Abstract
Jeju Special Self-Governing Province has the natural assets resulting in UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, World Heritage Listed and World Geopark Certification, so the principle of 'Conservation First Development Later' has been set up for the vision of environmental policy to preserve these assets. This case study has been carried out to investigate the realization of the principle of 'Conservation First Development Later' for the development projects performed environmental impact assessment from 1994 to 2012 in Jeju Province, using geographic information systems(GIS). The Jeju Province has its own ordinance to consult and operate an environmental impact assessment(EIA) system. In particular, the conservation area, such as, Absolute/Relative Conservation Area and Underground Water, Ecosystem and View Conservation Zone, has been assigned and managed specially to conserve the natural environment. The 179 projects has been performed EIA for last 18 years in Jeju Province, and then the Absolute Conservation Area has been included in 22 projects and the Relative Conservation Area has been included in 34 projects. However, the 2 projects only have included the Absolute Conservation Area for 7 years after 2005. This result suggests that the application of the principle for the Absolute Conservation Area is strengthened gradually. On the other hand, the 17 projects and the 24 projects have included the Underground Water Conservation Zone assigned grade 1 and 2, respectively, and the number has been increasing after 2004. The results show that it needs to strengthen the application of the principle for this Zone. And the Ecosystem Conservation Zone assigned grade 1 and 2 have been included in 1 project and 9 projects, respectively. It is considered from this result that the principle is realized successfully for the Ecosystem Conservation Zone. In addition, it could be known that the principle is applied well for the View Conservation Zone, in this study.
