Research Institutions such as KEI (Korea Environment Institute), NIE (National Institute of Ecology), Changwon National University, SRI (Suwon Research Institute) actively participated in the UrbanByNature webinar series in Korea which took place in June-July 2021. These institutions are in the position to directly communicate with policy decision makers such as national and local governments officials about National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and Local Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (LBSAPs) development and monitoring. For instance, KEI has been developing the 3rd, 4th and 5th NBSAPs commissioned by the Ministry of Environment whileNIE has been conducting an evaluation of Ecosystem service commissioned funded by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) and local governments. SRI on the other hand, is currently developing Suwon city’s LBSAP commissioned by the City of Suwon. Therefore, such universities usually work in the development of theseplans when commissioned, and professors are frequently engaged in policy framework development processes as experts. Thus, inviting national and local research institutions as well as universities as partners to the UbN webinar series in Korea and building good partnerships with them for the was a meaningful initiative for the future planning and implementation of NBS in Korea.
During the UrbanByNature webinar series, it became clear in the Korean context the importance to integrate NBS in the NBSAP and LBSAPs, as well as in other policy documents and master plan frameworks such as the Urban Master Plan (a mandated framework urban plan done by Korean local governments every 20 years for long term and every 5 years for mid-term planning, which involves housing, roads, parks etc.). These documents are mandated legally at both national and local levels and the relevance of highlighting nature-based solutions in these documents was widely discussed during the webinar series.
The Korean Ministry of Environment (MOE) has been developing the 5th NBSAP in cooperation with KEI since early 2021. The MOE intends to align the duration of the global and local policy frameworks by extending the 5th NBSAP’s duration. Previous NBSAP covered 5years such as the 4th NBSAP covered 2014~2018, the 5th NBSAP was 2019~2023. However the MOE decided to develop the 6th NBSAP earlier than the planned time frame starting from the year 2021. So that the 6th NBSAP covers 2022 to 2030. Then eventually Korea's NBSAP duration can be aligned with the global policy framework. This document is expected to be launched around CBD COP15. The concept and the importance of NBS will be included in the NBSAP. Once the Korean NBSAP is launched, all local governments will be asked to follow the national government’s policy intention. This will be a milestone in the Korean context in terms of the relevance of NBS planning and implementation, as the next step will be for NBS to be backed up by the local biodiversity plans, the LBSAPs.
In order to accelerate and support this process, ICLEI KO intends to deliver a special session at CBD COP15 in cooperation with the MOE.
Aside from the event at CBD COP15, ICLEI KO has plans to organise a Biodiversity Forum in Korea with mainly local governments in partnership with the MOE in order to accelerate local biodiversity actions and NbS during the 3rd quarter of the year 2022. Researchers and experts from the mentioned research institutions and other partner organizations of the UrbanByNature webinar series such as KEI, NIE and SRI will also be invited.
To ensurethe adequate resources for the Korean Biodiversity Forum 2022, ICLEI KO has secured an initial seed funding from the private sector, a small company called Haeseong DS. ICLEI KO aims to raise more funds from local governments to support the forum’s implementation.
Finally, whenever there are opportunities for Korean researchers to work with local governments on the NBS scene, ICLEI KO makes sure to share the NBS cases from the Connecting Nature project, which were presented during the UrbanByNature webinar series. The Korean Biodiversity Forum is a further opportunity for Korean local governments to get to know more about the NBS cases, related lessons learned and recommendations for NBS planning and delivery.