During the dramatic rise of South Korea from developing to developed nation, since the 1970s, environmental issues were an afterthought, as the country focused on economic development. This has led to serious issues of air pollution, overuse of water resources and other environmental damage. In a bid to overcome its environmental problems, recent governments have proposed initiatives in an attempt to remediate environmental damage and improve the air quality. One of these initiatives is the Four Rivers Restoration Project, driven by Lee Myung-bak, former president, and forming an element of the “Green New Deal” policy which was launched in January, 2009 .This project has caused enormous controversy and has been reported on by newspapers worldwide.
Western newspapers have been severely critical of the project. In August 2010, the Environmental News Service reported that the public support for the entire government greening initiative has been negatively affected because of the controversy about environmental damage being suffered by the Four Rivers Restoration Project . The article cites prominent South Korean environmentalist, Choi Yul, stating that the project will be “death for the rivers”.
Ford, in his article in the USA’s Christian Science Monitor, describes the Four Rivers Project as “the worm in the apple” of South Korea’s USD 40 billion environmental budget, half of which will be spent on the project which aims to conserve water, prevent flooding and create thousands of jobs . The map in the Appendix outlines the extent of the project.
However, closer to home, reports from South Korea, whilst somewhat critical of the government’s performance on the project, have stated its benefits. In 2015, Global Warming Focus reported on the results by researchers at the Yonsei University in Seoul which found that “the effect of the river restoration project would be insignificant” and that the study was valuable in providing consistent management tools for assessing climate change . China Weekly News further reported that this project has already achieved some gains in the areas of flood mitigation, increased water availability the revitalization of local economies .
Another reason that may affect the local perspective is the country’s location to North Korea, which has built a massive dam close to the DMZ which separates the two countries. Waters released from this damn have the capacity to flood Seoul and consequently destabilize South Korea’s government and economy, so the perspective is focused more on local impacts and personal safety and prosperity, rather than overarching global environment principles.
Since geography is a study of place, it is important to be able to view the synthesis between processes and phenomena, and to focus on actual relationships that occur between these. This is why perspectives on a particular issue can vary, depending on the distance of the topic from which they are viewed.
Appendix
Rivers outlined in blue are part of the South Korean government's Four Rivers Restoration Project. (Map courtesy Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs)
Works Cited
Anonymous. “South Korea's Four Rivers Dam Construction Rolls Over Opposition.” Environment News Service 16 August 2010.
Barbier, Edward. “How is the Global Green New Deal Going?” Nature 464.7290 (2010): 832-3.
CWN Reporter. “Environment and Development; Data on Environment and Development Reported by Researchers at Yonsei University (the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project of South Korea: An Assessment of its Process, Program, and Political Dimensions.” China Weekly News 1 December 2015: 306.
Ford, Peter. “"S. Korea Goes 'Deep Green' - Or does it?" .” The Christian Science Monitor 11 October 2009.
News Reporter. “Climate Change; Study Findings on Climate Change are Outlined in Reports from Graduate School (A Case Study of Regional Risk Assessment of River Restoration Projects: Nakdong River Basin, South Korea).” Global Warming Focus 2015: 342.
United Nations. United Nations Conference on Climate Change. 12 December 2015. <http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en/>.
