• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.89-98
• /
• 2007

In order to conduct the environmental assessment of long range transboundary air pollutants over East Asia, the moving pathways of air pollutants are of great importance, which are depending upon the meteorological weather patterns. Therefore regional scale modeling study requires the identified geopotential height distribution patterns to deal with behaviors of long range transport air pollutants for the effective long term atmospheric environmental assessment. In this study the synoptic meteorological classification using cluster analysis technique over Northeast Asia, and its previous applications of the regional scale air pollutant modeling studies were reviewed and summarized in detail. Other synoptic meteorological characteristics over Korean peninsula are also discussed.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.505-516
• /
• 2014

Northeast Asia including China, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, DPRK and ROK, is a geographically close region that falls under the same environmental influence. Recently the region is not only facing serious domestic environmental problems with rapid economic growth, but also confronted with transboundary environmental problems and associated conflicts between countries. Unfortunately, Northeast Asia lacks a solid environmental management system among countries to deal with transboundary and other environmental issues. Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment (TEIA) can, therefore, be one of the essential systematic measures in which environmental problems between countries would be negotiated. However, it would be necessary to have an indepth discussion of what we have to do first for implementing TEIA system in the region, and how to operate it while customizing each Northeast Asian country with different EIA system and socioeconomic circumstance. All these cannot be decided in a short time, and we need to invest enough time for discussing and considering them from various aspects. Recently, the Korean government declared "Eurasia Initiative". The initiative proposes important developing projects and ultimately plans to build a peaceful community throughout Eurasia based on comprehensive cooperation. The initiative aims to increase exchanges in transportation, energy and agricultural sectors to achieve the goals. In this regard, implementing TEIA in Northeast Asia is urgently needed and we have to prepare the strategy for introducing TEIA mechanism. Based on the results of 10 year experience on TEIA projects conducted since 2004, we suggest double-track approaches for developing TEIA mechanism. We continuously need to make an effort to establish a regional TEIA mechanism that all countries legally join, and simultaneously we also have to prepare a process to carry out TEIA for upcoming projects based on bi- or multi-lateral agreements. Practical solutions such as conducting pilot TEIA with relevant countries and developing TEIA guideline for the region could be the first step.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.269-279
• /
• 2011

Sustainability assessments tend to integrate ecological, social, and economic concerns. Sustainability assessment could be considered the highest rung in the assessment ladder. Broad strategies that seek to integrate individual SEA(Strategic Environmental Assessment) could be subjected to a sustainability assessment. Sustainability assessment could incorporate global and transboundary effects and priorities into SEA and project-level EIA(Environmental Impact Assessment). SEA could provide an environmental context and direction for project-level EIA. Procedural and substantive EIA requirements can be addressed through tiering such as sustainability assessment, SEA, project-level EIA. In Korea, PERS(Prior Environmental Review System) that has been utilized to evaluate administrative plans related with various kinds of development projects should be evolved not only to incorporate environmental impacts into early stage decision-making, but also to implicate sustainability assessments that include social equity and economic efficiency. Integration of SEA and sustainability assessment can be initiated through the application of DPSIR (Driving Force - Pressure - State - Impact - Response ) framework that was developed by European Environmental Agency.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.139-155
• /
• 2006

The introduction of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has strengthened and extended the value of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a fundamental tool for sustainable development. In particular, SEA helps to overcome the limitation of project EIA as a stand alone approach that is applied relatively late in the decision making cycle. SEA is applied to proposals of policy, plan, and/or programme when major alternatives are open. In Korea, similar to SEA, the Prior Environmental Review System (PERS) was introduced to overcome the limitations of the EIA, by checking the environmental impacts on major policy and administrative actions in the early stage of decision making process. SEA appears in various national, regional and international laws. SEA is addressed specifically in the UNECE SEA protocol to the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a transboundary context, as well as the European Commission SEA Directive (2001/42/EC). SEA is a valuable tool for integrating sustainability decisions into country's policies, plans and programmes. This paper reviews the policy direction for implementation of the SEA and efficient Environmental Assessment (EA) through integration of the PERS and the EIA.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.294-305
• /
• 2018

Quantitative assessment on the impact from North Korean emissions to surface particulate matter(PM) concentration in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA), South Korea is conducted using a 3-dimensional chemistry transport model. Transboundary transport of air pollutants and their precursors are important to understand regional air quality in East Asian countries. As North Korea locates in the middle of main transport pathways of Chinese pollutants, quantifiable estimation of its impact is essential for policy making in South Korean air quality management. In this study, the Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System is utilized to simulate regional air quality and its sensitivity, using the Comprehensive Regional Emissions inventory for Atmospheric Transport Experiment 2015 and the Clean Air Policy Support System 2013 emissions inventories for North and South Korea, respectively. Contributions were estimated by a brute force method, perturbing 50% of North and South Korean emissions. Simulations demonstrate that North Korean emissions contribute $3.89{\mu}g/m^3$ of annual surface PM concentrations in the SMA, which accounts 14.7% of the region's average. Impacts are dominant in nitrate and organic carbon (OC) concentrations, attributing almost 40% of SMA OC concentration during January and February. Clear seasonal variations are also found in North Korean emissions contribution to South Korea (and vice versa) due to seasonal characteristics of synoptic weather, especially by the change of seasonal flow patterns.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.376-384
• /
• 2017

Bangladesh is a South Asian country with subtropical monsoonal climate between the intersection of the Indo-Himalayan and Indo-Chinese sub-regions, is known as biodiversity hotspot of the Asian region. The country has different types of forest like deciduous forest, evergreen forest, mixed forest, haor (wetlands) and mangrove forest. The natural beauty of the country is increased with the presence of so many rivers, longest sea beach of the world, green plants, critical hilly regions and green agricultural forest widely spread here and there. Sundarbans is the world largest mangrove forest and world natural heritage site declared by UNESCO in 1999 situated in Bangladesh and India. About 62 percent of this mangrove forest is situated in Bangladesh and there are so many plants and animals are found in this forest. To meet the increasing demand of the large population most of the natural ecosystem is now altered, deforestation rate is increased, natural habitat of the species is disturbed. Due to the imbalance of the climate and natural system many of the rare species of the world found this region is now endangered and some of the species are extinct. Directly or indirectly they are benefited from natural resources. At present time community, based ecotourism is also an important source of income for rural poor peoples. To protect the natural resources the government is now developed so many conservation acts and policy as well NGOs are also doing work for the conservation of ecosystem and biodiversity. At present transboundary pollutants and so many natural disasters also destruct the natural resources of Bangladesh.