Chungnam Province to Manage Artificial Light 'Light Pollution' Starting Next Year

Chungnam Province will begin managing artificial light "light pollution" in all areas within its jurisdiction starting next year. The goal is to prevent environmental hazards caused by excessive light emission and to manage artificial lighting in an environmentally friendly manner.

On the 31st, Chungnam Province announced that from the 1st of next month, the entire region will be designated and publicly notified as a "Lighting Environment Management Zone," and from September 1st next year, it will officially start managing light pollution.

The designation targets outdoor artificial lighting. This includes "spatial lighting" such as roads, pedestrian paths, and parks/green spaces; "advertising lighting" such as lighting installed within outdoor advertisements, light-emitting devices, and accessories illuminating outdoor advertisements; and "decorative lighting" for buildings with a total floor area of 2,000㎡ or more or five or more floors, lodging facilities, entertainment facilities, and bridges.

The designated locations and areas cover 8,821.1㎢ of land use zones within the province, including some parts of the sea surface, excluding non-contiguous islands such as Yukdo, Woldo, Sapsido, Daenanjido, and 12.7㎢ of areas without designated land use zones.

Chungnam Province plans to classify the Lighting Environment Management Zones into four types (Types 1 to 4) according to land use zones for management purposes.

Type 1 includes natural environment conservation areas, conservation management areas, conservation green areas, ecological and landscape conservation areas, special wildlife protection zones, wetland protection areas, and wetland surrounding management areas.

Type 2 covers agricultural and forestry areas, production management areas, planned management areas, production green areas, and natural green areas, while Type 3 includes exclusive residential areas, general residential areas, and semi-residential areas.

Neighborhood commercial areas, general commercial areas, distribution commercial areas, central commercial areas, exclusive industrial areas, general industrial areas, and semi-industrial areas are classified as Type 4.

Additionally, Chungnam Province manages the Seocheon mudflat (a wetland protection area) as Type 1 despite it being a public water surface without land use zoning. Urban areas and fine subdivision areas of management zones are also considered as conservation green areas and conservation management areas, thus included in Type 1 for management.

The allowable light emission standards by designation type follow the Enforcement Rules of the Act on the Prevention of Light Pollution Caused by Artificial Lighting (Article 6 "Allowable Light Emission Standards").

Following the designation and public notification of the Lighting Environment Management Zones, Chungnam Province plans to conduct prior reviews of allowable light emission standards for newly installed outdoor artificial lighting in each management zone starting September 1st next year.

For outdoor artificial lighting installed before the enforcement, a three-year grace period will be given, during which compliance with allowable light emission standards will be checked, and replacement or other measures will be required if necessary.

Ahn Jae-su, Director of the Climate and Environment Bureau of Chungnam Province, said, "There have been continuous complaints from the region about discomfort caused by excessive light. However, there was no institutional foundation regarding light pollution, making it difficult to resolve these complaints."

He added, "But with the designation and public notification of the Lighting Environment Management Zones and the ability to manage excessive light emission, we expect that some of the light pollution issues in the region will be resolved starting next year."

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