KNPS Korea National Parks Service South Korea Korean MEE experience – introduction of management effectiveness evaluation to protected areas in Korea Panel member – Heuk-Jin Chung Adviser, Management Effectiveness Evaluation Team October 2008

Korea National Parks Service – Overview We are a national government affiliated agency Organizational Structure - Headquarter and 26 national park offices - a national park research institute - an aviation corps Staffing Structure - Number of permanent employees: 911 - Number of contract employees: 638 Budget - Internal revenue plus Government subsidy - Total budget: $130 million

Current status 20 National Parks Mountainous park: 16 Marine park: 2 Seashore park: 1 Historical park: 1 Size (unit:㎢) Total Land Sea 6,580 (100%) 3,899 (59%) 2,681 (41%) Land ownership (unit:㎢) Total State-owned Public-owned Private-owned 3,899 1,935(49.6%) 439(11.3%) 1,593(39.1%) Park Visitation (unit : thousand) Year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Visitors 23,042 25,000 25,841 26,878 24,948

Motivation for introduction of MEE to Korea In 2004 COP7 of CBD adopted PoW PA. The news energized KNPS management to take an initiative in response to the international call. The initiatives taken by KNPS are as follows: Organize an large scale meeting of experts from various agencies of government ,academia, civic groups interested in the management of protected areas in Korea. Establish a small unit within KNPS whose mission is to follow up on PoW PA in Korea The Experts meeting adopted 7 items recommendation for follow-up on PoW PA including: Create a Korea protected area forum consisting of agencies, academia and civic group representatives in which members meet periodically for discussion over PA management issues for coordination of conflict of interests among themselves. Hold an international workshop for better management of protected areas in Korea with many experts participation around world including IUCN and UNEP for national attention to the PoW PA . Introduce IUCN PA category system to Korea introduce management effectiveness evaluation system to protected areas in Korea Launch as soon as possible a Korean MEE project

KNPS response to the 7 items recommendation Established Korea Protected Area Forum in October 2005 and managed to hold the forum meeting on a quarterly basis Held the international conference in Cheju island in Korea in October 2006 with participation of 200 experts including more than 30 experts from abroad Organized and held an workshop and steering committee meeting in Seoul in July 2007 to initiate an MEE project in Korea with external experts participation from IUCN and Australia . Concluded a MOU in December 2007 between ministry of environment, KNPS and IUCN to jointly execute the Korean MEE project.

honoring international convention & raising national prestige GOAL OF THE PROJECT Implement CBD POW PA (adopted at the 7th conference of parties to CBD ) honoring international convention & raising national prestige Build adaptive management system in korean protected areas Improve management thru capacity building better management & manager capacity building Reporting to the public & government on management effectiveness of PA Providing information on the current state of PA management Information provision on management & publicity

Scope of the project 20 national parks 10 ecological conservation and scenic area 12 wetland conservation area 1 wildlife protecting area spatial scope Dec.2007 ~ May 2009 (18 months) - Dec. 2007 ~ Feb. 2008 : warming up period - 2008. 3~2008. 12 : evaluation model development and execution of model - year 2009 : writing reports and publication Time horizon US$320,000 budget

CONTENTS OF THE PROJECT develop an evaluation framework at site level comparison among sites in Korea & international comparison Developing an evaluation model for Korea PA Study case studies in advanced countries on MEE of protected areas Training protected area managers Manager capacity building Hold workshop for MEE exercise (managers, stakeholders, etc participated) Joint field survey by internal and external experts Implementation of MEE Participate in WCC and present MEE performance Writing indivisual MEE reports site by site and an final integrated report (comparison analysis and recommendation included) Sharing MEE results & publicity

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

PRINCIPAL OUTCOMES & DEADLINE 1 output deadline Develop a MEE model 2.1. statistical data collection on PAs May. 2009 2.2. a draft Korea MEE model at site level April. 2008 2.3. review reports on [2.2] May,2008 2.4. a complete Korea MEE model June.2008 2.5. analytical framework of MEE results March.2009 2.6. a MEE model at system level November.2008 Education & training 3.1. collection of MEE case studies April.2008 3.2. a report on capacity building workshop May.2008 Implement MEE 4.1. a report on MEE workshop results August.2008 4.2. a draft report on results of MEE exercise Sept.2008 4.3. a review report on [4.2] by experts Oct.2008

PRINCIPAL OUTCOMES & DEADLINE 2 output deadline Field survey 5.1. a field survey report Feb. 2009 Sharing MEE results & publicity 6.1. participation in WCC & presentation Oct. 2008 6.2. media publicity on MEE performance May.2009 reports 7.1. MEE reports by sites Feb. 2009 7.2. a review report on [7.1] by review team Mar. 2009 7.3. a final integrated MEE report May. 2009 7.4. a report on strengthening management capacity for PA May. 2009

Lessons we’ve learnt Agencies need: To determine which sites, and their natural and cultural heritage assets, are at an acceptable standard and which are not; However it remains to be seen because it may be difficult to set up acceptable standard suitable to each site and thus it leads us to the choice of adaptive management approach. To assess how well each site conserve its natural and cultural heritage; it also leads us to management effectiveness comparison between sites and in this regard Korea MEE exercise is expecting global study of site comparison from IUCN. To account for the time and other resources staffs spend on their core role of conservation, and relate these costs to their accomplishments. It is key point of Korea MEE exercise and we expect it will be achieved by policy recommendations for adaptive management of each site which the Korea MEE exercise report will generate To evaluate protected areas not only at the site level but also at the system level To build staff capacity to carry out MEE on their own through diverse workshop and training To strong leadership at a range of levels throughout the organisation To engage closely and often with the field staff in developing and running the program To feed data back to leaders, managers, field staff and specialists as soon as possible to demonstrate how it helps management