• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.130-142
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• 2008

The objective of this study is to analyze the types and current status of development projects that underwent environment assessment in recent three years and provide basic data to encourage environment-friendly development projects in the future. This study was conducted by analyzing the pre-environment review reports and environment impact statements of development projects that took place in Gyeonggi province. Key findings are as follows. First, a total of 2,465 development projects spanning $173km^2$ were undertaken in Gyeonggi province in recent three years. This is equivalent to three times of the area of Anyang city. Second, types of development projects were in the order of factories and industrial parks, road construction, town (housing estates) development, sports facilities and waste treatment facilities. Public projects accounted for about 30%, while private investment projects represented 70%, indicating that private sector projects were as twice as high. The findings of this study show that the development density of Gyeonggi-do should be examined as a whole in order to develop a comprehensive, long-term plan and harmonize conservation and development systematically in Gyeonggi-do in a holistic perspective.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.779-786
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• 2011

This study aimed at comparing protected areas of Korea and Australia based on international conservation criteria by IUCN and analyzing what we need to improve for future management of protected areas of Korea. The registration status of protected areas of Korea listed on IUCN were 11 places in the Ia, 17 in II, 7 in IV, 7 in V; in total 42 places were recorded. However, the lists were missing many important areas. In Korea, we have only 4 protected area categories out of 6 indicating ecological diversity and management in its protected area system are insufficient. On the other hand, 9340 protected areas of Australia were listed on IUCN and evenly distributed in the total of six categories. Therefore, Korea should investigate measures for system establishment which ensures the diversity and indicative of our natural ecosystems and establish balanced system of protected areas including all IUCN categories I-VI through revaluation of natural, cultural, economic and social conditions and the needs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.106 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 2017

The best source of information on the conservation status of species at a global scale is the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Until now, 236 vascular plants from Korean peninsula have been evaluated using the IUCN red list categories and criteria. It indicated that five taxa were considered as critically endangered, 20 as endangered and nine as vulnerable species as a threatened status. On the other hand, the rest (189 taxa) were assessed as a least concern, which did not qualify for threatened species categories. Korea Ministry of Environment published a revised version of 57 species list by re-classifying endangered species with idiosyncratic qualitative criteria for two levels (I and II) followed by status reviews in 2011. However, two thirds species proposed by Ministry of Environment do not qualify as threatened. The major difficulties found in applying IUCN Red List criteria at the global scale was a lack of knowledge on the status of species at broader geographic scales and the perceived difficulty the causes. The lack of consistency between two lists constrains the prioritization of species-based conservation work at the national level. Due to a lack of centralized monitoring data for most species, this status is largely qualitatively and so it carries a high level of uncertainty. This is reflected in the high number of species with an unknown population trend. The current list of endangered species of flora and fauna by the Ministry of Environment should be recognized as the national list (local and population extinction), which is different from the IUCN Red list due to the different geographical contexts. Also, it is necessary to improve the quality of evaluation and conservation management system rather than presenting massive number of endangered species list.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.129-140
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• 2022

Environmental impact assessment on development projects is a process in which various stakeholders derive consultations by reflecting project characteristics and regional environmental status, and implementation of consultations is a prerequisite for securing sustainability of the local environment. The business plan can be changed to respond to changes in social and environmental conditions. And the business plan for which the environmental impact assessment consultation has been completed, it can be changed as a systematically prepared procedure (called Consultations on Amendment). As a result of investigating and analyzing the current status and major changes in the development project, Consultations on Amendment in industrial complexes were the most common, and the environmental impact is increasing accordingly. As the results of the analysis of operational status and the case studies, the main causes of Consultations on Amendment in industrial complex can be summarized into three categories: (1) formal demand forecasting for tenant industries, (2) excessive omission and simplification of administrative procedures under the Special Act, and (3) the use of an expedient change consultation system to facilitate environmental impact assessment consultation and shorten the period. This study proposes the following three measures to prevent the deterioration of the environmental impact assessment function due to frequent consultations on industrial complex changes; (1) Ensuring residents' participation procedures for Consultations on Amendment that changes important matters, (2) Reasonable revision of the "Simplification of Industrial Complex Procedures Act" to enhance the feasibility of industrial complex development plans and locations, (3) Development of evaluation criteria and methods for verification of real demand for objective demand management for industrial complexes, and (4) Preparation of a review guideline for Consultations on Amendment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.117-133
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• 2023

This study assessed the ecological health of border areas using the ecological health index and suggested Indicators for maintaining and promoting ecological values. We analyzed the change trends, pressures, and resilience of ecosystems and services in border areas, and identified their current status and sustainability. The main findings were: (1) ecological assets and ecosystem services in border areas could be compared through ecosystem health assessment; (2) it can be used to set priorities for management and conservation by identifying the relative importance and vulnerability of ecosystems and ecosystem services in each border area; and (3) the index presented in this study can be judged to have explanatory power for the characteristics of border areas and ecosystem health when compared to previous studies. Limitations of this study include the lack of literature and statistical data at the local government level and the resulting limited application of evaluation methods, which limited direct regional comparisons. To overcome the research limitations, further studies are needed, such as establishing ecological information in border areas, mapping and assessment of ecosystem services, and developing and applying assessments that reflect the opinions and participation of various stakeholders. This study was the first attempt to assess the health of ecosystems and ecosystem services in border areas and provided an important baseline for future changes in border areas. In the future, it will be helpful in national and local government policies and ecological assetecosystem management by supplementing insufficient information and presenting clear goals.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.390-397
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• 2022

Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) is the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council. CAFF conducts Monitoring, Assessment, Policy, and expert group activities to preserve Arctic biodiversity and ensure the sustainability of biological resources and communicates the results to governments and indigenous peoples. The main tasks of CAFF consist of monitoring (Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program), assessment (Arctic Biodiversity Assessment) and strategic projects(Arctic Migratory Bird Initiative, AMBI). Korea has been directly participating in the AMBI since 2015 after acquiring observer status of the Arctic Council in 2013. The AMBI aims to preserve habitats on migration routes used by breeding birds in the Arctic and prevent illegal hunting. Thus, observer countries on migratory routes are directly participating in the project. When selecting priorities for participation in Arctic cooperation projects by 2030, Korea should consider continuing participation in AMBI and participating in the "CAFF Youth Program" in connection with the Arctic Academy program operated by Korea's public institutes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2018

The intensive habitats loss of natural organisms as a consequence of anthropogenic activities has lead to the use of alternative habitats for species conservation. We reviewed the current status of alternative habitats and suggest the improvement of alternative habitats. Most of alternative habitats regarded in this study are not following the pre-arranged consultation at environmental impact assessment. These alternative habitats are rendered useless due to the insufficient consideration of ecological characteristics of species and lack of detailed plans. A number of alternative habitats are influenced by disturbance such as environmental pollution and construction. Post-monitoring of alternative habitats are needed to estimate immigration rate of species. Post management is also needed to assess the status of population stability. Overall, low effectiveness of alternative habitats is presented in this study. According to the status survey, methods for improvement of alternative habitats are required such as detailed guidelines, establishment of post-monitoring system, improvement of habitat restoration techniques, and guidelines for management and operation of alternative habitats.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.59-71
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• 1993

Evaluation methods are employed in environmental impact assessment to choose between different project site, to determine the required measures to compensate impact and to decide whether the environmental impacts are more important than the social or economic effects of a project. The main obstacles that restrict use of quantitative evaluation method are a Lack of knowledge about the environmental effects (e.g. if impacts on wildlife or landscape amenities are predicted) and the relative importance of economic and social issues compared with nature conservation stability of ecosystem or landscape beauty. In Germany, the most common method for site planning is the "ecological risk analysis". It is a kind of multi-criteria-decision-method based on quantitative and qualitative description and ordinal ranking. The various kinds of "ecological balancing methods" that are more recently developed (within the last decade) to quantify the required amount for compensatory measures instead often use cardinal figures to express the value of ecosystems, the intensity of impacts, the need for additional measures to compensate for long recuperative periods when restoring ecosystems and so on. There are still only a view attempts to quantify decisions between environmental and socio-economic issues. Multicriteria-analysis as well as cost-benifit-analysis was used. Some new approaches which are still in a preliminary status are based on contingent valuation and on calculations for compensatory payments (instead of compensatory measures).

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.778-790
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• 2021

The Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha in Bijung-ri are state-designated heritage (treasure) statues having the Buddha style of the Goryeo dynasty from the 6th century. Conservation scientific investigations were conducted to understand the preservation status of these stone Buddha statues and to establish a conservation plan. The Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha are composed of fine-medium grained biotite granite, which is considered to be of the same origin owing to their low magnetic susceptibility distribution of less than 0.2 (×10^-3 SI unit) and similar mineral characteristics. The Stone Seated Buddha Triad has highly homogenous mineral composition and particle size, whole-rock magnetic susceptibility, and geochemical characteristics very similar to those of the nearby outcrop. It was confirmed that a combination of physical, chemical, and biological factors affects the Stone Buddha statues. In particular, both the Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha tend to be chipped off from the front and cracked and scaled from the back. The Stone Standing Buddha located outdoors experiences granularity decomposition and black algae formation, which accelerate the weathering under unfavorable conservation environments. The result of non-destructive physical property diagnosis using ultrasonic velocity showed that both the Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha have been completely weathered (CW), indicating very poor physical properties.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.629-646
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• 2021

Damage to the natural environment is becoming increasingly complex in modern society, expanding to impact not only the environment but also society and the economy. Various systems and policies based on sustainability have been promoted internationally. Legal systems and policies based on evaluation systems such as land environment assessment and urban ecological status maps, have been implemented in Korea. However, most of Korea institutions and policies related to the natural environment have been directed toward the conservation of the natural environment, and restricted to in simple theoretical frameworks with various limitations. Therefore, this study analyzed the definition and value of the natural environment for a fundamental conceptual approach to the valuation of the natural environment. Based on this, we modeled the policy process for a flexible evaluation system suitable for the actual situation of Korea natural environment through a review of the integration of environmental policy proposed in Europe.