Integration of Environmental Consideration in Local and Regional Development Process : the Case of the 2nd Industrial Estate Development Project of Iri, Korea

Abstract

The institutional framework for environmental consideration in local and regional development has been in operation only since early 1980s in Korea, when the new Environmental Preservation Law was enacted. The main instrument is the Environmental Impact Assessment system; and the organizational responsibility rests with the Office of Environment which was established in late '70s. Societal recognition of the needs for environmental protection preceded the institutional framework. However, the rationale for "first growth and then environmental protection", especially among the central government's resource planners, has persisted very long, To quote a former economic planner in the government, "pollution of under-development" had to be dealt with as more urgent problem than the "effluents of development." Especially when the issue is raised with respect to the needs of development of an economica11y lagging region, economic growth via industrialization in the most efficient way has been deemed imperative not only by the government planners but also by most of the people in the region.