• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.57-65
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• 2018

The study is conducted to establish the National Protected Areas Integrated System(NPAIS) which includes National Protected Areas(NPAs) and other conservation measures in terms of effective ways for biodiversity conservation. Additionally, it is carried out to evaluate progress toward quantitative expansion goals in Aichi biodiversity Target 11. The NPAIS consists of NPAs and other effective area-based conservation measures(OECMs). There are two different types of OECMs. OECMs type I, including water-source protection Areas(WPA), riparian zones(RZ), fishery-resource protection zones (FPZ), and urban natural park zones(UNPZ), is a potential protected area which is recommended to be incorporated into the NPAs for effective management. OECMs type II means development restriction zones(DRZ), natural recreation forests(NRF), and buffer zones for Korea national arboretum(BKNA). As a result of evaluating the quantitative expansion goals of the NPAIS, terrestrial and inland water protected areas exceed 17% of the quantitative goal in Aichi biodiversity Target 11. The larger the area of individual OECMs and the lower the degree of overlap with NPAs, the higher the contribution of them to the terrestrial and inland water protected areas. DRZ contributes to enlarge more than 3% of quantitative expansion. And RZ and NRF contribute more than 1%. The marine protected areas are expanded by $1,425km^2$ through FPZ, but the expanded area is very small as comparing with the total marine area. It adds only 0.321% to the quantitative expansion. The rest of OECMs also has very poor quantitative expansion contributions in the marine area. Consequently, the NPAIS is effective for quantitative expansion of land areas, but not for marine areas.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.25-56
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• 2006

We reviewed and compared nationwide surveys conducted in advanced countries (i.e., Japan, Germany, USA, and UK) with those in Korea, including the third Nationwide Survey of Natural Environments, which began in 2006 and will proceed until 2010. Based on this comparative analysis, we suggest alternatives to the nationwide survey of natural environments that are suited to Korea. Given the focus on species abundances and distributions in previous nationwide surveys in Korea, surveys of habitats, ecosystems, and ecoregions are required to more effectively protect biological resources in Korea. Furthermore, their spatial distributions should be mapped using periodical satellite images and aerial photographs. In particular, satellite images can be used to survey species, habitats, and ecosystems. Natural resources monitoring and management specialists are needed to collect various data and improve survey results. The participation of community volunteers is also important to develop an awareness in local residents of natural environment conservation. Independent survey institute (i.e., a 'National Ecosystem Institute') should be established to develop a database and survey scheme for species, habitats, and ecosystems throughout Korea. Moreover, the survey institute could develop natural environmental policy through the data analysis to meet the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The establishment of a survey institute will allow the completion of a natural environment survey that considers various factors, including physical habitat conditions. This will allow us to detect subtle changes in species abundance and spatial distributions and provide accurate and timely information on natural environments.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.691-704
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• 2020

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has designated 17 species as harmful marine organisms with the purpose of managing harmful marine species that threaten health and property. In designating and managing harmful marine species, detailed and effective regulations were originally established in November 2015, and a minor amendment of the directive was published in 2019 - Directive on Designating and Managing Marine Ecosystem Invasive Species and Harmful Marine Species (hereinafter, the Directive). Thus, this study had two aims: Firstly, to increase public awareness of the harmful marine species management system run by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries via description of the present harmful marine species risk assessment system. Secondly, to improve the current risk assessment system by providing policy suggestions developed through review of the present harmful marine species designation and management system. In so doing, this study reviewed the 'harmful marine species - harmfulness risk assessment system' in both the definitions of "risk" and "assessment". As a result, the present definition of 'risk' adequately fulfills the policy aims on the Regulation of Marine Ecosystem, which includes an economic value. However, it seems that there is a loophole in the rules of risk assessment, lacking terms of reference in the definition of "risk". Moreover, with regards to risk assessment, a quantitative risk assessment system was sufficient but lacked elements of qualitative risk, suggesting future research in this area may prove useful in the management of harmful marine species.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.442-456
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• 2016

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) encourages the use of the City Biodiversity Index (CBI) as a monitoring tool to assist local authorities in evaluating their progress in urban biodiversity conservation. The CBI has been applied to conserve the city biodiversity. This study has developed the City Ecological Soundness Index (CESI) based on the CBI and Korean city characteristics. The CESI includes total of 12 indicators grouped in three categories, which are 'biodiversity,' 'ecosystem services' and 'governance and management.' 85 cities in Korea were classified according to the city size and type. 18 cities have applicable biotope map, which were analyzed in the CESI pilot study. The CESI will contribute to collect and manage biodiversity data systematically and to promote biodiversity-related actions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.51-65
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• 2023

The Jeongmaeks are Korea's unique forest space recognition system that diverged from the Baekdudaegan. The Jeongmaeks are easily exposed to pressure because it is adjacent to the living area. Among them, Nakdong-Jeongmaek has high biodiversity, but damage is accelerating. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2022, the target is to expand the area of terrestrial and marine protected areas to 30% of national territory by 2030. As of September 2023, the area of terrestrial protected areas in South Korea is only 16.97% of the country's territory. This is due in part to the high proportion of private forests in the region, which makes it difficult to establish protected areas. Therefore, there is a need to establish Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measure (OECMs), which pursue complex and effective conservation that considers multiple values, as an alternative to protected areas. This study aims to identify areas suitable for OECM and to provide opinions on the establishment of appropriate management plans for each value using SOM and InVEST Habitat Quality model. This study evaluated the habitat quality of 206 villages located within 1km of the Nakdong-Jeongmaek and compared the characteristics of villages classified by SOM. As a result, the habitat quality was 0.867 for Tourism village (ClusterIV), 0.838 for Conservation village (ClusterVI), 0.835 for Mixed village (ClusterI), 0.796 for Production (ClusterV), 0.731 for Rural village (ClusterIII) and 0.625 for Urban village (ClusterII). When the distribution was identified through statistical analysis, the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the distributions were not identical, with a p-value of 1.53e-08. Dunn's test showed a difference between Tourism, Conservation and Rural, Urban village. However, Mixed village was overestimated due to the lack of villages and the small area included in the study area. Moreover, Conservation village was somewhat under-evaluated in the analysis due to the use of a single weight for protected areas. It is necessary to perform additional reinforcement of the value evaluation of Jeongmaeks by conducting Forest Resource Survey and the National Natural Environment Survey. Therefore, we believe that sufficient validity for the establishment of OECMs in the Nakdong-Jeongmaek can be provided by addressing these limitations and conducting additional research.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.154-160
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• 2017

The Korean plant names Changpo and Sukchangpo, including their related names Suchangpo and Kyeson, were somewhat confusingly used in both the Korean classics and even now. To clarify these names, the names written in the Chinese classics and the Korean classics were examined closely and compared to those of the modern flora of China and Korea. In the Chinese classics, Changpo and Sukchangpo were considered as conspecific with Acorus calamus, which has leaves with distinct veins, whereas Sukchangpo and Kyeson have leaves without distinct veins and are considered as A. gramineus. However, in the Korean classics, these names have been confusingly used thus far. Sukchangpo and Gyeson were considered as A. gramineus, and Sukchangpo and Changpo were considered as A. calamus, erroneously. Therefore, the following corrections are needed: plants having distinct leaf veins were named Changpo (A. calamus), and plants having vague leaf veins were named Sukchangpo (A. gramineus), and the names of Sukchangpo and Kyeson should be discarded to avoid confusion. In addition, to respond to the Convention on Biological Diversity, we propose a study to clarify the taxonomic identities of the plant names written in Chinese script and an examination of the Korean plant names listed in the Korean classics.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.119-135
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• 2021

Korea has stepped up efforts to investigate and catalog its flora and fauna to conserve the biodiversity of the Korean Peninsula and secure biological resources since the ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits (ABS) in 2010. Thus, after its establishment in 2007, the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR) of the Ministry of Environment of Korea initiated a project called the Korean Indigenous Species Investigation Project to investigate indigenous species on the Korean Peninsula. For 15 years since its beginning in 2006, this project has been carried out in five phases, Phase 1 from 2006-2008, Phase 2 from 2009-2011, Phase 3 from 2012-2014, Phase 4 from 2015-2017, and Phase 5 from 2018-2020. Before this project, in 2006, the number of indigenous species surveyed was 29,916. The figure was cumulatively aggregated at the end of each phase as 33,253 species for Phase 1 (2008), 38,011 species for Phase 2 (2011), 42,756 species for Phase 3 (2014), 49,027 species for Phase 4 (2017), and 54,428 species for Phase 5(2020). The number of indigenous species surveyed grew rapidly, showing an approximately 1.8-fold increase as the project progressed. These statistics showed an annual average of 2,320 newly recorded species during the project period. Among the recorded species, a total of 5,242 new species were reported in scientific publications, a great scientific achievement. During this project period, newly recorded species on the Korean Peninsula were identified using the recent taxonomic classifications as follows: 4,440 insect species (including 988 new species), 4,333 invertebrate species except for insects (including 1,492 new species), 98 vertebrate species (fish) (including nine new species), 309 plant species (including 176 vascular plant species, 133 bryophyte species, and 39 new species), 1,916 algae species (including 178 new species), 1,716 fungi and lichen species(including 309 new species), and 4,812 prokaryotic species (including 2,226 new species). The number of collected biological specimens in each phase was aggregated as follows: 247,226 for Phase 1 (2008), 207,827 for Phase 2 (2011), 287,133 for Phase 3 (2014), 244,920 for Phase 4(2017), and 144,333 for Phase 5(2020). A total of 1,131,439 specimens were obtained with an annual average of 75,429. More specifically, 281,054 insect specimens, 194,667 invertebrate specimens (except for insects), 40,100 fish specimens, 378,251 plant specimens, 140,490 algae specimens, 61,695 fungi specimens, and 35,182 prokaryotic specimens were collected. The cumulative number of researchers, which were nearly all professional taxonomists and graduate students majoring in taxonomy across the country, involved in this project was around 5,000, with an annual average of 395. The number of researchers/assistant researchers or mainly graduate students participating in Phase 1 was 597/268; 522/191 in Phase 2; 939/292 in Phase 3; 575/852 in Phase 4; and 601/1,097 in Phase 5. During this project period, 3,488 papers were published in major scientific journals. Of these, 2,320 papers were published in domestic journals and 1,168 papers were published in Science Citation Index(SCI) journals. During the project period, a total of 83.3 billion won (annual average of 5.5 billion won) or approximately US $75 million (annual average of US $5 million) was invested in investigating indigenous species and collecting specimens. This project was a large-scale research study led by the Korean government. It is considered to be a successful example of Korea's compressed development as it attracted almost all of the taxonomists in Korea and made remarkable achievements with a massive budget in a short time. The results from this project led to the National List of Species of Korea, where all species were organized by taxonomic classification. Information regarding the National List of Species of Korea is available to experts, students, and the general public (https://species.nibr.go.kr/index.do). The information, including descriptions, DNA sequences, habitats, distributions, ecological aspects, images, and multimedia, has been digitized, making contributions to scientific advancement in research fields such as phylogenetics and evolution. The species information also serves as a basis for projects aimed at species distribution and biological monitoring such as climate-sensitive biological indicator species. Moreover, the species information helps bio-industries search for useful biological resources. The most meaningful achievement of this project can be in providing support for nurturing young taxonomists like graduate students. This project has continued for the past 15 years and is still ongoing. Efforts to address issues, including species misidentification and invalid synonyms, still have to be made to enhance taxonomic research. Research needs to be conducted to investigate another 50,000 species out of the estimated 100,000 indigenous species on the Korean Peninsula.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.81-91
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• 2021

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea did not have direct legislation on natural environmental conservation until the early 1970s when the regime was still in the early stage. The Law on Land was enacted in 1977 to provide the legal basis for protecting the natural environment, including land protection, protection zones, and forest formation and protection. The enactment of the Law on Environmental Protection in 1986 made progress on environmental conservation in the DPRK. The constitutional amendment in 1992 stipulated "the preservation and creation of the natural environment as the responsibility of the state." Based on the Framework Law on Environmental Protection, subordinate statutes in various fields were enacted after the1990s. While the committee designated and managed the protected zones in the early days, the Framework Law on Environmental Protection established the ground for the designation of legally protected areas, and the Law on Protection of Scenic Spots and Natural Monuments enacted in 1995, and the Law on Environmental Protection enacted in 2009 provided the details. Furthermore, the types of nature reserves include biosphere reserves, primeval forest reserves, animal reserves, plant reserves, and scenic reserves. The 2nd National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan established in 2007 based on the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD) stated 326 protected zones in the DPRK. However, the 2018 United Nations list of Protected Areas shows only 31 registered zones, indicating the need to establish basic information on protected areas in DPRK. This study can provide basic information for a better understanding of the nature conservation system in the DPRK. Considering that environmental protection activities such as protection of endangered species and recovery of environmental pollution are subject to exceptions under the current sanctions against North Korea (UN Security Council, the United States), it will be possible to contribute to identifying possible inter-Korean cooperation projects in the field of the natural environment.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.39-57
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• 2012

Analysis of the economic impact on Korean bioindustry companies was approached after Korea access to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (hereinafter 'the Protocol') enters into force. Cost analysis of the economic impact is based on the size of bioindustry market, dependency ratio on genetic resources abroad, ABS (Access and Benefit Sharing) ratio for royalty ratio. Korean bioindustry companies would have had to pay extra ABS cost around 1.3-6.0 billion won for using genetic resources abroad, if the Protocol had entered into force in 2009. And this cost is estimated to be around 13.6 - 63.9 billion won in 2015. All ABS costs account only about less than 0.01% of total Korean bioindustry volume of target years. These show us that joining the Protocol will not significantly impact the bioindustry market in Korea. If the Protocol enters into force, genetic resources users have to pay PIC (Prior Informed Consent) and MAT (Mutually Agreed Terms) cost before accessing the genetic resources outside of their country, regardless of the accession status of the country. This ABS costs and terms on provided genetic resources will be determined by compliance between genetic resources users and providers. As a genetic resources provider, Korean bioindustry companies will have advantage over technology transfer agreements, royalties, licensing agreements, and taxes on profits from patents including traditional knowledge. Also, Korean bioindustry companies are expected to get various socio-economic benefits such as patent litigation and regulatory proceedings as a genetic resources provider. Considering the advantages and disadvantages of the Protocol that Korean bioindustry companies will face together, the socio-economic impact of the Nagoya Protocol on Korean bioindustry companies is negligible regardless of the accession status of Korea to the Nagoya Protocol.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.601-609
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• 2020

This study aims to draw suggestions for establishing the Post-2020 national policy direction and goals related to protected areas in Korea by analyzing the trends of major discussion issues on protected areas in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and reviewing the achievement progress of the Aichi target-11. Regarding the CBD decisions on protected areas, two decisions (Decisions II/7 and II/8) were adopted in 1995, and then the Program of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA), which presented an ideal blueprint for protected areas, was adopted at the 7th Conference of the Parties (COP) in 2004. At the 10th COP in 2010, the "Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Target" (Decision X/2) was adopted along with the Decision X/31, which presented ten key issues related to protected areas. The global outcomes of the Aichi Target-11 include 15% of the earth's land area and 7.4% of the ocean being designated as protected areas. In Korea, 16.63% of the land and 2.12% of the ocean have been designated as protected areas. However, the outcomes of the effective and equitable management, protection of areas important to biodiversity and ecosystem services, and identifying "Other effective area-based conservation measures" (OECMs) and linking them with protected areas have been found to be significantly short of global goals. The first draft of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (Post-2020 GBF) prepared in January 2020 presented multi-step objectives. They included protecting at least 60% of particularly important sites for biodiversity through protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, at least 30% of the entire land and sea areas, and at least 10% of them under strict protection by 2030. The Updated Zero drafted in August 2020 concisely set out one quantitative goal of at least 30% of the globe by 2030, adding qualitative goals that these areas should be protected and conserved through "well connected and effective system of protected areas and OECMs at least 30 % of the planet with the focus on areas particularly important for biodiversity." Based on the draft Post-2020 GBF's targets related to protected areas and Korea's national targets reflecting the current state of Korea and established national plans, we suggest the national targets "to protect and conserve at least 30% of the land area and 10% of the marine area and to strengthen the means of qualitative achievement by establishing sub-targets through an effective system of protected areas and OECMs by 2030.".