National level assessment of Biodiversity importance — Focusing on South Korea

Biodiversity management has become an international issue as global environmental problems become more controversial. At the 10th International Conference of Biodiversity, an international consensus was formed around the “Aichi targets”. New international targets have been set as follows: loss of natural habitat including forest is to be reduced by half, or to zero percent, and conservation in inland areas and coastal areas is to be expanded up to 17% and 10%, respectively, by the year 2020. Likewise, each country must prepare a national strategy for the management of biodiversity and perform in accordance with international targets while securing national sovereignty over biodiversity, as it is an important indicator of a nation’s competitiveness. The consensus evaluated the importance of biodiversity with the goal of selecting the regions that are the most significant for maintaining biodiversity in a national territory. This study evaluated the potential regions for expanding the amount of biodiversity under preservation management, including areas that serve as biodiversity footholds and those that already have a high level of biodiversity. In addition, by analyzing the factors that threaten biodiversity, it made decision making possible by determining whether urgent management of severely threatened areas is necessary. The results of our analysis showed that the highest scores were primarily for the Bakdudaegan Mountain ranges and Mt. Seorak National Park in the Bakdudaegan region, where the wetlands of Mt. Daeam Yong Swamp and natural parks are located. The biodiversity of the whole region surrounding the Yongsan River basins and around the Sumjin River estuaries was also evaluated to be high. Yanggu, Hwacheon, and the DMZ in Inje were the local governments with the highest biodiversity importance. This study can provide assistance in identifying the regions that are significant for maintaining biodiversity and can be used as a fundamental guide for intense biodiversity management or for the nation's investment decisions.