• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1079-1088
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• 2009

The statistics of monitoring on soil quality is a report statistics which is made on the basis of Article 15, Environment Strategy Basic Law and Article 5, Soil Environment Conservation Law. This study was conducted according to quality assessment of Korea National Statistical Office. The assessment of quality infrastructure advised that the authority bring up and increase completely responsible officer and secure the budget. The assessment of user satisfaction and reflection of request propose that the statistics is focused on soil background concentration, decrease soil sampling points and extend survey period. The assessment of error management system per processes of detailed preparation suggest change of the statistics objective, a reduction of sampling points and improvement of survey period and soil measurement properties. Accuracy assessment of data proposed cuts of sampling points, accessibility increment and build up of management system linking subordinates and Ministry of Environment. The substantiality assessment of data service demonstrated information environment improvement for users including reference expression and records of statistics table and figure contents.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.7-14
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• 2010

Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) supports a decision-making process such as establishment of environmental quality criteria. Soil quality criteria (SQC) are essential to protect soil organisms from the exposure to various soil contaminants. In this study, ERA methodologies of advanced countries for soil pollution were extensively compared to propose the ERA approach suitable for soil ecosystem in Korea. The soil ERAs in European Chemical Bureau(ECB), The Netherlands, and Canada can be classified as deterministic ecological risk assessment (DERA), and probabilistic ecological risk assessment (PERA) based on species sensitivity distribution (SSD). We propose three ERA methods according to abundance and reliability of soil ecotoxicity data. The method considered land use such as residential/agricultural, and industrial/commercial uses. The taxonomic groups of soil organism were classified as 'Class' level including different trophic levels (Magnoliopsida or Liliopsida, Clitellata, and Insecta or Secernentea). This study can be used to estimate the soil quality criteria to protect soil biota.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.572-576
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• 2016

Soil quality assessment is an important tool for environmental management in an agricultural field. It can be used to evaluate the health of the soils and to establish the basis for sustainable urban agriculture and soil management. For this study, the chemical properties of the soils used for urban agriculture were examined. Results of the soil analysis for chemical properties were applied to soil quality assessment system, which is composed of principal component analysis, application to scoring function and derivation of soil quality index (SQI). Soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (T-N) were determined for minimum data set (MDS) according to principal component analysis. Based on the results of scoring for four indicators (pH, EC, OM, T-N), soil pH was the indicator that needs the most urgent management. Results of SQI derivation showed that many of the urban farms appeared to be insufficient score in comprehensive soil quality assessment. In conclusion, soil management practices based on scores derived from soil chemical indicators need to be carried out to maintain sustainable urban agricultural soil environment and to provide easy-to-understand information to urban farmers.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.357-364
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• 2004

Modern agriculture depending on chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides gave rise to questions about long-term sustainability of agriculture in relation to degradation of soil quality. Improving soil quality is prerequisite to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality, and promote plant and animal health. Assessment and monitoring of the health and quality of soil is necessary to provide opportunity to evaluate and redesign soil management system for sustainability. To develop the soil quality assessment method, we collected national data on soil properties of paddy and upland and attempted to evaluate the data in aspect of soil quality by the process of selecting a minimum data set (MDS), scoring the soil properties and calculating soil quality index (SQI) integrating the score of each soil property. This approximation indicated that soil quality index was in the order of paddy soil, upland soil and plastic film house soil.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2016

Environmental impact assessment has been implemented for more than 30 years in Korea. During that period, various amendments were carried out about target plan and assessment factors. However, in current environmental impact assessment act, only a few factors has been considered for soil environment assessment. This study analyzes the national and foreign environmental impact assessment guidelines on soil related factors and figures out the problems and implications of Korean environmental impact assessment. In Korea, water quality, topography and geology, hydraulics and hydrology, and soil contamination were analyzed as a soil related factors. The main assessment targets were pollution related factors such as soil pollution levels, amount of rainfall runoff, and non-point sources. However, in the case of foreign guidelines, soil compaction, soil sealing, and soil salinization is being analyzed for evaluating function and quality of soil environment. The revision of soil-related factors are needed for sustainable development of Korea.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.127-145
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• 1998

Unlike water or air quality standards that have been established by legislation using potential human health impact as the primary criterion, soil quality depends on the soils primary function and its relevant environmental factors, which is much more site- and soil specific. A properly characterized soil quality assessment system should serve as an indicator of the soil capacity to produce safe and nutritious food, to enhance human and animal health, and to overcome degrative processes. For our proposed example, a high quality soil with regard to maintaining an adequate soil productivity as a food production resources must accommodate soil and water properties, food chain, sustainability and utilization, environment, and profitability, that (i) facilitate water transfer and absorption, (ii) sustain plant growth, (iii) resist physical degradation of soil, (iv) produce a safe food resources, (v) cost-effective agricultural management. Possible soil quality indicators are identified at several levels within the framework for each of these functions. Each indicator is assigned a priority or weight that reflects its relative importance using a multi-objective approach based on principles of systems to be considered. To do this, individual scoring system is differentiated by the several levels from low to very high category or point scoring ranging from 0 to 10, And then weights are multiplied and products are summed to provide an overall soil quality rating based on several physical and chemical indicators. Tlne framework and procedure in developing the soil quality assessment are determined by using information collected from an alternative and conventional farm practices in the regions. The use of an expanded framework for assessing effects of other processes, management practices, or policy issues on soil quality is also considered. To develop one possible form for a soil quality index, we should permit coupling the soil characteristics with assessment system based on soil properties and incoming and resident chemicals. The purpose of this paper is to discuss approaches to defining and assessing soil quality and to suggest the factors to be considered.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.59-67
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• 2023

This review examined the current administrative policies and guidelines for management of reclaimed soils after remediation processes and proposed practical strategies to improve the potential value of the remediated soil as a resource. Three management practices are proposed to facilitate more efficient recycling of remediated soil; obligatory use, quality certification, and tracking of the remediated soils. If properly implemented in utilization of remediated soil, these strategies could contribute to enhancing public safety by assuring soil quality. Such administrative tools, for both suppliers and demanders, are expected to mitigate potential risks associated with the transactions of remediated soil. To enhance the quality assurance process, a soil quality certification combined with the soil health assessment index was proposed. The systematic integration of the suggested practices with soil health assessment can allow to produce optimal results, encompassing affordability, efficiency, and accessibility, which helps establishing more robust 'Remediated Soil Recycling Management System (RSRMS)'. Subsequent researches should be conducted to develop more effective policies that incorporate soil health assessment tools. The proposed management practices for remediated soil, coupled with soil health assessment, can be a pioneering effort to achieve such goals. By fostering an environmentally friendly policies, the sustainable utilization of remediated soil can be attained. Overall, the proposed strategies can provide a sound framework for responsible and sustainable soil management practices.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.39-57
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• 1995

The water quality model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was used in combination with GIS, Arc/Info and GRASS, to evaluate land use impacts in the Delaware River Basin in Pennsylvania. This paper describes application of GIS with the water quality model in the 250 square kilometer Brodhead Creek Watershed. Date used in water quality modeling include 1:250,000 digital elevation models (DEM), soil data, and monitored streamflow and curve numbers, and other input variables.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.93-111
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• 2005

Defining soil quality in scopes and applications is one of the prerequisite for the sustainable management of soil environment to orient researches, strategies and policies. However, definition of soil quality is controversial depending upon a viewpoint of soil science or soil environment. Soil quality can be, irrespective of the disciplines, defined as the capacity of a soil to function within ecosystem boundaries to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality and promote plant and animal health. Common to all of the soil quality concepts can be summarized as the capacity of soil to function effectively at present and in the future. The OECD includes soil quality as one of the agri-environment indicators. This article intends to i) summarize the current soil quality research, and ii) provide information on protocol of soil quality assessment. A framework for soil quality was divided into three steps: indicator selection as minimum data set (MDS), scoring of the selected indicators, and integration of scores into soil quality index. Korean government suggested possible physical and chemical indicators such as bulk density and organic matter for paddy and upland soils to OECD. The framework of soil quality assessment is not yet implemented in Korea. Countries such as USA, Canada and New Zealand have constructed the framework on soil quality assessment and developed a user-friendly version of soil quality assessment tools to evaluate the integrated effects of various soil management practices. The protocol provided in this review might help policymakers, scientists, and administrators improve awareness about soil quality and understand the way of soil environment management.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.56-64
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• 2017

Soil quality has been regarded as an important factor for maintaining sustainability of ecosystem. Main purpose of this research was i) to select minimum factor for predicting biomass, and ii) to calculate soil quality index for biomass according to soil chemical properties. Result showed that soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), soil organic matter (SOM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and available phosphorus are minimum data set for calculating biomass production in soil. Selected representative soil chemical properties were evaluated for soil quality index and rated from 1 to 5 (1 is the best for biomass production). Percentage of each grade in terms of biomass production in national wide was 14.52, 35.23, 33.03, 6.47, 10.75% respectively. Although, only soil chemical properties were evaluated for calculating optimum soil quality, result of this research can be useful to understand basic protocol of soil quality assessment in national wide.