South Korea - The Korea Times

Growth can go with environment protection (49)

By Ban Ki-moon Twenty years ago, when world leaders met in Rio de Janeiro for the Earth Summit, 5.5 billion people inhabited our planet. Nearly half were living in extreme poverty. Today, even with the global population exceeding 7 billion, the proportion is down to just over one quarter. Over the same period, food production has kept pace, so much so that were it distributed adequately, there would be enough to feed every person on Earth. That is some of the good news. The bad news is that hunger and poverty are a daily burden for billions, and the environmental services on which human safety and well-being depend are under increasing pressure. According to the latest “Global Environment Outlook” report, issued by the UN Environment Programme in June to coincide with the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development, there has been significant progress on only four of ninety of the most important internationally agreed environmental goals. The world continues on a dangerous path in which economic growth has been achieved at the expense of natural resources and ecosy

Jul 26, 2012

New opportunities for global cooperation (48)

The following are excerpts from presentations that are scheduled to be made during an international conference on conflict management organized under the theme of “From Environmental Challenges to Environmental Conflicted: New Opportunities for Global Cooperation” at the Seoul Press Center in downtown Seoul at 2 p.m. today. – ED. Park Eung-kyuk, Ph.D. President of the Korea Institute of Public Administration Today, environmental challenges have become increasingly significant in producing conflicts. As a result of unsustainable developments without taking due account of ecological consequences, we have witnessed a raised sea levels, and significant increase in temperature that has altered global climate cycle. Nowadays, the threat posed by global climate change often leads to conflicting interests among people and nations surrounding resource scarcity and waste disposals issues. And the Northeast Asian countries are no exception to this trend. Policymakers are indeed having a hard time in crafting efficient measures to counteract those issues, since these

Jul 23, 2012

People, nature converge at 4 major rivers (47)

By Kwon Do-youp The number of people visiting areas around the country’s four major rivers up to early July crossed the 7 million mark, less than eight months after restoration of them was completed last October. This figure compares with the 7.78 million people who saw Transformers 3, the biggest hit in the movie industry last year and more than the 6.81 million fans who headed to baseball parks to watch professional games. It is also more than double the 3.03 million people who flocked to professional soccer matches and more than the 6.57 million who visited the Everland amusement park in Yongin, Gyeonggi Provine, and the 5.78 million crowding Lotte World in southern Seoul last year. In the case of the four major rivers, namely the Han, Naktong, Kum and Yongsan, the number of visitors is expected to increase dramatically as the country heads into the summer vacation season. The popularity of facilities in and around them has been unexpectedly high only eight months after their “reopening.” Nature and livelihood What drives the popularity of the four major rivers?

Jul 19, 2012

Future of tourism within the environment (46)

By Jim Dator If I were to convene a group of decision-makers now, in 2012, to talk about the futures of tourism in Hawaii (or anywhere), most people would want to talk about the fact that tourism is one of the biggest and most important industries in the world today. They would want to discuss all the ways tourism will continue to grow, and that every community that intends to prosper in the futures must focus on developing its “hospitality” resources. I, on the other hand, would want to talk about “the unholy trinity, plus one” that suggests that we are nearing the end not only of tourism in Hawaii, but everywhere — as well as the end of the global neoliberal political-economy of which tourism is a major part. But before we consider the futures, we must first understand the past. How did something as “frivolous” as tourism become one of the most important global industries? Imagine we are attending a meeting taking place in Hawaii a scant 236 years ago — in 1776. Whoever we are and whatever we are doing, we aren’t worrying about the future of tourism

Jul 16, 2012

20 years lost in the environment (45)

By Jeffrey Sachs I have one basic message, which is not exactly a surprise and that is that we are in very deep trouble. Things are not working and the international system is not solving problems that humanity has never had to solve together. At Rio+20, we could not go celebrating and we had to go with our heads held down taking in the reality that the Rio Summit 20 years ago which produced three tremendous treaties: to avert human-induced climate change, to avert the destruction of biodiversities and to avert the desertification of the earth’s drylands have all failed to do what they set out to do. Twenty years on, not one of these treaties is working yet. As a result, we have more urgent tasks at hand because we have squandered 20 years. I think one of the main problems is that we don’t realize the scale of the challenge that we face. This is not an issue to feel good about because of a demonstration project here or a nice example there, as the world is overwhelming us in the reality of environmental wreckage and risk far more than we are accomplishing by our combined

Jul 12, 2012

Why I work in shorts and sandals (44)

Seoul City took a set of initiatives in April of this year to pool the wisdom of citizens in saving energy equivalent to the power generated by one nuclear power plant and expanding the production of new renewable energy. By Park Won-soon “It would be okay to wear blue jeans in the office if they were neat. / It would be cool if we wore shorts as school uniforms in summer. / Please don’t worry about the other people around you.” Do you remember these lyrics? They are from the song “Dance with DJ DOC” by popular group DJ DOC. Just like in the song, I am wearing shorts to the office this summer. I heard my initiative on wearing shorts to the office had become a controversial issue among the civil servants. In fact, I felt a bit shy about wearing shorts and hesitated several times. Truth be told, my “bold” fashion statement was an effort to save energy. People can untie their neckties and wear sandals and shorts to feel less hot in summer, which helps save energy on air conditioning. I know I am hopeless when it comes to fashion but I bravely decided to wear shorts b

Jul 9, 2012

Environmental governance in NE Asia (43)

The yellow dust and other air-polluting materials that originate from the deserts of China and Mongolia have been affecting people in not only Korea and Japan but countries in the Pacific region, resulting in respiratory problems. By Rep. Choo Mi-ae As can be seen in the transport of yellow dust from China and the crisis last year over the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan, there are significant geographical implications in terms of the environment. In the Northeast Asian region, in particular as it is obvious, there are no national boundaries when it comes to the impact that environmental problems can have. These are issues of enormous environmental significance that have to be addressed at the regional level. The yellow dust and other air-polluting materials that originate from the deserts of China and Mongolia have been affecting people in not only Korea and Japan but countries in the Pacific region, resulting in respiratory problems as well as conjunctivitis, a type of ailment for the eyes. Making matters worse, the transportation of micro dust particles

Jul 5, 2012

Learning to promote sustainability (42)

A majority portion of this contributed article was presented at the Rio+20 Summit of the United Nations in Rio de Janerio last month. – ED. By Chey Tae-won The primary objective of a business leader is to make more money and successfully run a company. But in more recent years, environmental considerations are increasingly coming into play. In the past, CSR (corporate social responsibility) was regarded with the level of enthusiasm students have for “homework” 0or as an unwanted obligation. “Responsibility” was passive. After reviewing CSR programs, I noticed several problems: first among them was how hard it is to find committed and talented people, because more people are concerned with money-making rather than looking at environmental implications. CEOs and executives don’t pay enough attention, although efforts are being made to address the issue of environmental pollution which manufacturing companies are inadvertently closely associated with. I came upon an SE (social entrepreneurship) model and impact investing as a possible solution after thinking

Jul 2, 2012

Accelerating investment in green growth (41)

By Brindusa Fidenza As the world economy continues efforts to regain its balance, emerging markets are forecast to contribute most of the global growth by 2015 and according to the OECD, are likely to account for 60 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030. This global growth path could lift a further 3 billion people in developing countries out of poverty and into the mostly urban middle classes within the next two decades — an economic forecast to be celebrated in the midst of more challenging growth estimates for Europe, the United States and Japan. However, the associated rise in demand for energy, water, urban development, transportation and agricultural infrastructure to help meet this growth forecast is unprecedented. A cumulative investment in infrastructure of $18.1 trillion will be needed by 2030, according to a recent analysis undertaken for the World Economic Forum’s Infrastructure Initiative. Close to $1 trillion a year on average is a huge investment challenge to meet. In addition, a gathering body of analysis suggests that a business

Jun 28, 2012

Lifestyle changes essential for protecting environment

By Nho Joon-hun Korean consumers need to drive smaller cars and use less water as general rules for conservation that are essential in protecting our environment. At a forum on “Earth in Danger: Changes in the Environment,” Park Eung-kyuk, president of the Korea Institute of Public Administration (KIPA), said Korea has suddenly become a country which consumes a huge amount of energy. “For instance, the amount of energy consumed by the COEX Center (a major convention and exhibition center in southern Seoul) is equivalent to that used in the city of Uijongbu that has a population of 600,000,” he said, emphasizing the country’s excessive consumption of energy. “As in advanced countries, Korea must move in the direction of using small-sized vehicles and increase taxes on large-sized cars by a significant margin so that the smaller vehicles can be provided with an advantage,” he added. The forum was held in part to review a 50-part series on the environment, under the heading “Earth in Danger,” currently running in The Korea Times in collaboration with KIPA. The gatherin

Jun 25, 2012

Environment & Animals