• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.25-45
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• 2008

This review was made to discuss the issues of ecological restoration and environmental impact assessment (EIA) related to the preservation of natural environment, the central theme expressed in the National Anthem of Korea. The authors notice that the key word or the central philosophy contained in the verses of the National Anthem of Korea is the preservation of national land and eternal identity for future generations, which is thought to be pursued through the attainment of ecological sustainability. A conceptual model for the sustainable management of natural ecosystems was suggested for the efficient utilization and the preservation of them, whose activities should be promoted by those of conservation and restoration instead of destructive development and negligence, respectively. Here, the preservation of natural environment can be directly pursued through the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes and the utilization of natural environment can be directly pursued through the conservation of natural resources and wise management of natural ecosystems and landscapes. After reviewing the major characteristics and activities of the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes, discussion was further extended to points for the promotion of the EIA activities. To point out some of them, it is needed for the public to better understand the nature of sustainable management of natural environment, for the society to put extensive energy and resources in the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes, and for the government to install higher levels of ministries than that of the Ministry of Environment in dealing with the issues related to the 'preservation' of national land, people, culture and the security of the sustainability for future generations, where EIA and strategic environment assessment (SEA) can directly contribute to the sustainability of the country and future generations.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.45-60
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• 2020

In the past, air pollution, water pollution and solid waste were very important items, but at present environmentally sound land use, ecosystem conservation and sustainable socio-economy have become very important in EIA. According to the consultation result of SEA and Small scale EIA during 2012~2019, most results are 'Conditional Agreement'. Especially EIA consultation results before 2016 were mostly (94.1 %) 'Agreement', but since 2017 most (87.4 %) are 'Conditional Agreement'. And the percentage of 'Non Agreement' have sharply increased from 0.3~0.6 % (during 2013~2016) to 1.3~3.1 % (during 2017~2019). In case there have been no change in EIA system and consultation techniques, the problems of inconsistency and unfairness could be raised. Therefore are urgently required researches on environmentally sound land use, ecosystem conservation and sustainable socio-economy which decide location feasibility assessment. The purpose of this study is to analyse the consultation cases of SEA, EIA, and Small scale EIA since 2012, and to identify key factors which result in the decision of nonagreement of development plans and development projects, and to suggest the improvements on EIA consultation based on land use regulation and environmental grade.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.237-250
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• 2014

A wide range of projects for ocean renewable energy are currently in development around the world and ocean energy industries continue to receive significant support from their governments. Surrounded by sea on three sides, Korea has potentially abundant renewable ocean energy resources, which include tidal current, tidal range, offshore wind power, osmotic pressure and ocean thermal energy. Numerous ocean renewable energy projects has been developed in Korea. Nevertheless, there are some concerns that those developments often select an environmentally unsuitable location and/or there are very few existing information on those environmental effects. The purpose of this study is to improve supporting policies and regulation systems of ocean renewable energy development in Korea by reviewing and compiling government policies and environmental assessment systems related to ocean renewable energy development around the world. The study suggests several policy implications for its environmental-friendly development in Korea, including requirements of strategic environmental assessment for proactive and environmentally suitable site selection of ocean renewable energy development and continuous post-development environmental monitoring, and so on.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.467-483
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• 2007

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a kind of planning technique to seek ways to minimize environmental impact, a scheme to encourage sustainable development. With the launch of the Ministry of Environment in 1980, the EIA was introduced in Korea. Its full operation was initially driven by regulations on documenting EIA reports in 1981, which was piloted as a decision-making scheme where final decision were made at the development department after considering opinions suggested by the Ministry of Environment. At that time, dominance of the economic logic overwhelmed environ-friendly opinions, but thanks to the fourth revision of the Environmental Conservation Law in 1986, private projects came to be included on the EIA list. This was a turning point for the EIA to become a regulatory system. Local governments are also conducting the EIA regardless of the national-level EIA. In order to prevent and resolve increasingly severe environmental problems in Seoul in advance due to various construction projects, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, for the first time as a local government in Korea, legislated city decrees to introduce the EIA which has been underway from September 1, 2002. In particular, the Seoul government, unlike the Ministry of Environment, has included construction works on the list of evaluation projects, adopting the scoping and screen procedure scheme. In addition, complementing operational setbacks, the city government has revised and implemented decrees and enforcement laws on the Impact Assessment on Environment, Transportation and Disasters by shortening the consultation period, eliminating the submission of reports on construction, and expanding the waiver requirements in consultation over the reports. Therefore, development measures for the EIA scheme of the Seoul Metropolitan Government will be the target of the research. To that end, the up-to-date data of the Ministry of Environment, the Seoul government and local governments was collected, and latest materials from the EU, previous research and the Internet were gathered for analyses. By doing so, the flow of the EIA was reviewed, and the EIA schemes of local governments under the national EIA were analyzed. Furthermore, based on the Seoul government's recent data on the EIA based on the decrees, the background and legislation of the Seoul government's EIA were analyzed along with the developments for the environmental organizations. Setbacks were derived from the implementation period, evaluation procedures, consultation period and details of the EIA, and corresponding development measures were proposed.