• Title/Summary/Keyword: Loss of biodiversity

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An Approach to Introduce Biodiversity Components for the EIA System in Korea

  • Kwon, Young-Han
    • Journal of Environmental Policy
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    • v.7 no.2
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    • pp.91-104
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    • 2008
  • In foreign countries, efforts are in progress to apply guidelines to minimize the loss of biodiversity within environmental assessment, yet those efforts have not been considered in Korea. If this continues, biodiversity in our nation will quickly diminish. Therefore, Korea needs to urgently prepare guidelines that minimize the loss of biodiversity. In this study 32 environmental impact assessment statements on express-highway construction projects were analyzed to evaluate potential problems with the current EIA system and to provide ideas on how to introduce a biodiversity/ecosystem item into the system. In the analyses of the 32 statements, few contents that deal with habitat/biodiversity were found and a lack of assessment of biodiversity issues was noticed in the EIA system in Korea. The system, therefore, should be improved to consider biodiversity issues in the survey, to predict impacts on biodiversity, and to establish corresponding mitigation measures.

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Development and Application Effects of Education Program on Biodiversity with Endangered Oriental White Stork Reintroduction Program on Elementary and Middle School Girl Students (초.중학교 여학생들의 멸종 위기종 황새 복원과 연계한 생물 다양성 교육프로그램 개발 및 적용효과)

  • Kim, Su-Kyung;Park, Shi-Ryong;Sung, Ha-Cheol;Choi, Yu-Seong
    • Hwankyungkyoyuk
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    • v.23 no.3
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    • pp.82-96
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    • 2010
  • Currently, biodiversity conservation is regarded as one of the most important environmental issues in the 21st century. However, The educational approaches on biodiversity conservation is not actively developed. This study was conducted to develop the educational program on biodiversity conservation related with endangered species conservation for improving elementary and middle school girl students' knowledge on biodiversity, inspiring the value and importance of biodiversity, and improving the attitude toward the conservation of biodiversity. Because the biodiversity loss of wetlands such as rice-fields, rivers, marshes has made the breeding population of Oriental White Stork(Ciconia boyciana) endangered in Korea, this subject was very effective for students to learn the cause and effect of biodiversity loss realistically. The education program was conducted to 68 local elementary and middle girl students from 2007 to 2009 and consists of three main activities such as feeding on storks in captivity, sampling living organisms in rice-fields, and designing the future stork living village. The results didn't show a positive effect on improving the knowledge on the biodiversity, but a positive effect on improving the attitude toward the conservation of biodiversity. And the number of taxa that students noticed in rice-fields has increased significantly. In conclusion, this educational program promoted students to concern about and take up a positive attitude on the biodiversity conservation issue.

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Analysis of Ecodiversity as the Foundation for Conserving Biodiversity and Its Restoration Strategy (생물다양성을 보존하기 위한 토대로서 생태다양성 분석 및 복원 전략)

  • Lim, Bong Soon;Kim, Dong Uk;Kim, A Reum;Seol, Jae Won;Lee, Chang Seok
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.53 no.4
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    • pp.408-426
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    • 2020
  • This study aims to establish the national strategy for biodiversity conservation by analyzing the current status of ecodiversity as the foundation of biodiversity conservation. Furthermore, this study has another purpose of preparing the measures for conservation and restoration of biodiversity. Ecodiversity was discussed as the basis for conserving biodiversity. Five climate zones and 14 climatic regions, eight plant geographic regions, three massifs and major geologic series, horizontal and vertical topographic conditions, 16 ecoregions, major ecosystems including forest, river and streams, wetlands, coast and marine, agriculture, and urban esosystems, and land use types were discussed as the element of the ecodiversity. In terms of biodiversity conservation, the actual conditions of each ecological unit were reviewed and measures were proposed to reduce biodiversity loss. Destruction and fragmentation of habitat, poor ecosystem management due to socioeconomic changes, the effects of exotic species and chemicals, and climate change were discussed as the major factors causing biodiversity loss. Systematic monitoring based on scientific principles and ecological restoration based on those monitoring results were recommended as measures for biodiversity conservation.

Biodiversity in the Context of Management and Conservation of Forest Resource

  • Kim, Ji-Hong;Lee, Jong-Kyu;Kim, Joon-Soon
    • Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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    • v.26 no.2
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    • pp.65-73
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    • 2010
  • Biodiversity, referring to the variety and abundance of species, their genetic composition, and the communities, ecosystem, and landscapes, is essential to maintain healthy and productive forests, and to provide useful hedge against the future uncertainties in conditions of the environment and natural resources. To realize the long-term sustainability for forest production of goods and services is dependent upon maintaining and enhancing the biodiversity in the forest ecosystem. Because we can not always recognized which portion of biodiversity is essential to maintain the stability and sustainability of the natural system, conserving biodiversity is even unconditionally important. Even though the activities of forest resource management may have a variety of negative impacts on biodiversity by modification of the natural ecosystem into economically effective artificial ecosystem, forest professionals have been developing intelligent scheme to coexist management and conservation. However, conservation of biodiversity must be a complex problem encircled by ecological, economical, and social considerations. There seems to be no such a simple and easy solution. Strategies for ecologically deliberated forest resource management, which could play an important role to conserve biodiversity, were discussed.

A Methodology for Selection of Habitat Management Areas for Amphibians and Reptiles Considering Soil Loss (토양유실을 고려한 양서파충류의 서식지 관리지역 선정방법)

  • Kim, Ji-Yeon;Lee, Dong-Kun;Mo, Yong-Won
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.21 no.6
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    • pp.55-69
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    • 2018
  • As disaster risk and climate change volatility increase, there are more efforts to adapt to disasters such as forest fires, floods, and landslides. Most of the research, however, is about influence of human activities on disaster and there is few research on disaster adaptation for species. Previous studies focusing on biodiversity in selecting conservation areas have not addressed threats of disaster in the habitats for species. The natural disasters sometimes play role of drivers of ecological successions in the long run, but they might cause serious problems for the conservation of vulnerable species which are endangered. The purpose of this study is to determine whether soil loss (SL) is effective in selecting habitat management areas for amphibians and reptiles. RUSLE model was used to calculate soil loss (SL) and the distribution of each species (SD) was computed with MaxEnt model to find out the biodiversity index. In order to select the habitat management area, we estimated the different results depending if value of soil loss was applied or not by using MARXAN, a conservation priority selection tool. With using MARXAN, conservation goals can be achieved according to the scenario objectives, and the study has been made to meet the minimum habitat area. Finally, the results are expressed in two; 1) the result of soil loss and biodiversity with MATRIX method and 2) the result of regional difference calculated with MARXAN conservation prioritization considering soil loss. The first result indicates that the area with high soil loss and low species diversity have lower conservation values and thus can be managed as natural disturbances. In the area where soil loss is high and species diversity is also high, it becomes where a disaster mitigation action should be taken for the species. According to the conservation priorities of the second result, higher effectiveness of conservation was obtained with fewer area when it considered SL in addition to SD, compared to when considered only biodiversity. When the SL was not taken into consideration, forest area with high distribution of species were important, but when SL considered, the agricultural area or downstream of the river were represented to be a major part of habitats. If more species data or disaster parameters other than soil loss are added as variables later, it could contribute as a reference material for decision-making to achieve various purposes.

Mapping Biodiversity throughoptimized selection of input variables in decision tree models (의사결정나무 변수 선정 방법을 적용한 대축적 생물다양성 지도 구축)

  • Kim, Do Yeon;Heo, Joon;Kim, Chang Jae
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.20 no.5
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    • pp.663-673
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    • 2011
  • In the face of accelerating biodiversity loss and its significance in our coexistence with nature, biodiversity is becoming more crucial in sustainable development perspective. To estimate biodiversity in the future which provides valuable information for decision making system especially in the national level, a quantitative approach must be studied forehand as a baseline of the present status. In this study, we developed a large-scale map of Plant Species Richness (PSR, typical indicator of biodiversity) for Young-dong and Pyung-chang provinces. Due to the accessibility of appropriate data and advance of modelling techniques, reduction of variables without deteriorating the predictive power is considered by applying Genetic algorithm. In addition, a number of Correctly Classified Instances (CCI) with 10-fold cross validation which indicates the predictive power, was carried out for evaluation. This study, as a fundamental baseline, will be beneficial in future land work as well as ecosystem restoration business or other relevant decision making agenda.

Evaluating Biodiversity Conservation Activities by Corporations Based on Afforestation: KT&G (산림조성을 기반으로 한 기업의 생물다양성 보전 활동 분석: KT&G의 사례를 중심으로)

  • Geonhui Kim;Yoora Cho;Jay Hyuk Rhee;Yong Sik Ok
    • Journal of Environmental Science International
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    • v.33 no.6
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    • pp.345-353
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    • 2024
  • As biodiversity loss has been highlighted as a global risk, biodiversity activities are gaining attention as a part of companies' Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) related management. This study evaluates various biodiversity activities of corporations based on domestic and international indicators. We present the role of corporations expressly in afforestation activities and suggest additional information that should be disclosed for the accurate verification of environmental values by third parties. KT&G was selected as the subject of the evaluation. The 4th National Biodiversity Strategy was used as a domestic indicator, and GRI Standard 304 as an international indicator. Companies can play a leading role in planning, implementing, and monitoring afforestation activities and should further disclose the species composition of the forests created and the age of the seedlings to enhance the credibility of the environmental values stated in their sustainability reports.

A review on the risk, prevention and control of cooling water intake blockage in coastal nuclear power plants

  • Heshan Lin;Shuyi Zhang;Ranran Cao;Shihao Yu;Wei Bai;Rongyong Zhang;Jia Yang;Li Dai;Jianxin Chen;Yu Zhang;Hongni Xu;Kun Liu;Xinke Zhang
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.56 no.2
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    • pp.389-401
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    • 2024
  • In recent decades, numerous instances of blockages have been reported in coastal nuclear power plants globally, leading to serious safety accidents such as power reduction, manual or automatic power loss, or shutdown of nuclear power units. Loss or shortage of cooling water may compromise the reliability of the cooling water system, thus threatening the operational safety of power plants and resulting in revenue reduction. This study provides a comprehensive review of the current state of cooling water system safety in coastal nuclear power plants worldwide and the common challenges they face, as well as the relevant research on cooling water system safety issues. The research overview and progress in investigation methods, outbreak mechanisms, prevention and control measures, and practical cases of blockages were summarized. Despite existing research, there are still many shortcomings regarding the pertinence, comprehensiveness and prospects of related research, and many problems urgently need to be solved. The most fundamental concern involves understanding the list of potential risks of blockages and their spatially distributed effects in surrounding waters. Furthermore, knowledge of the biological cycles and ecological habits of key organisms is essential for implementing risk prevention and control and for building a scientific and effective monitoring system.

Assessment of Diversity of Forest Structure in Gunja-Dong, Siheung City, Korea (시흥시 군자동 일대 산림 구조의 다양성 평가)

  • Ryu, Ji-Eun;Kang, Jong-Hyun;Lee, Dong-Kun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.23-33
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    • 2011
  • Habitats loss and fragmentation are major threats to biodiversity. There are various kinds of environmental assessment have been developed for various problems to solve. Yet, there are no well-developed methods for quantifying and predicting about biodiversity. To achieve a sustainable conservation for biodiversity, the structural diversity of forest must be assessed by proper indexes. This study aim to quantitatively assess the diversity of forest structure as habitats and results of the verification by bird survey for objective presentation of evidence. As a result of literature review, some indexes were selected as potential prediction tools for biodiversity; area of patch, area of core regions, shape of patch and average age of stand. The assessment results were estimated by monitoring of birds for accuracy verification and the results were almost in agreement with each others. But, 1 and 2 level of forests were showed ambiguous results. Certainly, this study was limited in some valuation indexes on landscape scale. Further studies should be considered that different environmental factors such as land use, disturbances by human and vegetation index. Also, we expect that the additional monitoring of birds should give rise to the result which is improved assessment results.

Characteristics of woodland changes in an urban fringe in Gwangju city (도시외곽지역의 산림변화 특성)

  • Kim, Keun-Ho
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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    • v.39 no.2
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    • pp.177-182
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    • 2012
  • It is widely recognised that changes in size and isolation of habitat patches have a negative impact on species richness and the distribution and persistence of populations. Thus, the aim of the research was to analyze the change, distribution and spatial characteristics of woodlands in an urban fringe landscape. The results indicated that there was a common trend of woodland loss across all landscape types while no new woodlands were established during 1976 and 2009. Small patches (less than 5 ha in size) were particularly vulnerable to and more likely to disappear due to human activities such as urbanisation. Changes in woodland cover were clearly observed between 1976 and 2009. Loss of many woodlands was caused by residential and infrastructural developments. As a result, woodlands were becoming smaller and more isolated. This trend probably had adverse effects on biodiversity. This woodland information can be used to identify the potential and specific needs for conservation planning in rapidly developing urban areas.