Marine Protected Areas in South Korea

Abstract

South Korea has taken steps to achieve the Aichi Target 11 and several pieces of South Korean legislation require the government to make every effort to protect the ocean from pollution and manage conservation consistently. However, protected area coverage is recognized to be well short of target and recent assessment reports reveal that most MPAs are not managed well. The reasons for mismanagement are complex: lack of budget, lack of understanding among local residents and communities, vague jurisdictional boundaries between the regional office of the central government and the local governments, shortage of experts, etc. Therefore, the immediate and primary task for the government is to establish more effective management systems rather than increase the number and areas of the MPAs.