Environnement

Air pollution is a global challenge to people’s health and has severe economic consequences. The region of Northeast Asia is no exception. Across most regions in Japan, and in the entire territories of Korea and China, annual average concentrations of fine particulate matter are above the guideline levels indicated by the World Health Organisation, indicating a risk to health. Policy action to tackle air pollution across the three countries, could prevent air pollution related illnesses and deaths, without affecting economic growth. This report presents projections for the impact of air pollution polices until 2050, with differing levels of regional coordination. Projections for current policies are compared with unilateral policy action, whereby each of the three countries introduce more stringent policies to tackle air pollution; alongside regionally coordinated policy action by all three countries; and policy action on a global level. The report presents the health, agricultural and economic impacts, and identifies considerable benefits from further coordination on air pollution policies, such as with regional and global policy action.

During past years, Korea figured among the OECD countries with the highest share of population exposed to excessive PM2.5 (atmospheric particulate matter that have a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres) concentrations and PM2.5 concentration level in Seoul is about two times higher than the WHO’s guidelines or the levels of other major cities in developed countries. A number of countermeasures have been recently introduced to address such challenges, including a tightening of air quality standards and increasing local inspection and enforcement capacity. This paper reviews these recent reforms, and discusses possible further improvements. This paper complements two case studies on air quality policies in China and Japan, and a third case study on international regulatory co-operation on air quality in North America, Europe and North-East Asia.

This report examines land-use trends, policies and practices in Korea, in particular in the city of Busan, through the lens of urban regeneration and citizen participation. Land-use planning is critical for the efficient and inclusive management of cities, pursuing sustainable and balanced development and improving quality of life and regional competitiveness. Korea has benefitted from comprehensive and well-structured, hierarchical land-use planning and urban regeneration frameworks. However, faced with a series of demographic and economic challenges, together with geographic factors and historical developments, Korea needs to re-evaluate land-use management and urban regeneration to leverage inclusive growth and boost competitiveness in Korean cities. This report argues that involving citizens in land-use planning and urban regeneration is essential to collect better quality information as a basis for plans, decisions and outcomes. This report is of relevant to urban planners, land use especialists, and city managers who work on urban regeneration projects and citizens’ participation.

This report assesses the key bottlenecks within the water-energy-land-food nexus in Korea, and proposes policy recommendations and governance arrangements to future-proof environmental integrity and enhance sustainable growth. The increasing pressure caused by urbanisation, industrialisation, population growth and climate change in Korea has led to more land consumption and augmented water supply, at the expense of the environment and at a high cost for public finance. Korea has engaged with the OECD via a national policy dialogue to explore best practices from the wider international community to better manage the nexus at the river basin scale.

This report, undertaken within the framework of the OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth initiative, assesses inclusive growth trends and challenges in the Seoul metropolitan area. The analysis goes beyond income to assess the barriers faced by specific groups - non-regular workers, youth, women, the elderly and migrants - across four dimensions: education, labour market, housing and the urban environment, and infrastructure and public services. The study then takes a closer look at two major policy efforts by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to advance inclusive growth. The study analyses the city’s efforts to ensure that strategies to address climate change also protect and benefit the most vulnerable populations, notably through the Promise of Seoul, which puts citizen welfare and social inclusion at the heart of the city’s efforts to tackle climate change. The study also assesses the efforts of city authorities to level the playing field for small firms and entrepreneurs through its Economic Democratisation Agenda.

The report, building on a policy dialogue with a range of stakeholders in Korea, analyses how economic policy instruments under the responsibility of the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport can be adjusted to contribute to water policy objectives. It also investigates how Smart Water Management Korea, an initiative by K-water that combines information and communication technology with water technology, can be harnessed to better contribute to water management in the country. Finally, it identifies some of the limitations of prevalent water allocation regimes which need to be addressed to make the best use of available water resources. Since 1965, the Korean Government has invested heavily in quantitative development strategies to meet water needs, and despite highly variable water availability, this has allowed for and facilitated rapid urbanisation and economic growth. However, several long-term trends are expected to affect the capacity of the current water management system to adequately respond to current and future water risks, such as rapid ageing of the population, fiscal consolidation and climate change. These call for a renewed emphasis on water use efficiency.

Cette publication est la version abrégée du troisième Examen environnemental de la Corée. Elle contient le résumé, ainsi que l’évaluation et les recommandations officielles du rapport, issues des trois chapitres sur les tendances et développements récents, la gouvernance, la croissance verte, ainsi que des deux chapitres détaillés sur les déchets, la gestion des matières et l’économie circulaire, et sur la justice environnementale. La version intégrale du rapport est disponible en anglais sur le site de l’OCDE.