• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.156-168
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• 2016

The Korean government is planning to invest a lot of funds for conservation of the soil. Accordingly, it needs quantitative information on the soil. This paper attempts to analyze the total value of soil quantitatively: the total economic value of soil can be divided into use value and non-use value. To this end, we apply a replacement cost method (RCM) and contingent valuation method (CVM). Especially, CVM is most widely used to measure the non-use value such as environment goods. We employed the one-and-one-half-bounded dichotomous choice (OOHBDC) for willingness to pay (WTP) elicitation and a spike model. The monthly mean WTP was estimated to be KRW 3,949 per household for the next 10 years, which is statistically significant at the 1% level. Expanding the value to the relevant population gives us KRW 897.9 billion per year and as of the end of 2015, the non-use value of soil was assessed to be KRW 838.6 billion. Meanwhile, use value is subdivided into direct use value and indirect use value. This value was calculated KRW 3,277 trillion and KRW 51.8 trillion, respectively. As a result, total economic value of soil is estimated to be KRW 3,330 trillion in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.99-107
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• 2013

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of soil covering depth and vegetation base materials on the competition between Pinus densiflora Siebold & Zucc. and Lespedeza cyrtobotrya Miq., which were grown in an abandoned coal mine land for three years after seeding, by comparing their growth and stem density. The study site was consisted of sub-plots with four different soil covering depths (0cm, 10cm, 20cm, and 30cm) and four different compounds of vegetation base materials (peat moss (control), soil conditioner+peat moss (S+P), erosion control material+peat moss (E+P), and soil conditioner+erosion control material+peat moss (S+E+P)). Results of this study showed opposite pattern between P. densiflora and L. cyrtobotrya with different soil covering depth and compounds of vegetation base materials in general. P. densiflora showed the highest growth and stem density in plots with 10cm and 0cm depths of soil covering, respectively, while the lowest was shown in plots with 20cm depth of soil covering. In contrast, L. cyrtobotrya showed the highest growth and stem density in plots with 20cm depth of soil covering, while the lowest was shown in plots with 0cm depth of soil covering. In case of vegetation base materials, P. densiflora showed the highest growth and stem density in control plots and plots treated with S+P, respectively, while the lowest was shown in plots with S+E+P treatment. On the other hand, L. cyrtobotrya showed the highest growth and stem density in plots treated with S+E+P, while the lowest was shown in control plots. These results suggested the competition between two plants as a major cause of opposite patterns, which is induced by the suppressed growth and stem density of P. densiflora by fast growing L. cyrtobotrya. Despite the suppression of L. cyrtobotrya on P. densiflora, L. cyrtobotrya can play a positive role in improving soil quality, and thus it would be more desirable for restoring abandoned coal mine land to manage the growth of L. cyrtobotrya periodically, rather than eliminate them.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.27-47
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• 2006

Attempts were made to increase an efficiency of soil contamination investigation systems(SCISs) including Soil Contamination Fact-Finding Investigation Sites and Special Soil Contamination Management Facility Sites in Korea. In order to increase low efficiencies resulting from inappropriate SCISs, possible policy suggestions are driven based on the results from problem findings of Korean policy and comparisons of policies in industrialized countries including United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan. First, functions of Soil Environment Conservation Act(SECA) on liability should be updated and reinforced to initiate a soil contamination investigation process for stakeholders including an owner(s) or a responsible party(ies) of the potentially soil contamination sites positively. Second, appropriate SCISs should be emerged for implementing the Soil Contamination Fact-Finding Investigation Sites and Special Soil Contamination Management Facility Sites properly. Stakeholders for the potentially contaminated sites should easily access and raise the soil contamination issues, and soil contamination investigation implemented by liable and profit environment (consulting) companies should be encouraged. Third, the soil contamination reporting system of SECA needs to change legally responsible. Further more, public announcement system showing soil quality of a site which exceeds a certain scale would be considerable. Fourth, liable environment (consulting) companies should legally execute Soil Environment Assessment of SECA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.1-11
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• 2003

The objectives of this paper are to overview present status of soil pollution in Korea, to review the current policies and management strategies for soil pollution prevention and remediation of contaminated sites, and to suggest some recommendations to be considered toward more efficient policies. Soils in Korea are contaminated mainly by industrial facilities, landfills, underground storage tanks, abandoned/inactive mines, military camps, and other sources. Concentrations of most of soil pollutants were similar to the background levels, except for a few heavily contaminated sites such as industrial sites or abandoned/inactive mines. The Soil Environment Conservation Act (SECA), which was effective from 1995, provides a comprehensive legal framework for both preventing soil pollution and remedying contaminated sites in Korea. The Act includes various management policies such as the designation of standards and soil pollution policy area, soil monitoring networks, management of suspected contamination sources, and extended 'polluter-pays' principle. To make current policies more efficient and reasonable, some policies or strategies such as the establishment of national priority list, more detailed standards, risk-based cleanup goal, fund raise, soil erosion problem, and finally, integrity between soil and groundwater management frameworks may need to be pursued in the long term.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.97-112
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• 2001

The Section 12 of Groundwater Law stipulates that groundwater conservation zone should be regulated by the designation of conservation area and development restricted area, The most important policy for groundwater conservation and protection is to estimate and designate groundwater conservation zone. The groundwater classification map is utilized to determine the prime groundwater conservation areas, which delineate the first and the second ranked conservation areas of the map. According to the classification method of the Ministry of Construction and Transportation in 2000, groundwater quality for groundwater classification is classified with 4 levels based on the following conditions : (1) the present groundwater quality; (2) the potential usage as drinking water at present and in the future; (3) hydrogeological characteristics, and (4) the existence of pollution sources and activities. Throughout the initial analysis, the groundwater conservation areas are represented about 57.1$\textrm{km}^2$ in the groundwater classification map, which is 9.4% of Seoul Metropolitan Area. The management guidelines for groundwater conservation area are also developed referring to Cheju Province Groundwater Conservation Management Project and the guidelines by the Ministry of Construction and Transportation. But the specific administration and detailed technical survey should be prepared to efficiently manage the groundwater conservation area.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.497-504
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• 2006

Biodiversity is closely related to the conservation of ecosystems. Ecosystems provide more subtle, but equally essential, services. Microorganisms decompose human's waste and renew the soils that produce our food crops. Biodiversity in Korean paddies encompass 54 families and 107 species of freshwater invertebrates. In terms of the number of aquatic insects affected by different sources, the order starting with the highest population was swine slurry > chemical fertilizer > fresh straw with reduced fertilizers > control. The number of freshwater invertebrate and aquatic macro-invertebrate in surface water of the plots without insecticidal application were 2 and 2.1 times greater than in fields receiving insecticide applications, respectively. The soil microfungal flora of the 85 isolates paddy fields in Korea was 30 species in 13 genera and 11 isolates were unidentified yet. Agricultural policy should be changed to assist the conservation of biodiversity because until now the agricultural ecosystems have been negatively affected from the development of high-yield varieties to enhance food production, and the expansion of fertilizer and chemical use. For the conservation of agricultural ecosystems, agricultural practices with less investment and more resource saving, as well as enhancing the safety of agricultural and livestock products are essential. Finally, this paper was written for the contribution for the development of environmentally friendly farming systems with neighboring or whole ecosystems.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.36-40
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• 2022

To respond to rapidly changing water circumstances such as climate change, drought, etc., the korean government (MOE) established four advanced strategies for integrated groundwater management. The first strategy is watershed-based management of groundwater. The second strategy is total quantity management of groundwater including improvement of groundwater preservation area policy and procedure of investigation for groundwater influence area, additional construction of groundwater dam, installation of large-scale public wells, extention of spilled groundwater use. The third strategy is prevention of groundwater contamination including expansion of monitoring wells, introducing declaration of groundwater contamination. The last strategy is advancement of groundwater information management including integrated management of data, setting up a big-data based open platform. The above-mentioned four strategies will be reflected in the 4th National Groundwater Management Plan to secure implementation power, and it is expected to laid the foundation for advanced and rational groundwater management system.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.101-111
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• 2011

The Returning Land for Farming to Forestry Project in China is similar to the 'The 10-year National Greening Project' of Korea, and is one of the great strategic policies that started in order to develop the people, resources and the environment by the central government of China. Using the ecosystem recovery as the slogan, The Returning Land for Farming to Forestry Project of China has a long history of 70 years, but the accomplishments has been insignificant when compared to the long history. The Returning Land for Farming to Forestry Project was not a trend due to the societal and economical issues of China, but with the increasing interest on the environmental protection in the late 1990s the extent of the ecosystem is gradually increasing. The most difficult, yet most important matter of the Returning Land for Farming to Forestry Project, is that it must consider the ecosystem with the economy. The farmers want financial gains in a short term, and the government aims is gaining cost-benefit over a long period which is why a rational the Returning Land for Farming to Forestry Project of the central government in China is most important. In order for the Returning Land for Farming to Forestry Project of China to develop further in the future, the standardization and distinction of the economic compensation policy is most urgent. Other than this, a new policy and the government interest on the livelihood of the farmers after the completion of the Returning Land for Farming to Forestry Project are needed, and there must be a clear and fair policy enactment environment so that the opinions of the farmers can influence the policy in the policy enactments.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.441-477
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• 2020

There have been raised other environmental issues related to remediated soils piled up in numerous carry-out processing facilities because a considerable quantity of them have been produced every year, but most of them have not been relevantly reused or recycled. Thus, this article reports the trend of researches on the development of techniques to restore the quality of remediated soils to activate their reuse and recycling. Firstly, the tendency of change in soil properties through remediation processes was looked over, and then the degradation of soil quality was characterized according to the type of remediation processes. Besides, the direction of policy to promote the reuse and recycling of remediated soils was introduced, and finally, the future works needed were suggested. This article was prepared based on the results of the survey of domestic and foreign literature. A number of literature were reviewed to scrutinize the change of soil properties due to remediation processes and diverse techniques for the amendment and restoration of remediated soils. Furthermore, the policies related to the reuse and recycling of remediated soils were arranged with the reference of the first and second versions of the Soil Conservation Master Plan of Korea. The literature survey focused on three kinds of remediation technologies, such as land farming, soil washing, and thermal desorption, which were most frequently used so far in Korea. The results indicate that the tendency of change in soil properties was significantly different depending on the type of remediation processes applied, and the degradation characteristics of soil quality were also totally different between them. The soil amendment and restoration can be categorized as three techniques depending on the type of substances used, such as inorganic, organic, and biological ones. Diverse individual materials have been used, and the soil properties improved or enhanced were dependent on the type of specific materials utilized. However, few studies on the restoration of soil qualities degraded during the remediation processes have not been carried out so far. The second Soil Conservation Master Plan states the quality certification and target management system of remediated soils, and it is expected that their reuse and recycling will be facilitated hereafter. With the consideration of the type of remediation processes implemented and public utility, the restoration technologies of remediated soils should be developed for the vitalization of their reuse and recycling. Besides, practical and specific measures should be taken to support the policy specified in the second Soil Conservation Master Plan and to promote reuse/recycling of remediated soils.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.41-55
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• 2010

This paper analyzes optimal watershed management focusing on reservoir-level sediment removal techniques. Although dams and reservoirs provide several benefits, sedimentation may reduce their storage capacity. As of today, the Aswan High Dam (AHD) in Egypt faces approximately 76% reduced life of the reservoir. Since the AHD is the major fresh water source in Egypt, sustainable use of this resource is extremely important. A model is developed to simultaneously determine optimal sediment removal strategies for upstream soil conservation efforts and reservoir-level sediment control. Two sediment removal techniques are considered: mechanical dredging and hydro-suction sediment removal system (HSRS). Moreover, different levels of upstream soil conservation efforts have introduced to control soil erosion, which is a major contributor of reservoir storage capacity reduction. We compare a baseline case, which implies no management alternative, to non-cooperative and social planners' solution. Our empirical results indicate that the socially optimal sediment removal technique is a mechanical dredging with unconstrained amount with providing a sustainable life of the reservoir. From the empirical results, we find that social welfare can be as high as $151.01 billion, and is sensitive to interest rates and agricultural soil loss.