Emergy Perspectives of Ecosystem Restoration in Korea

Abstract

The emergy (spelled with an 'm') concept was introduced to provide a new insight into ecosystem restoration efforts in Korea. The emergy is defined as the available energy of one kind previously required directly and indirectly to make a product or service. It is an effort to evaluate the true contributions of natural resources to our economy. It tries to include both contributions from natures free works and human services to develop and process natural resources. The emergy evaluation can be used to select a restoration alternative that yields more to the economy with less stress to the environment, by comparing different alternatives with indices expressed in emergy. It can also be used to assess the success of ecosystem restoration projects. Pulsing dynamics in which a slow build-up of production is followed by a frenzied consumption in relatively short time period seems to be a general feature of all systems. Any ecosystem restoration effort, therefore, should consider the whole pulsing cycle for a successful implementation.