2024, Vol.33, No.6

The assessment of aquatic environments within Korea’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system primarily relies on physico-chemical parameters. Specifically, evaluations of aquatic ecosystems are limited to certain aspects of aquatic organism diversity (species composition and community characteristics), with no comprehensive assessment of ecosystem health or condition. This study investigates the application of aquatic ecosystem health indices in 89 projects involving the “Use and development of rivers,” conducted as part of EIAs between 2000 and 2022. It proposes improvements to the EIA system through the adoption of biological evaluation methods based on key aquatic organisms. This study conducts a comparative analysis of international cases of aquatic ecosystem health assessments and EIA systems to identify the limitations of Korea’s EIA system and propose improvements. It also investigates the application of aquatic ecosystem health indices in 89 projects involving the “Use and development of rivers,” conducted as part of EIAs between 2000 and 2022. Based on these findings, it suggests adopting biological evaluation methods based on key aquatic organisms to enhance the EIA system. Globally, 12 countries, including the United States and Germany, conduct river monitoring and biological evaluations. Among them, six countries, including the United States, employ biological indices in their assessments. The United States, in particular, uses the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) to evaluate aquatic ecosystem health. Furthermore, biological health assessments are incorporated into EIAs under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) through the implementation of Rapid Bioassessment Protocols (RBPs). In Korea, aquatic ecosystem health assessments within EIAs primarily utilize indices from the National Biological Monitoring Network, established under the Water Environment Conservation Act (provisions for aquatic ecosystem health surveys and evaluations). The use of biological assessment indices includes 75 applications of the benthic macroinvertebrate index, 35 of the diatom index, and 21 of the fish index. Since the introduction of riverine aquatic ecosystem health evaluations in 2007, the frequency of their use has steadily increased, highlighting the growing recognition of ecosystem-level assessments in evaluating impacts on aquatic environments. However, the assessment of aquatic ecosystem health has yet to be institutionalized as a formal component of domestic EIAs, resulting in limited continuous evaluation and practical implementation. This study underscores the critical importance of ecosystem-level evaluations in EIAs of aquatic environments, such as rivers and lakes. It recommends incorporating aquatic ecosystem health indices as standardized survey items within the existing EIA framework for water environment assessments.

Assessing Potential Damage of Flood Events for Ecosystem Service Account

Tae-Ho Lee

, Hee-Jin Moon

, Ji-Min Lee

and 1 other persons | 2024, 33(6) | pp.409~421 | number of Cited : 0

PDF

Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of floods, and damage to life and property caused by floods is increasing. Among various alternatives for flood mitigation, interest in nature-based flood mitigation is gradually increasing. Ecosystem service accounting is being discussed internationally for the purpose of maintaining and preserving natural ecosystems with flood control functions. In order to account for ecosystem services, evaluation of the relevant services must be conducted first. For evaluation, the three elements of 'potential supply capacity of the ecosystem', 'human demand', and 'flow', which is the amount of benefits, and the relationship between them must be considered. In existing flood control ecosystem service evaluation studies, definitions and methodological studies on ecosystem supply capacity contributing to flood control and demand benefiting from it have been limited. However, actual quantification and monetary evaluation of service flow have not been conducted, so the usability of research results in terms of ecosystem accounting is low. In this study, flood control ecosystem service flow in a national basin was estimated in monetary value by applying a flood-depth damage function by land characteristics to areas expected to be flooded. The study results show that the ecosystem service benefits of the upstream ecosystem of the river basin, which controls flooding in the downstream area, received by the country with a 500-year rainfall frequency are estimated to be a total of 25 trillion 4571 billion per year. If the benefits are calculated as annual units for accounting by considering the occurrence probability, it is approximately 50.9 billion won. These results assume that the entire upstream ecosystem of the river basin performs flood functions and that the functions of existing disaster prevention facilities are not being performed. In future studies, to solve these problems, it is necessary to measure the service flow considering existing disaster prevention facilities and conduct research considering various flood frequencies and occurrence probabilities.

Development of Allometric Equations for Carbon Storage Analysis of Shrubs in Settlement – Forsythia koreana and Syringa oblata var. dilatata in Sejong-si –

Hakkoo Kim

, Jungmin Lee

, Jiwoo Kang

and 8 other persons | 2024, 33(6) | pp.422~430 | number of Cited : 0

PDF

Analysis of Changes in the Extent of Inland Water Ecosystems Over the Past 30 Years Using Land Cover Maps

Tae-Young Choi

, Hee-Jin Moon

, Gum-Sung Cheon

and 1 other persons | 2024, 33(6) | pp.431~439 | number of Cited : 0

PDF

KJCKorea
Journal Central

Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment 2024 KCI Impact Factor : 0.6

2024, Vol.33, No.6