Value Assessment for Inland Wetlands according to Ecological Geographic Distribution

Abstract

Korea established an inventory of 1,916 sites of inland wetlands during a nationwide investigation from 2000 to 2010. If inland wetlands is included in or near various protected areas designated by the government, it can be selected as a wetland to be managed with priority. This study evaluated the aspect of management of inland wetlands by analyzing the correlation between locations of national protected areas and inland wetlands. As a result, it was shown that a considerable percentage of current inland wetland was located in areas that were designated and managed as protected areas by the government, as they had a high value of natural environment protection (527 sites, 31.61 %). When the range was widened to a radius of 1 km for protected areas, 959 sites were included and 57.53 % of sites were located in or nearby the protected areas. Among them, 46.79 % of sites were distributed up to or within a 1 km radius of waterside areas and rivers; it accounted for 81.33 % of wetlands located in protected areas. Therefore, it was found that locations of current inland wetlands were mostly in contact with rivers. The results of overlay analysis were classified into high, medium and low; the correlation of location with inland wetlands was analyzed through the analysis of separation distance of various protected areas. The number of wetlands located in areas of a ‘high’ value of protection was 998 (59.87 %); 289 sites (17.34 %) were distributed in areas of a ‘low’ value of protection. This implies that these wetlands are located in artificial areas and are more exposed to environmental pressures. Thus, these wetlands could be determined as inland wetlands, which we considered for the establishment of measures to prevent damage.