Ministry of Environment Restores and Expands Damaged Areas in National Parks

Naejangsan National Park (Photo by Asia Economy DB)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Ministry of Environment has embarked on restoring damaged areas in national parks and expanding their size. It is set to fully implement the "Green Restoration of the National Ecosystem," one of the eight Green New Deal initiatives under the comprehensive "Korean New Deal Plan."

On the 12th, the Ministry of Environment announced the Green New Deal implementation plan, which includes restoring damaged urban and protected areas.

One of the key goals is to restore 16 damaged sites in national parks by 2025. The plan includes expanding eco-friendly and high-quality ecological exploration infrastructure, focusing on lowland areas.

Additionally, by next year, the Ministry will establish the "Basic Plan for Green Restoration of the National Environment," which includes measures to recover damaged urban areas.

Park Yeon-jae, Director of Natural Conservation Policy at the Ministry of Environment, stated, "We emphasize that a healthy natural environment leads to healthy citizens and a healthy nation, and we will do our best to implement the Green New Deal."

Furthermore, on the 13th, the Ministry announced the preparation of the "3rd National Park Plan Amendment," which includes increasing the total area of national parks by 1.5%, and began collecting public opinions from the 14th.

According to the Natural Parks Act, park management authorities must review the feasibility of park plans every ten years and amend the plans accordingly based on the results.

The Korea Environment Institute completed this park plan amendment through research services and public consultations.

They explored incorporating ecologically excellent areas into park zones and considered removing areas evaluated as having low value as parks from the park zones.

As a result, the incorporated area is 105.5㎢, and the removed area is 2.0㎢. It was concluded that increasing the current national park area (total 6,726㎢) by 1.5% is appropriate.

The Ministry of Environment and the Korea National Park Service will hold map viewings and public hearings sequentially over two weeks at 30 national park offices, starting from Wolaksan National Park Office on the 14th and ending at Taebaeksan National Park Office on the 10th of next month.

After gathering opinions from residents and other stakeholders, they will listen to local government opinions, consult related ministries, and submit the plan to the National Park Committee for review and final approval.

Director Park said, "The 3rd National Park Plan Amendment was prepared faithfully according to standards to ensure objectivity and fairness. We will broadly listen to and review opinions and work with residents to identify and promote institutional improvements."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.