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This work intends to discuss the application of the Strategic Environmental Assessment to the national territorial plan in Korea in order to complement the existing assessment of environmental impact which is undertaken before a development plan is finally approved － Prior Environmental Review System(hereafter PERS) － and to consider sustainability in the stage of planning. This research is organized into 6 chapters.
Chapter 1 presents the research objectives and methods as well as the significances and the scope of this work.
Chapter 2 describes PERS, and present problems inherent in the PERS currently conducted in Korea. The problems are as follows: 1) PERS can be ineffective because it applies not only to an administrative plan but also a development project; 2) when PERS applies to national territorial plan, items and methods employed for the assessment are not specified, thus, PERS cannot be effectively completed; 3) The Ministry of Environment(MOE) in Korea tend to be ambiguous in making opinions, because PERS is not fully equipped with methods appropriate for the assessment and in reality the MOE hesitate to be responsible for PERS; 4) since PERS is literally conducted shortly before final approval is granted to a development project or plan, it is difficult to solve the problems of the project or plan which are pointed out by PERS, and; 5) PERS which applies to national territorial plan(e.g. land use plan) is not conducted in conformance with procedure of planning. In order to overcome these problems of the PERS which are currently used, new appraisal system has to be employed.
Chapter 3 explains the Strategic Environmental Assessment(SEA). SEA means the I - 16
A Study on the Application of the Strategic Environmental Assessment to the National Territorial Plan in Korea
전략환경평가제도의 도입방안에 관한 연구 Yong-Woo Lee, Sang-Yeon Lim January 2004․144 pages․Korean
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assesment of environmental impacts which is implemented while a plan or policy is being built. This assessment system points out negative environmental impacts in advance, considers various impacts in a comprehensive manner, make efficient decisions regarding environmental preservation in every stage of planning, makes development plans compatible, and enables public participation.
Chapter 4 deals with a real case where SEA was implemented in advanced countries.
Specifically, this work analyzes the sustainability appraisal system of the structure plan built by Cheshire County in U.K. This case has the following implications: 1) when SEA is implemented in Korea, the system's legal basis and application scope are determined by taking the Korean context into full consideration. This is because each county has its own SEA which is appropriate for the country's current situation; 2) as shown in the cases, rationality and unbiasedness of the appraisal system are enhanced via screening and scoping, and public involvement is required in the system; 3) an agency building plans reports of the results gained from SEA while an agency dealing with environmental preservation examines SEA, and; 4) Cheshire County's sustainability appraisal shows the county evaluates the individual specific policies belonging to the structure plan in a comprehensive manner. This means that SEA is a comprehensive approach to the assessment of environmental impacts.
Chapter 5 discusses how to use SEA for the national territorial planning in the Korean context. In principle, guidelines for the appraisal suited for each plan have to be established in order to implement SEA in the Korean context. And, after experimentally applying SEA to the planning having priorities, the scope of the application has to be expanded. In this respect, this research experimentally applies SEA to the City Master Plan(hereafter CMP), thereby producing guidelines for SEA in the Korean context. Items to be assessed have to allow for evaluation of environmental impacts and have environmental friendliness of the CMP. Via matrix technique, details of the plan and the items have to be linked with each other. And the assessment has to be done qualitatively rather than quantitatively because SEA mostly deals with the contents of CMP which are not specific.
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A report of the results gained from SEA should be one chapter of CMP because SEA has to be combined with planning process. Reports of SEA on CMPs should be produced by local governments, and can be completed by businesses having relevant specialities.
MOE and its regional offices have to examine the SEA reports. The examination can be assisted by research institutes specialized in environmental issues, and the public has to be involved in the examination. By summing up the results from the environmental impact assessment implemented in planning process and relevant opinions gained from public hearing, local legislature, and local planning commissions, local government fully write up the reports of environmental impact assessment, and submit them to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation(hereafter MOCT) in order to combine assessment of environmental impacts with urban planning process.
Chapter 6 presents some suggestions for efficient application of SEA to the Korean context. Legal basis for SEA has to be established. For example, detailed guidelines for SEA have to be put into the Act of Planning and Utilization for the National Territory when SEA applies to the CMP. Furthermore, an organization that assesses environmental impacts in the process of national territorial plan, environmentally friendly management of the national territory should be established within MOCT. However, this work has some limitations: 1) it fails to present not only alternatives enhancing environmental impact assesment system, but also SEAs suited for individual national territorial plans;
2) it does not apply a model for SEA of CMP to real cases. These limitations also suggest further studies for environmental impact assessment.
