Water policy reforms in South Korea: A historical review and ongoing challenges for sustainable water governance and management
Creators: name: Choi, Ik-Chang
name: Shin, Hio-Jung
name: Nguyen, Trung Thanh
name: Tenhunen, John
Publisher: name: Basel : MDPI AG
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Full-cost pricing
subject: Payment for ecosystem services
subject: Provider-gets-principle
subject: Water challenges
subject: Water policy changes and reforms
subject: Climate change
subject: Cost benefit analysis
subject: Costs
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Economic and social effects
subject: Economics
subject: Ecosystems
subject: Population statistics
subject: Sustainable development
subject: Urban growth
subject: Water conservation
subject: Water management
subject: Water pollution
subject: Water quality
subject: Water supply
subject: Ecosystem services
subject: Full costs
subject: Non-point source pollution
subject: Resource characteristic
subject: Sustainable water management
subject: Water policies
subject: Water quality degradation
subject: Water resources
subject: Dewey Decimal Classification::300 | Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie::330 | Wirtschaft::333 | Boden- und Energiewirtschaft::333,7 | Natürliche Ressourcen, Energie und Umwelt

description: This study aims to provide an opinion on the state-of-the-art of changes and reforms of water policies in South Korea, as well as the challenges along with their implications for sustainable water governance and management. In parallel with change in water resource characteristics generated by physical, environmental and socio-economic challenges such as: (1) uncertainties about climate change (flooding and drought) including seasonal and regional variation in precipitation; (2) significant increase in water use caused by rapid urbanization and population growth in industrialized urban areas; (3) inadequate water pricing mechanism which covers only around 80% of the production cost and makes it harder to maintain water systems; and (4) recursive water quality degradation and conflicts over water rights between regions resulting from non-point source pollution in highland versus lowland areas, Korean water policies have been developed through diverse reforms over 100 years. Nevertheless, new challenges for sustainable water management are continuously emerging. To meet those challenges we provide two ideas: (i) provider-gets-principle (payment for ecosystem services) of cost-benefit sharing among stakeholders who benefit from water use; and (ii) water pricing applying full-cost pricing-principle internalizing environmental externalities caused by the intensive water use. Funds secured from the application of those methods would facilitate: (1) support for upstream (rural) low income householders suffering from economic restrictions; (2) improvement in water facilities; and (3) efficient water use and demand management in South Korea's water sectors. We expect that this paper can examine the lessons relevant to challenges that South Korea faces and offer some implications on the formulation of new integration and further reforms of the institutions, laws and organizations responsible for managing water resources in South Korea. © 2017 by the authors.