As a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Korea is fully engaged in global efforts to protect and conserve biodiversity. Pyeongchang Roadmap adopted at the CBD COP12 held in Korea in 2014 offers a clear and detailed guidance to the Parties on how to achieve CBD goals and targets. Under this roadmap, Korea launched the Bio-Bridge Initiative, which is to help the Parties articulate their needs and to matchmake with available support.

Eco-friendly Land Planning

Korea introduced the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in 1981 as a proactive way to consider environmental aspects from the very first stage of planning and designing the use of its land. The types of the assessments are: Strategic Environmental Assessment, Environmental Impact Assessment and Brief Environmental Impact Assessment. Different types of the assessments are conducted depending on the type, scale, and timing of development projects to evaluate their potential adverse impacts on the environment.

National Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plans (NBSAPs)

NBSAPs, updated every five years, are a principal instrument to implement CBD. The 4th NBSAPs (2019-2023) of Korea set detailed strategies and targets for biodiversity conservation

• 

  Nature reserves

  Biodiversity rich areas, i.e., nature reserves are managed and protected by the Ministry of Environment for their conservation. As of the end of 2018, more than 3,000 areas have been designated as protected areas for their ecological values and the number is expected to grow

• 

  Wildlife protection

  Korea became a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1993. Later in 1997, a legal framework was established for better wildlife protection and stronger law enforcement to stop illegal poaching. The list of endangered wildlife is being regularly updated and the number currently stands at 267 species. More recently in 2018, the Ministry has developed the Comprehensive Plan for the Conservation of Endangered Wildlife (2018-2027) with the aim of restoring endangered wildlife habitats as well as their populations

• 

  Nagoya Protocol

  After the adoption of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing, the Ministry introduced relevant legislation in 2017. Since then, the Ministry has been developing its implementation mechanism for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources and its utilization. In March 2018, the Access and Benefit-Sharing Clearing-House (ABSCH) Genetic Resources Information Center was established to assist with technical matters required by the law. The center will open up a multilateral cooperation channel with other countries rich in genetic resources that will further enhance Korea’s competitiveness in bio industry. The center will also serve as a platform for publicprivate joint researches on valuable biological resources as well as R&D for biomimicry-inspired technologies