By Lee Maan-ee
Environment Minister
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Korea’s “Saemaeul Undong” (New Community Movement), an enlightenment movement which pulled Korea from poverty and frustration into prosperity and hope. The movement has been listed in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and many developing countries have localized the movement for their own national campaigns.
Following the launch of the campaign in the 1970s, Korea’s economy grew at a rapid pace. It is now ranked as the 14th largest in the world, and the country will host the G-20 Summit in Seoul in November.
Despite all these achievements, Korea has faced a variety of growing global challenges caused by environmental changes, and so we must adopt green growth as a “second” New Community Movement.
Why Green Growth?
Today the world is faced with various environmental threats such as climate change, and the depletion of fossil fuels and natural resources, which undermines growth potential. Such global issues as energy problems and environmental issues are closely inter-linked, and the world has begun to put more weight on the latter. Taking a close look at the instability of the global financial market that triggered the global economic crisis, its fundamental cause can be found, in part, from the previous growth model which relied heavily on the consumption of carbon-based resources even in the face of economic slowdowns and environmental challenges.
Korea is not an exception. Environmental problems have a direct impact on the country over the past century, the average temperature here has risen by 1.5 degrees Celsius, far higher than the world’s average of 0.74 of a degree. In addition, Korea’s economic structure is highly vulnerable to the ever-worsening energy-resources crisis; the country imports 97 percent of its total energy, among which 83 percent is fossil fuel. Korea, the 10th largest emitter of global warming gases in the world, also still depends on energy-intensive industries such as heavy chemical processing.
Furthermore, Korea’s GDP growth has fallen from 7-9 percent to around 4 percent over the past two decades, showing that the energy-gulping industrial structure can no longer drive economic growth. Under these circumstances, Korea needs new growth engines along with a new vision and strategies for sustainable growth. The new growth engines are necessary to turn this environmental crisis into a new opportunity,
Concept of Green Growth
At a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of South Korea on Aug. 15, 2008, President Lee Myung-bak announced a new national vision of “Low Carbon, Green Growth” that is seeking to transform the existing industrial structure to a low-carbon one and to establish a virtuous circle between economic development and environmental preservation. Since the announcement, the government has been making its utmost efforts to activate green growth. All Koreans are encouraged to join hands for the success of green growth as the second New Community Movement.
Strategy for Green Growth
In July 2009, Korea charted the National Strategy and Five-Year Plan for Green Growth, which integrates and specifies green growth-related policy goals and tasks. The plan includes investing 2 percent of Korea’s annual GDP or $83.6 billion from 2009 through 2013 in green infrastructure and R&D for green technologies.
Also, the government set a mid-term target of reducing 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions on a BAU basis by 2020, evidencing its strong commitment toward a low-carbon society. Showing its "Me First" attitude to the world, Korea's voluntary action proved its genuine drive toward green growth at the 15th Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. It also provided a new momentum to break long-stalled global negotiations on GHG emission mitigation.
Comprehensive Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth
More notably, Korea enacted the Basic Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth based on the government’s new philosophy.
The country was the first in the world to enact a law on green growth and intends to transform itself into a low-carbon society, promoting a green lifestyle and building public-private partnerships for such growth.
More specifically, the government will make its industrial structure greener through intensive nurturing of green projects, technologies and eco-companies.
Certified parties will benefit from various incentives such as tax benefits, financial support, and priority in R&D investment. In addition, in accordance with the Basic Act, Korea will start a GHG mitigation target monitoring system and has recently established a Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Research Center. It will also expand green buildings and promote green consumption and transportation for the purpose of encouraging an eco-friendly lifestyle among its citizens.
4-River Restoration Project
Climate change directly affects water, which is vital for national security since there are no alternatives, unlike other energy resources. If the 20th century was the era of "black gold,” the 21st century will be the era of "blue gold.”
Water resources are getting high prominence on the agenda of global society. Korea does not favorable conditions for water management - it is listed as a water-stressed nation and its climatic conditions put rather huge obstacles in the way.
Under these circumstances, the government initiated the Four-Major-River Restoration Project in 2009. The project is designed to secure abundant clean water resources and to tackle climate change. It is a representative “Green Deal” project aimed at increasing water supply and at the same time restoring the vitality and productivity of the four major rivers.
What benefits will the project have for the country?
First, the project will secure abundant water resources in the face of ever-worsening shortages. While Korea’s annual precipitation of 1,245mm is higher than the world’s average of 880mm, due to being a densely populated in a small country, its annual per capita rainfall is only one eighth of the world’s average.
Moreover, 70 percent of Korea’s rainfall - concentrated in June to September - quickly flows into the ocean because 65 percent of the land is made up of mountains. In order to respond to these climatic conditions, the project aims at securing 1.3 billion tons of additional water resources through the construction of 16 weirs and the dredging of rivers.
Second, abundant water resources will restore the vitality of the four major rivers. The Ministry of Environment has made great efforts to improve the water quality of rivers, but the nation still has a shortage of water.
The restoration project puts the first priority on increasing water supply - the government will invest 3.9 trillion won in environmental infrastructures and phosphorous treatment facilities. According to the National Institute of Environmental Research, when the project is completed, the share of “good” water where children can swim will rise to 86 percent in 2012 from the current 76 percent.
Third, the project is a key component of Korea’s efforts to adapt to climate change. Until today, Korea has suffered damage from frequent floods and droughts, which have caused 2.7 trillion won ($2.1 billion) in damages since 2000.
More specifically, the number of days with more than 100mm of heavy rainfall has increased 1.7-times in just two decades. The ongoing climate change will continue to cause water quality degradation, a lack of drinking water, property losses and disturbances to the aquatic ecosystem. The project will enhance Korea’s capacity for the stable management of water resources, thereby helping it better cope with water-related national disasters.
Lastly, the project seeks to restore the vitality of the four rivers along with their surrounding environment. Under the project, valuable riparian wetlands will be protected and a total of 113 new wetlands will be created to enhance the ecological function of the rivers. Also, to restore the habitats of wild plants and animals, 929km of national streams will be transformed into ecological streams, and 120 local streams, 20 urban streams and brooks will undergo ecological restoration.
Green Growth on the global stage
Today, Korea’s green growth model is drawing attention from the global community as a workable solution for sustainable development. At the initiative of Korea, the Declaration on Green Growth was adopted at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) in June 2009; and the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) published the Overview of the Republic of Korea’s Green Growth Strategy in April, 2010, which highly assessed Korea as a country to lead green growth in the world.
Also, the report highlights that thanks to the government’s systematic and bold investment in green infrastructure, Korea has become the only OECD country to record positive economic growth in the first quarter of 2009 on a quarter-on-quarter basis and recorded the highest economic growth of 2.3 percent in the second quarter of the same year.
More recently, at the World Economic Forum on East Asia held in June, 2010, Korea was recognized as a “green tiger” leading global green growth. As such, the global community, including Asia, is acknowledging the country’s green growth model as a way to turn this economic crisis into an opportunity for development.
Green Growth as 2nd Saemaeul Undong
The green wave, which stems from Korea, can spread across the world, but this cannot be achieved by the government alone as it requires the understanding and participation of the entire corporate sector and the general public.
Korea’s vision of green growth needs to lead to a second Saemaeul Undong, which can lay the firm foundation to overcome challenges and social obstacles through the combined efforts of all the people who can ultimately turn them into an opportunity for a new takeoff.
The movement was aimed at bringing prosperity by sharing the burden of neighbors not only for today's generation but also for the next one. As the movement gained momentum and grew as a nationwide campaign involving every citizen, it contributed to upgrading Korea into the ranks of advanced nations.
Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Environment initiated the "Green Start Campaign" so that green growth can take root as the second Saemaeul Undong. Businesses, government agencies and academia have jointly established a nationwide network and disseminated specific guidelines for green lifestyles such as green driving.
Green Start Campaign
A green lifestyle greatly contributes to curbing GHG emissions and also preventing climate change-driven environmental problems, which threaten the existence of human beings.
The Korean government initiated the Green Start Campaign consisting of two networks. One is the Green Start National Network, comprising 40 institutions that manage local networks and gather the opinions of the member organizations. The other is the Green Start Local Networks made up of 224 local governments among a total of 248. Local governments and 5,000 organizations including public agencies, businesses, schools and civic groups are joining the Green Start Campaign.
Currently, the campaign is promoting 10 guidelines that can easily be applied to our daily life. Among them, first, the campaign encourages households to maintain temperatures of 26℃ or above during summer and 20℃ or below during winter, to replace conventional light bulbs with energy-saving ones and to keep appliances unplugged when they are not in use.
Second, the campaign encourages office-workers to wear clothes appropriate for the seasons, turn off lights and air conditioners during lunchtime and to re-use scrap paper for printing and copying.
Third, the campaign encourages retail shops to keep energy-saving guidelines, use energy-saving lights and recommend customers to use eco-friendly goods.
Fourth, the campaign asks construction firms to reduce air pollution and noise during work and build temporary offices suitable for energy-saving.
Fifth, the campaign calls for a green campus where lights are turned off when lecture rooms are not used and students use mugs instead of disposable paper cups.
With the Green Start Campaign, Korea wants the green revolution to take root in daily life. Furthermore, Korea will contribute to making the world greener so that the mankind and our planet Earth can coexist in harmony.
Based on the foundation that Korea has laid for green growth so far, Korea will make a leap forward in green growth in 2010. Korea should implement green growth policies and plans in a consistent and effective manner, thereby benefiting from tangible outcomes.
The public sector alone cannot not carry out this significant task - like the Saemaeul Undong, the government should take the lead and, at the same time, work together with all citizens as well as the business community.
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