Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the current status and the improvement plans of the ecosystem conservation fund return projects. In 2007, there was a reformation of the ecosystem conservation fund system but the fund return projects were not vitalized up until now. In this study, 35 of ongoing and finished fund return projects were investigated on their types, sites, costs, local governments, and time required to return the fund. Through the on-site survey of 9 finished projects (4 biotope, 2 corridor and 3 natural conservation facility projects), construction and management conditions were investigated. The main findings are as follows: Among the five fund return types, 17 cases were biotope restoration projects, 4 cases were ecological corridor projects, and 1 case was a nature replacement project. In the case of project sites, there were 14 cases near schools and public facilities, 8 cases near rivers or streams, and 2 cases near ponds or wetlands. For the construction costs, there were 19 cases (65% of all the projects) that cost less than 300 million won. In terms of the involvement of the local government, most of the fund return projects were concentrated in Gyeonggi province and Ulsan city, and there were some local governments outside of these regions that did not carry out any return projects at all. Lastly, in the case of fund return time required, 35% of the fund returns were completed within 5 months, but the overall average fund return time was 9.8 months. In respond to the above study results, the improvement plans to encourage fund return projects are as follows: To diversify return types and sites, piloting and modeling projects for the representative types and sites should be preceded. To emerge from customary small-scaled projects, incentives to encourage large-scale and ecological networking projects should be considered. In addition, in order to write up business plans for the fund return projects, long-term investigations of at least 2 seasons from spring to fall are necessary. Finally, for the continuous management and maintenance of the ecological fund return sites, easier way for the citizens to actively participate in the projects should be incorporated.
