• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.56-85
• /
• 2010

UNESCO World Heritage Programme was introduced following the adoption of Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1972 in order to protect cultural and natural heritage with superb value for all mankind. Despite its short history of less than 40 years, it has been evaluated as one of the most successful of the cultural area projects of UNESCO with 890 world heritage registered worldwide. For systematic protection management of World Heritage, UNESCO, through systemization of registration, emphasis on the importance of preservation management plan, institutionalization of monitoring, and operation of World Heritage Fund, has utilized World Heritage Programme not just as a means of listing excellent cultural properties, but as a preservation planning tool, and accordingly, such policies have had a significant influence on the cultural heritage protection legislations of numerous nations. Korea has ratified World Heritage Convention in 1988, and with the registration of the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty in 2009, it has 9 World Heritage Sites. Twenty years have passed since Korea joined the World Heritage Programme. While World Heritage registration contributed to publicity of the uniqueness and excellence of Korean cultural properties and improvement of Korea's national culture status, it is now time to devise various legislative/systematic improvement means to reconsider the World Heritage registration strategy and establish a systematic preservation management system. While up until now, the Cultural Properties Protection Law has been amended to arrange for basic rules regarding registration and protection of World Heritage Sites, and some local governments have founded bodies exclusive for World Heritage Site management, a more fundamental and macroscopic plan for World Heritage policy improvement must be sought. Projects and programs in each area for reinforcement of World Heritage policy capacity such as: 1) Enactment of a special law for World Heritage Site preservation management; 2) enactment of ordinances for protection of World Heritage Sites per each local government; 3) reinforcement of policies and management functionality of Cultural Heritage Administration and local governments; 4) dramatic increase in the finances of World Heritage Site protection; 5) requirement to establish plan for World Heritage Site preservation protection; 6) increased support for utilization of World Heritage Sites; 7) substantiation and diversification of World Heritage registration; 8) sharing of information and experiences of World Heritage Sites management among local governments; 9) installation of World Heritage Sites integral archive; 10) revitalization of citizen cooperation and resident participation; 11) training specialized resources for World Heritage Sites protection; 12) revitalization of sustainable World Heritage Sites tourism, must be selected and promoted systematically. Regarding how World Heritage Programme should be domestically accepted and developed, the methods for systemization, scientific approach, and specialization of World Heritage policies were suggested per type. In the future, in-depth and specialized researches and studies should follow.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.100-117
• /
• 2010

This study analyzed vegetation structure of natural monuments Koelreuteria paniculata community in search of a conservation and management plan. Plant sociological analysis of Koelreuteria paniculata community indicates that it can be classified into Achyranthes japonica subcommunity and Rhodotypos scandens subcommunity and Trachelospermum asiaticum var. intermedium subcommunity. While Koelreuteria paniculata community of Ahnmyeondo is composed of sub tree layer and herb layer, those of Pohang and Wando are composed of tree layer, Sub tree layer, shrub layer, herb layer. The results of tree vitality analysis showed that those in Ahnmyeondo appeared to be relatively low when compared to those in Pohang and Wando-gun. This can be understood in two different aspects: disease and insects vulnerability due to a relatively simple structure and lack of competitive species, and decreased vitality / natural branch losses due to crown competition arising from high density. The result of soil characteristics analysis showed that soil texture, soil pH, organic matter, $p_2O_5$, exchange positive ion were sufficient for tree growth while total nitrogen was not, so that discretion would be needed for fertilizer application. As there were damages of disease and inscet, but only for 10~15% of the entire area; it still requires consistent preconsideration. The study suggests the management methods for preservation of Koelreuteria paniculata community. First, securing designated areas is necessary in order to minimize environment deterioration due to surrounding development. Especially, for sections with decreased areas, expansion of designated areas through land purchase should also be considered. Second, artificial interference may affect the livestock. Therefore, monitoring of artificial interference is necessary, based on which protection projects must be conducted. Third, from analysis of young plants which influence the maintenance mechanisms of Koelreuteria paniculata community, a decrease compared to the prior year was observed; investigation is needed. Therefore, an active management policy through status examination of livestock such as germination and young plants is necessary.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.388-395
• /
• 2020

Exotic species have been imported for economic purposes, but more recently, an increasing number of animals are imported as pets. With the increasing popularity of two species of turtles, Mauremys sinensis and Pseudemys concinna, the number of pet turtle owners has gradually increased since 2014. The number of turtles increased by 180 in 2017 and 281 in 2019. However, these turtle species have been abandoned to nature, owing to their long lifespans and the changes in conditions of pet owners. The two turtle species have been designated as invasive alien species (AIS) in Korea considering their ecological risks, and the Biological Diversity Act prohibits their release. The owners of Mauremys sinensis and Pseudemys concinna are required to submit the "Application for Approval of Breeding and Grace for AIS" document. In this study, the breeding conditions for the two turtle species were investigated by analyzing the information in the submitted applications for six months (e.g., the suitability of breeding facilities, number of turtles, breeding period, type of pet adoption, and local district of pet owner). A total of 614 cases were analyzed. Because only 58% of breeders provided suitable breeding conditions, breeding information and responsible pet ownership training should be offered to prevent abandonment in natural ecosystems. In addition, continuous monitoring is necessary to prepare for potential problems caused by the lack of information in many applications and the one-off licensing policy.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.263-276
• /
• 2021

Marine benthic organisms have been used as the indicators for the environment assessment and recently considered as a very important component in the biodiversity and ecosystem restoration. In Korean waters, the quantitative data on marine benthos was used as one of major components for the marine pollution assessment for 50 years since 1970s. The species identification which is an important factor for the quantitative biological data was mainly performed by the marine benthic ecologists. This leads to the deterioration of the data quality on marine benthos from the misidentication of major taxonomic groups due to the lack of taxonomic expertise in Korea. This taxonomic problem has not been solved until now and remains in most data from national research projects on the marine ecosystems in Korean waters. Here we introduce the quality assurance and control (QA/QC) system for the marine biological data in UK, that is, NMBAQC (Northeast Atlantic Marine Biological Analytic and Quality Control) Scheme which has been performed by private companies to solve similar species identification problems in UK. This scheme asks for all marine laboratories which want to participate to any national monitoring programs in UK to keep their identification potency at high level by the internal quality assurance systems and provides a series of taxonomic workshops and literature to increase their capability. They also performs the external quality control for the marine laboratories by performing the Ring Test using standard specimens on various faunal groups. In the case of Korea, there are few taxonomic expertise in two existing national institutions and so they can't solve the taxonomic problems in marine benthic fauna data. We would like to provide a few necessary suggestions to solve the taxonomic problems in Korean marine biological data in short-terms and long-terms: (1) the identification of all dominant species in marine biological data should be confirmed by taxonomic expertise, (2) all the national research programs should include taxonomic experts, and (3) establishing a private company, like the Korea marine organism identification association (KMOIA), which can perform the QA/QC system on the marine organisms and support all Korean marine laboratories by providing taxonomic literature and species identification workshops to enhance their potency. The last suggestion needs more efforts and time for the establishment of that taxonomic company by gathering the detailed contents and related opinions from diverse stakeholders in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.111 no.1
• /
• pp.61-71
• /
• 2022

Data from an investigation of vulnerable conifer species in the subalpine zone in Korea obtained by the Korea Forest Service in 2017-2018 and monitoring research conducted by the National Institute of Forest Science since 2014 were used to analyze the status of distribution and growing condition of three major conifer species (Abies nephrolepis, Abies koreana, and Picea jezoensis) in the subalpine zone in the Baekdudaegan protected area. The distribution area of the studied species in the Baekdudaegan protected area was ca. 74% (8,035 ha) of the total distribution area in Korea, indicating that Baekdudaegan is a core area for conservation and restoration of subalpine conifer species. From decline index [A. nephrolepis in Mt. Taebaeksan and Mt. Deogyusan increased by 77.3% and 29.6%, respectively; A. koreana in Mt. Jirisan (Chunwangbong Peak) increased by 45.2% in four years; and P. jezoensis in Mt. Jirisan (Chunwangbong Peak) increased by 47.8% in two years] and seedling frequency (lower frequency of newly recruited seedlings than dead seedlings) results, the studied species are expected to face difficulties in sustainability. In contrast, at Mt. Seseoksan and Chunwangbong Peak in Mt. Jirisan, the health of trees and seedling frequency showed a partial tendency to recover and increase. In addition, we identified the relationship between the decline index and seedling frequency. These results will support the implementation of conservation strategies for vulnerable conifer species in the subalpine zone.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.41-54
• /
• 2021

It is very essential to estimate the water body area using remote exploration for water resource management, analysis and prediction of water disaster damage. Hydrophysical detection using satellites has been mainly performed on large satellites equipped with optical and SAR sensors. However, due to the long repeat cycle, there is a limitation that timely utilization is impossible in the event of a disaster/disaster. With the recent active development of Micro satellites, it has served as an opportunity to overcome the limitations of time resolution centered on existing large satellites. The Micro satellites currently in active operation are ICEYE in Finland and Capella satellites in the United States, and are operated in the form of clusters for earth observation purposes. Due to clustering operation, it has a short revisit cycle and high resolution and has the advantage of being able to observe regardless of weather or day and night with the SAR sensor mounted. In this study, the operation status and characteristics of micro satellites were described, and the water area estimation technology optimized for micro SAR satellite images was applied to the Daecheong Dam basin on the Korean Peninsula. In addition, accuracy verification was performed based on the reference value of the water generated from the optical satellite Sentinel-2 satellite as a reference. In the case of the Capella satellite, the smallest difference in area was shown, and it was confirmed that all three images showed high correlation. Through the results of this study, it was confirmed that despite the low NESZ of Micro satellites, it is possible to estimate the water area, and it is believed that the limitations of water resource/water disaster monitoring using existing large SAR satellites can be overcome.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.127-135
• /
• 2021

To respond to the threat of global warming, countries around the world are promoting the spread of renewable energy and reduction of carbon emissions. In accordance with the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal to combat climate change and its impacts, global automakers are pushing for a full transition to electric vehicles within the next 10 years. Electric vehicles can be a useful means for reducing carbon emissions, but in order to reduce carbon generated in the stage of producing electricity for charging, a power generation system using eco-friendly renewable energy is required. In this study, we propose a smart electric mobility operating system integrated with off-grid solar power plants established in Tanzania, Africa. By applying smart monitoring and communication functions based on Arduino-based computing devices, information such as remaining battery capacity, battery status, location, speed, altitude, and road conditions of an electric vehicle or electric motorcycle is monitored. In addition, we present a scenario that communicates with the surrounding independent solar power plant infrastructure to predict the drivable distance and optimize the charging schedule and route to the destination. The feasibility of the proposed system was verified through test runs of electric motorcycles. In considering local environmental characteristics in Tanzania for the operation of the electric mobility system, factors such as eco-friendliness, economic feasibility, ease of operation, and compatibility should be weighed. The smart electric mobility operating system proposed in this study can be an important basis for implementing the SDGs' climate change response.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.134-145
• /
• 2023

Currently, the floodplains of major rivers are transforming into various types of waterfront spaces according to the increase in leisure activities and improved accessibility. In general, waterfront activities in river channels tend to be concentrated in summer, and the waterfront activities during this period directly affect water quality. Accordingly, it is necessary to accurately compare and evaluate the characteristics and water quality of waterfront activities during the period when waterfront activities are concentrated. In this study, the following research was conducted to compare and analyze the current status of waterfront activities of users of waterfront areas and the water quality of waterfront areas. First, three waterfront areas were selected for investigation using the information from the Ministry of Environment's water quality measurement network. Second, a survey was conducted on the satisfaction and types of waterfront activities targeting users of waterfront areas. Third, water quality grades were calculated based on monthly water quality measurement factors and compared. Fourth, statistical analysis (one-way analysis of variance) was conducted to see if there was a significant difference in water quality characteristics between periods of high waterfront activity and periods of low waterfront activity using water quality measurement data for the last 5 years. As a result of this analysis, the following conclusions were drawn in this study. First, the use of waterfront activities was investigated in the order of camping, water skiing, fishing, swimming, and rafting. Second, satisfaction factors for waterfront activities were investigated in the order of activity convenience, water quality, waterlandscape, transportation access convenience, and temperature. Third, it was found that satisfaction with water quality in waterfront areas was generally unsatisfactory regardless of the water quality grade presented by the competent authority. Fourth, as a result of comparing the water quality measurement network data of the Ministry of Environment by water quality grade, generally good grades were found, and in particular, there was a difference in grade frequency by season in the BOD category. Fifth, as a result of statistical analysis (one-way ANOVA) of water quality monitoring network data by season, there were statistically significant differences in COD, BOD, TP, and TOC except for DO. Considering the results of these studies, it is judged that it is necessary to prepare a comprehensive management system for water quality improvement in the waterfront zone and to improve water quality during periods of high waterfront activity, and to prepare a water quality forecasting system for waterfront areas in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.172-186
• /
• 2022

Benthic macroinvertebrates are important ecological and environmental indicators as primary or secondary consumers, and therefore are widely used in the evaluation of aquatic environments. However, there are no comprehensive river ecosystem monitoring surveys that link the major physicochemical water quality items with benthic macroinvertebrates in urban streams. Therefore, this study investigated the distribution characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrates and physicochemical water quality items (17 items) in Yangjaecheon and Yeouicheon from 2019 to 2020. At the same time, by applying Spearman's rank correlation analysis and nonmetric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) analysis in the water quality data and biotic index, we tried to provide basic data for diagnosing the current status of river ecosystems in major urban rivers in Seoul. Based on the study results, a total of 39 species and 3,787 individuals were identified in Yangjaecheon, the water quality(based on BOD, TOC, and TP) of Yangjaecheon was higher than Grade Ib(good), and the BMI using benthic macroinvertebrates appeared as Grade C(normal) at all the sites. In Yeouicheon, a total of 51 species and 4,199 individuals were identified, the water quality(based on BOD, TOC, TP) was higher than Grade Ib(good) similar to Yangjaecheon, and the BMI of both Upstream and Saewon bridge was Grade B(good), while Yeoui bridge was Grade C(normal). Overall, analysis results for the distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates by a nonmetric multidimensional scaling method showed no significant difference between the two streams (p=0.1491). Also, significant environmental variables related to benthic macroinvertebrates distribution were determined as water temperature and DO. On the other hand, the results of the correlation analysis between biotic index and major water quality items confirmed that R1 and BMI could be used for on-site urban river water quality evaluation.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.38 no.6
• /
• pp.483-488
• /
• 2023

The status of residual pesticides was investigated in four pepper seed oil samples and 36 pepper-flavored oil samples oil distributed on the market from August to December 2022. A total of 179 pesticides were monitored in 40 samples, and 14 pesticides were detected in 39 of the samples, with a detection range of 0.01-2.16 mg/kg. In chili seed oil, 10 pesticides were detected 27 times with a range of 0.11-2.16 mg/kg, and in pepper-flavored oil, 9 pesticides were detected 94 times with a range of 0.01-0.80 mg/kg. The most frequently detected pesticides were tebuconazole, ethion, and difenoconazole, with ethion being detected in large concentrations in products using Chinese raw materials. Ethion, an unregistered pesticide in the Republic of Korea, has not been detected in the Gyeonggi-do area in the past 10 years. It is thought that the detection of ethion can be utilized as an indicator of products made in China. Peppers are a representative agricultural product for which many pesticides are used, and if the pesticides transferred to pepper seeds are not removed, the probability of detecting various types of pesticides in pepper seed oil is very high. Therefore, continuous research is needed to ensure the safety of pepper seed oil.