• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.137-147
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• 2011

In 2009, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized the unique outstanding ecosystem biodiversity and distinct ecocultural values of the Shinan Dadohae Biosphere Reserve in the island region. The Dadohae area, which has been sustainably conserved for scores of years, boasts not only a unique ecosystem, but also has residents with a wide range of traditional ecological knowledge. In terms of understanding the soundness of the ecosystem network known as the landscape system, the recent expansion of environmental development has served to heighten the degree of consideration given not only to biodiversity, which has long been used as an indicator to assess ecosystem soundness, but also to assess cultural diversity. Man has used the surrounding landscape and living organisms as his life resources since the beginning. Moreover, whenever necessary, man has developed new species through cultivation. Biodiversity became a foundation that facilitated establishing cultural diversity such as food and housing. Such ecological knowledge has been conveyed not only to adjacent regions, but also at the international level. The recent rapid changes in the Dadohae area island ecosystem caused by the transformation of fishing grounds by such factors as climate change, excess human activities, and marine pollution, is an epoch event in environmental history that shows that the balance between man and nature has become skewed. Furthermore, this issue has moved beyond the biodiversity and landscape diversity level to become an issue that should be addressed at the cultural diversity level. To this end, the time has come to pay close attention to this issue.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.53-63
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• 1999

This study aims to develop a set of criteria for evaluating the sustainability of forest landuse, which could facilitate the environmentally friendly development of forest lands in Korea. The concept of sustainable development in forest landuse was reviewed from literature and by interviews with experts in forest-related fields. Delphi technique was employed for gathering experts' opinions. According to the results of Delphi test, the concept of sustainable development in forest landuse was confirmed as "Use of forest lands in a lasting manner within the carrying capacity of the ecosystem involved". There are 16 factors which should be considered with care when the development of forest lands is planned. They include the ratio of forest cover left undeveloped, ecological stability, and landscape naturalness. Among them are the ecological factors rated most important. The experts emphasized the importance of local characteristics in setting up the criteria for sustainable forestland development. The study did not attempted to apply the criteria to real settings. Therefore, before applications in real situations, further case studies should be made for the criteria to be safely used in landuse planning.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.54-58
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• 2011

The need and importance of developing and utilizing the oceans, not only as sources of renewable energy and mineral resources, but also as countermeasures to global warming such as for CCS (carbon capture and storage), have continued to increase, especially in countries with limited land areas and resources. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the sustainability of an ocean utilization technology or system not only from an economic point of view but also from an ecological one. For this purpose, it might be effective to develop a comprehensive evaluation method and/or index, by which the assessment of and decisions about a technology and system can be made more objectively. It would also be useful to have an environmental simulation model, which was developed and reported in a previous research. The aim of this study was to modify a reasonable and quantitative index, with which a comprehensive evaluation system can be established, to assess environmental sustainability and risk.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.482-496
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• 2023

Many changes in the scale and structure of the Korean rice cropping system have been made over the past few decades. Still, insufficient research has been conducted on the sustainability of this system. This study analyzed changes in the Korean rice cropping system's sustainability from a system ecology perspective using an emergy approach. For this purpose, an emergy table was created for the Korean rice cropping system in 2011, 2016, and 202, and an emergy-based indicator analysis was performed. The emergy analysis showed that the total emergy input to the rice cropping system decreased from 10,744E+18 sej year^-1 to 8,342E+18 sej year^-1 due to decreases in paddy field areas from 2011 to 2021, and the proportion of renewable resources decreased by 1.4%. The emergy input per area (ha) was found to have decreased from 13.13E+15 sej ha^-1 year^-1 in 2011 to 11.89E+15 sej ha^-1 year^-1 in 2021, and the leading cause was a decrease in nitrogen fertilizer usage and working hours. The amount of emergy used to grow 1 g of rice stayed the same between 2016 and 2021 (specific emergy: 13.3E+09 sej g^-1), but the sustainability of the rice cropping system (emergy sustainability index, ESI) continued to decrease (2011: 0.107, 2016: 0.088, and 2021: 0.086). This study provides quantitative information on the emergy input structure and characteristics of Korean rice cropping systems. The results of this study can be used as a valuable reference in establishing measures to improve the ecological sustainability of the Korean rice cropping system.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.205-219
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• 2010

In general, industrial production involves large amounts of harmful by-product, causing serious pollution and ecological risk. Eco-efficiency, which indicates how efficient the economic activity is by considering both the environmental risks and economic performance, is a new concept for economic sustainability analysis and quantitative ecological risk analysis. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has been widely used to examine eco-efficiency in recent years. Whereas traditional DEA models such as CCR and BCC model neglect undesirable outputs, this paper adopts a stochastic undesirable-output DEA model to measure the eco-efficiency of each province of China and Korea. The results indicate that whereas the eco-efficiency of the eastern region was the highest, that of the western region was the lowest. The reason may come from the negative external dis-economies of environment. And thus the governmental efforts for outreach on the underdeveloped regions should be promoted.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.77-85
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to critically evaluate the DPD development plan of Kyungpook province, which was established in 1996 and slightly revised in 1997 in terms of a theoretical framework, fair distribution and ecological sustainability, and the feasibility of capital supply of the proposed plan. The early part of the proposed plan introduces various theories and approaches developed in regional (or local) development planning as a general after the 1970s. However, the theories and approaches mentioned are not used as a guideline to establish the DPD development plan of Kyungpook province as a historically developed particular place. Most of the plans were tourism-oriented and did not seriously take the local characteristics into account. All the DPDs of Kyungpook province are located in the upper parts of the Nakdong River basin. So those regions are ecologically vulnerable. But a lot of problems remain concerning the environmental impacts of the proposed development plan. In terms of fair distribution and ecological sustainability, it seems that the DPD development plan was routinely made by a handful of professors and administrators, based on a standard format of regional (or local) development as a genera]. Finally, capital is the key factor for successfully implementing the DPD development plan. It came from the national and local government and private investors. The government have generally financed the construction of infrastructures, not profit-oriented projects such as tourism and resort businesses. However, the feasibility of private capital was not carefully examined in the plan.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.38-48
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• 2012

Since the late 20th century, sustainability is one of the most pressing concerns for the security and well-being of our society when we are witnessing the rapid change in urban landscape patterns. Responding to this issue, the discipline of environmental designs including landscape architecture has also attempted to realize this concept in various ways. The purpose of this study lies in introducing and redefining the meaning of ecological aesthetics as an alternative "sustainable" design theory. This paper theoretically discusses about the role of aesthetics in landscape design and the relationship between landscape and aesthetics to emphasize the importance of ecological aesthetics. Based on extensive literature review and analysis, the study attempts to redefine the characteristics of ecological aesthetics: an emphasis on cognitive process in landscape appreciation, environmentalism, unrestricted from style, and nonnative aesthetics. Having defined the characteristics, this study also finds several design subjects to adapt the concept of ecological aesthetics to actual design practice. Founded on the big idea "make nature visible", the defined subjects are ecological functions, temporality of landscape, and history of landscape, security, and accessibility. Also, this study stresses the importance m the creativity of the design(er) in order to effectively represent these subjects to the public.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.117-125
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• 2010

Entering into the 21th century, the whole world is facing the various problems such as environmental disruption, resource exhaustion, and social isolation due to the consequences of population growth and economic development. Especially, as the world population is aging, the solutions for these problems are being suggested with a new paradigm of environmental design for sustainable society providing more affluent and safer life for them. Aging societies are experiencing the difficulty in pursuing persistent vitality of life when aged population is socially excluded, and communities are stagnant due to the decrease of economic activities. In other words, those factors are causing the problems of social sustainability associated with the vital duration of local society and communities. In order to develop successful environment for aging society, it is necessary for us to precisely review how advanced countries are changing their directions. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine current trends of the aging friendly environment and find out the measures to promote social sustainability under the crisis of aging society. For this purpose, using qualitative methods, this study analyzed the contents presented at a professional conference , that showed current trends clearly, into three dimensions of social sustainability; the social integration of senior living communities with local society, the vitality of the communities, and the invigoration of individual senior lives. As a result, this study found that the measures that attempt to enhance the social sustainability of aging population can be also used to invigorate the communities.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.93-106
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to understand what we have learnt thus far on the sustainable consumption of natural resources by household in Korea. We propose a two-wing model designating households as the main agent of sustainable living where both the production of human resources and the consumption of natural resources take place. In the current study, we focused on the sustainability of natural resource consumption. Undertaking an empirical study, we selected 10 major journals that represent each area of human ecological research and then, identified 120 relevant studies regarding sustainability published since 2000. First, we classified 381 keywords into three categories: production, consumption, and social environment, and the identified studies were then classified in one of the seven categories created by combinations of the abovementioned three categories: production (P), consumption (C), social environment (S), production-consumption (PC), production-social environment (PS), consumption-social environment (CS), and production-consumption-social environment (PCS). The results showed that the sustainability of natural resources has been mainly investigated in the fields of clothing & textiles and food & nutrition. Further, consumer science research has been conducted in the area of consumption-social environment and consumption-production. The current study indicates that the field of human ecology has created and accumulated knowledge to support sustainable living. In the future, we need to conduct more integrated research across disciplines and methods and promote research interest in the underdeveloped area of sustainability research in human ecology.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.101-116
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• 2022

The harvesting season of lompa fish, Thryssa baelama, through sasi, indigenous knowledge in resources management, in Haruku Village has become a socio-cultural event that attracts many people. The sasi of lompa fish has been conducted for hundreds of years. Information on the bioecology aspect of lompa fish is limited, while this information is crucial for lompa fish sustainability through the sasi approach. This study aimed to investigate some population parameters of lompa fish, its sustainability status, and proposed a sustainable management strategy for the lompa fishery of Haruku Village. Fish population parameter covers length-weight relationship, growth pattern, size distribution, sex ratio, and the body condition index. The sustainability status was assessed following the Rapfish approach. Fisheries management strategy was performed using a conceptual model framework based on Driver Pressure State Impact Response. The research shows that the total length varies between 9.2-14.3 cm. A high relationship was found between total length and weight, and the growth pattern was an allometric negative. There was a difference in sex ratio between males and females, with females dominant. The body condition index varies over time, probably due to reproductive status. The overall sustainability status was at fair condition (61.60%), with the ecological domain having the highest sustainable status (71.07%) and considered sustain. In comparison, the technological domain had the lowest sustainability status (52.58%) and was considered fair sustain. There were seven management strategies proposed for sustainable management for the lompa fishery.