Ecological restoration and revegetation works in Korea

Abstract

Korea established foundations for rapid economic growth and national development within a short period of time, but not without incidental problems of degradation to the natural environment. Problems include destruction of ecosystems and reduction of forest area. Nowadays, environment-friendly construction projects are required in Korea for efficient use and preservation of national land. In an effort to protect natural land four types of restoration and preservation plans have been proposed recently. This paper explores the status and value of these efforts and the problems of re-vegetation works on disturbed land in Korea. Korea still gives insufficient attention to species selection for revegetation in terms of ecological soundness. In restoring damaged areas, Korea still uses mainly exotic species. As a result, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation is revising design criteria for road slopes in consideration of climate and topography. The Ministry of Environment revised the Natural Environment Conservation Law and uses natural ecological restoration engineers and natural environment management operators as environment restoration specialists. These engineers and sectors specialize in the area of nature in reviews and ecological restoration works. The first national qualifying examination to select natural ecological restoration engineers and natural environment management operators took place in 2004.

Effects of urban stream burial on organic matter dynamics and reach scale nitrate retention

“…Similarly, O'Driscoll et al (2010) reported that stream density in urban catchments was approximately 40 % lower than surrounding rural catchments due to urban stream burial. Although similar data are lacking from other cities, stream burial is likely ubiquitous throughout large urban centers (Conradin and Buchli 2005;Nam-choon 2005;Wild et al 2011).…”

The Future Prospects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Slope Ecological Restoration

“…Along with increased requirements for innovative, green, coordinated and sustainable development, SERT is challenged with: how to improve the stress tolerance of the slope system [28], how to strengthen slope safety [3,26], and how to beautify landscaping, adding to the complexity of the implementation.…”

“…The construction of infrastructure will create a large amount of excavation slope, disturb the original landform and vegetation, aggravate the deterioration of the ecological environment, and also form a hidden danger of geological disasters. Existing technologies often through the artificial addition of nutrients, or introduce pioneer plants [28], especially shrubs and herbs with developed roots, strong expansibility and ecological functions adapted to local natural vegetation communities in order to improve the stress tolerance of the whole slope system [29], and through rational plant disposition for better landscaping. At the same time, the slope safety factor is strengthened by the construction of reinforcement facilities (reinforced filling methods), laying rock bolts, metal protective nets, or adding bonding materials (spray sowing methods) to the substrate [3,8,27].…”

A Preliminary Study on A Novel Water Treatment Pond Design Using Dredged Sediment, Shrub Willow and Recycling Hand Pumps for the Restoration of Water Pollution

“…In the United Kingdom, reed bed treatment systems are used in the Thames, which promotes the use of this system in Europe [5]. In Korea, restoration of the Cheonggyecheon stream was performed by demolishing concrete highways, reborning stream corridors, dredging sediment, increasing the aeration from water-fall landscaping and increasing the amounts of coastal vegetation [6]. Stormwater ponds are a common practice to improve water quality in urban landscapes.…”