• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.303-317
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to offer the raw data for restoration and management of trails by assessing the physical environments, the types of deterioration and the naturalness on trails located in the Sogeumgang, Hwarang and Seoak districts of Gyeongju National Park, Korea. The Sogeumgang was 5.9m, 1.1m of the Hwarang and 1.8m of the Seoak district in trail width. In the bared width of trail, the Sogeumgang was 3.9m, 0.9m of the Hwarang and 1.7m of the Seoak district. In the depth of erosion, the Sogeumgang was 37.1cm, 14.2cm of the Hwarang and Seoak district. The Sogeumgang was $16.8^{\circ}$, $13.1^{\circ}$ of the Hwarang and $12.2^{\circ}$ of the Seoak district in longitudinal slope. In the left and right of transect slope, the Sogeumgang was $18.3^{\circ}$ and $12.6^{\circ}$, $18.0^{\circ}$ and $21.3^{\circ}$ of the Hwarang and $15.3^{\circ}$ and $22.7^{\circ}$ of the Seoak district. In the left, middle and right of soil hardness, the Sogeumgang was 29.9mm, 34.7mm and 31.1mm, 27.6mm, 35.0mm and 27.2mm of the Hwarang and 27.1mm, 30.8mm and 28.0mm of the Seoak district. The types of deterioration in trails were 10 types of the Sogeumgang, 11 types of the Hwarang and 9 types of the Seoak district. The trail erosion, rock exposure and root exposure were substantially observed in the types of deterioration. In the results of the naturalness assessment, the Hwarang district was a good condition, but the Sogeumgang district was bad. The indicators of the Sogeumgang district were mostly poor.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.483-501
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to apply a multi-metric model of Lentic Ecosystem Health Assessments(LEHA) for environmental impact assessments of Cheongpyung Reservoir during 2005 - 2006 and assessed the ecological model values. The ecosystem model of LEHA was composed of eleven metrics such as biological parameters($B_p$), physical parameters($P_p$), and chemical parameters($C_p$), and determined the rank of ecological health by the criteria. The variables of $B_p$ were metrics of % sensitive species($M_2$, NMS) and insectivore species($M_5$, % $I_n$), which decrease as the water quality degradates, and these metric values were low as 1.5% and 32.4%, respectively. In contrast, the proportions of tolerant species and omnivore species as the other $B_p$ parameters were 43% and 62%, respectively, which indicate a degradation and disturbance of the ecosystem. Riparian vegetation coverage($M_9$, % $V_c$) as a variable of $P_p$, were higher in the 2nd than 1st survey, and decreased toward the dam site from the headwaters. This was due to a habitat simplification(modifications) by frequent bottom dredging of sand and rocks. The variables of $C_p$ were two metrics of specific conductivity($M_{10}$, $C_I$) as an indicator of ionic contents(cations and anions) and the Trophic State Index(TSI) based on chlorophyll-a($M_{11}$, $TSI_{CHL}$) as an indicator of trophic state. These metric values of $C_p$ had high temporal variations, but low spatial variations on the main axis of the reservoir along with the ecological health of a good condition. The environmental impact assessments using the LEHA multi-metric model indicated that the model values of LEHA averaged 30.7 in 1st survey(fair - poor condition) vs. 28 in 2nd survey(poor condition), indicating a temporal variation of the ecological health. The model values of LEHA showed a minimum(28) in the lacustrine zone(S5) and ranged from 29 to 30 in the other locations sampled, indicating a low longitudinal variation. Overall, environmental impact assessments, based on LEHA model, suggest that chemical water quality conditions were in good, but biological conditions were disturbed due to habitat modifications by frequent dredgings in the system.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.441-452
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• 2020

The assessment of the river environment is widely applied as a method to establish the purpose and direction of river rehabilitation projects. This includes surveying and assessing the current state of the river environment and determining whether a previous river project was properly executed. The city of Seoul executed ecological river rehabilitation activities for the tributaries of the Han River from the 2000s following a masterplan to recover the physical shape and ecological functionality of damaged rivers. After the rehabilitation activities, the river environment had been changed substantially. In this study, physical properties, water quality properties, and ecological properties were assessed for 28 tributaries underthe control of the city of Seoul, and then those 3 properties were synthetically reassessed. From the result of the study on the physical properties, it was found that mostrivers had II-III grades. As for water quality properties, rivers had III-IV grades. The damaged rivers showed low grades of D-E based on the Aquatic Ecosystem Health evaluation. Accordingly, we concluded that all rivers of Seoul City have an unhealthy environment in terms of water quality and Aquatic Ecosystem Health, therefore it is regarded that long-term and systematic improvements are required.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.536-548
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• 2019

In order to quantify the effect of the newly established the Total Water Load Management System in Sapgyo watershed, this study predicted the achievement of the target water quality at each unit watershed and the water quality according to the flow section. The HSPF model, which is the watershed runoff model, was constructed and operated based on 2015, and the water quality was predicted by inputting the loads in final target year(2030). The Load Duration Curve (LDC) was created using the simulated results of base year and target year. As a result of plotting water quality by flow conditions, it was simulated to be close to the BOD target with a difference of 0.1 ~ 0.2 mg/L in all three watersheds during the mid-range flow interval (40 ~ 60%). In case of T-P, although the target water quality was not set, the water quality was improved by Cheonan A 46%, Kokgyo A 29% and Namwon A 25%. The Muhan and Sapgyo river basins meet the target grade of middle-watershed standards. The improvement effect will be positive, as water quality, which achieves the target of Total Load Management System and the target grade of the middle-watershed standards will be expected to flow into the Sapgyo lake.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.114-126
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• 2017

Many studies on climate change and its impacts use a single climate scenario. However, one climate scenario may not accurately predict the potential impacts of climate change. We estimated temperature and precipitation changes by 2070 using 17 of the CMIP5 Global Climate Models (GCMs) and two emission scenarios for three spatial domains: the Asian continent, six East Asia countries, and South Korea. For South Korea, the range of increased minimum temperature was lower than for the ranges of the larger regions, but the range of projected future precipitation was higher. The range of increased minimum temperatures was between $1.3^{\circ}C$ and $5.2^{\circ}C$, and the change in precipitation ranged from - 42.4 mm (- 3.2%) and + 389.8 mm (+ 29.6%) for South Korea. The range of increased minimum temperatures was between $2.3^{\circ}C$ and $8.5^{\circ}C$ for East Asia countries and was between $2.1^{\circ}C$ and $7.4^{\circ}C$ for the Asian continent, and the change in precipitation ranged from 28.8 mm (+ 6.3%) and 156.8 mm (+ 34.3%) for East Asia countries and from 32.4 mm (+ 5.5%) and 126.2 mm (+ 21.3%) for the Asian continent. We suggest climate change studies in South Korea should not use a single GCM or only an ensemble climate model's output and we recommend to use GFDL-CM3 and INMCM4 GCMs to bracket projected change for use in other national climate change studies to represent the range of projected future climate conditions.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.79-92
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• 2020

This study aimed at analyzing the current status and further needs of ecological information which is provided with the civil servants in the process of climate change adaptation planning in ecosystem sector and at providing suggestions for future development of ecological knowledge on climate change. Therefore, we conducted a questionary survey titled as "the knowledge-base and information needs for climate change adaptation in ecosystem sector" with the civil servants who are engaged with adaptation practices in the ecology related divisions in 17 regional local governments (RLG) and the affiliated basic local governments (BLG) in Korea. As a result, the characteristics of ecological information which is applied in public practices was analyzed and strategies for improved utilization was suggested. 75% of the respondents (RLG 85% and BLG 72%) were aware of the relativeness between the existence and utilization of ecological information and the execution of climate adaptation practices in ecosystem sector. They were agreed with the necessity of ecological information not only in adaptation practices but also overall affairs in the ecological related division in the local government (RLG 82% and BLG 72%). The current situation of utilizing ecological information which is produced from central orlocal government to civil affairs were only represented as 64 persons (28%) in RLG and 42 persons (18%) in BLG. One of the major obstacles that the respondents confront with when applying ecological information to public practices was deficit of prior knowledge on the ecological information itself, such as awareness of the characteristics of ecological information and the link with public affairs for adaptation plans. Therefore, delivering current knowledge and ecological information on climate change by educational and promotional method is an urgent priority to the civil servant. The future needs on ecological information for local government servants were deduced as basic information on local ecosystem and applied knowledge on local development to meet the biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services at the same time. The respondents expected not only the specific guidelines for using ecological information to apply on the adaptation plans in the relevant divisions of the local governments but also the institution where the usage activation of ecological information would be operated and managed to enhance the information utilizing structure in the local government. In the nation-wide, the capacity of local governments should be enhanced with adaptation knowledge and the application of appropriate information to the public practices by central government's aiding with the better quality of information, its public promotion, and the applicability to civil affairs.