In Pursuit of Environmentally Friendly Forest Policy in Korea

Abstract

In the Republic of Korea, different authorities are engaged in the management and use of natural resources with the border between their domain of work growing ambiguous and similar policies being implemented. Among them, the policies of the Ministry of Environment (ME) and those of the Korea Forest Service (KFS) that together oversee the terrestrial ecosystem show a strong tendency of coupling, which invited calls for their integration for over twenty years. Apart from structural integration, however, what is most important is an effective implementation of the interlinked policies. Thus, this article compares the policy directions of the two authorities, reviews forest projects (forest roads construction, erosion control works, forest tending, forest pest insect control) and their environmental impact and proposes measures to improve the environmental soundness of forest policies and link them with ME’s policies in order to contribute to minimizing policy contradictions.