1. Study Objectives and Method
■ Research objective
○ The aim of this study is to assess the current degradation status of natural environment in Jeollabuk-do in accordance with the international community's nature-based solution and the government's green restoration policy and to present the policy direction and major tasks for planning and executing effective
green restoration projects suitable for the province.
■ Research methods
○ Policy implications are derived through the analysis of international and domestic policy trends, the revision of laws (Natural Environment Conservation Act), and major research trends related to green restoration.
○ This study analyzes Jeollabuk-do’s ecosystem, protected areas, and status of ecological corridors. It also studies the progress of development projects of the past 40 years (1980s–2022), which are subject to environmental-impact assessment, and the change in time series of land cover types through land cover maps to
determine the distribution of degradation areas and its significance.
○ This study presents the vision, goals, implementation strategies, and mid- and long-term tasks of the green restoration reflecting the characteristics of Jeollabuk-do.
2. Conclusion and Policy Suggestion
■ Current situation of degradation areas of natural environment in Jeollabuk-do
○ The analysis of the environmentally damaging projects in Jeollabuk-do for the past 40 years, since the 1980s, revealed that the environmental deterioration occurred due to the construction of industrial-complexes and urban development projects, and road construction, tourism-complex development, and golf-course
construction, which resulted in separating 119 forest corridors and 95 river corridors.
○ According to the time-series analysis of the land-cover type during the same period, the forest area, agricultural area, grassland, and wetland decreased, and the urbanized and dry area increased. In particular, the shift from the agricultural area to other types of land was the largest, which was 10.12% of the entire area of the province.
■ Strategy and tasks for the green restoration in Jeollabuk-do
○ The vision is to "recover ecological space in Jeollabuk-do with green restoration" and the goal is to "implement green ecological space with Jeollabuk-do’s unique ecosystem and culture harmonized." The implementation strategies include ① restoring the connectivity, structure, and function of the natural environment, ②
creating new restoration spaces, ③ regenerating and developing the region through the convergence of ecology and culture, and ④ securing the foundation for proceeding with green restoration.
○ The tasks include ① connecting and restoring the forest-river-coast-islands-maritime ecological corridors, ② planning and executing large-scale complex ecosystem restoration projects, ③ building green infrastructure for urban and rural areas, ④ restoring underused and contaminated sites and recovering the natural
attributes of rivers and coasts, ⑤ creating ecosystem services through green restoration, ecological culture, and IT technology, ⑥ creating eco-tourism areas in accordance with ecological restoration, ⑦ securing the foundation of a mid-to-long-term green restoration including the development of ecological maps,
and ⑧ establishing a system of cooperation system involving the government, the region, and experts, together with citizen participation.
■ Policy proposal
○ Four policy suggestions are ① planning and executing large-scale green restoration projects, ② developing green restoration projects with an ecological-culture complex in accordance with the region’s ecological attributes, history, and culture, ③ building a digital twin-based information system for the
natural environment in Jeollabuk-do, and ④ revising the regional environmental law to support green restoration projects.
