life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methodologies were the Eco-indicator 99 and the Korean Eco-indicator, respectively. The goal of this LCA was to identify environmental loads of CSF and FDF from raw material to disposal stages. The scopes of the systems have been determined based on the experiences of existing CSF and FDF. The function was to remove suspended solids by filtration and the functional unit was $1\;m^3$/day. Both systems showed that most environmental impacts were occurred during the operation stage. To reduce the environmental impacts the coagulants and electricity consumptions need to be cut down. If the CSF was replaced with the FDF, the environmental impacts would be reduced in most of the impact categories. The LCA results of Korean Eco-indicator and Eco- indicator99 were quite different from each other due to the indwelling differences such as category indicators, impact categories, characterization factors, normalization values and weighting factors. This study showed that the life cycle assessment could be a valuable tool for evaluating the environmental impact of the new technology which was introduced in water treatment process.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.68-80
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• 2005

This study intends to analysis problems and propose of EIA(Environmental Impact Assessment) and PER(Pre-Environmental Review) especially on division of landscape impacts. The problems of EIA and PER are first, on analysis of existing conditions side, insufficiency of the list of landscape elements and their descriptions and presentations, and the number of viewpoints and each validity second, on estimation of landscape impacts, the methods and techniques of estimation and simulation, and the process of impact estimation, third, on suggestion of reduction plans, reduction devices covering impacts, the lack of influence reduction forecasting devices, the deficiency of execution power of reduction plans, finally, the systematic connection of impact estimation with existing conditions analysis and reduction plans. Therefore, on each step from existing condition analysis to reduction plan suggestion, the solutions to each problem are proposed.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.345-366
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• 2001

Evaluating environmental impacts of regional development projects has critical importance in environmental management aspect. This paper uses multi-attribute utility theory as a basis for obtaining a value index to assess the environmental impacts and applies the theory to a specific Korean case study. To structure and quantify basic values for the assessment, we elicited important attributes, then refined and structured them into a hierarchy. An environmental multi-attribute index is constructed as a multi-attribute utility function, based on value judgments provided by a group of technical experts, policy makers, and a decision-maker at Korean Ministry of Environment. The implications of the results are also discussed. We found that the work and results can provide valuable insights for assessment of environmental consequences.