ABSTRACT
There are many conflicts of interest in the conservation and use of natural resources, a good example is the conservation of watershed. The case of the Han River was investigated to identify the important factors for successful implementation of land-use policy for watershed conservation. The watershed conservation policy is an output of a series of negotiations between representatives of downstream and upper region residents. The new policy introduced an instrument for internalization of externalities from watershed conservation, based on the concept of environmental justice among the stakeholders. The conflicts of interest among the stakeholders can be resolved through the establishment of a partnership among themselves, with the help of governmental and non-governmental agencies. The effectiveness of the policy instrument is determined not only by the participation of the stakeholders but also by a sound understanding of the facts, the lack of which makes it difficult for the water users to pay for the watershed conservation.
INTRODUCTION
There are many conflicts of interest in relation to the conservation and use of natural resources. The conservation of watershed is a good example of such conflicts in many parts of the world. This paper explains our experiences of resolving the conflicts related to watershed conservation in Korea by forming a partnership between regions in the lower and upper parts of a watershed. The case of the Han River was investigated to identify the important factors for successful implementation of land-use policy for watershed conservation.
THE CASE
The Han River is the sole source of drinking water for residents in Seoul Metropolitan and the neighbouring cities and thus the watershed is considered a vital environmental resource for the people living in the lower regions. Figure 1 shows the Han River watershed area in the Korean peninsula. The lower region is urbanized while the upper region is a mixture of rural and urban areas. As the economic activities in upper areas expand, the water quality of the Han River has been deteriorating as seen in Figure 2.
The water drawn from the Han River is not directly drinkable any more as the quality has dropped below the limit of drinkable water. Even though the water drawn from the Han River is treated for drinking water supply, there are not many households which directly consume the tap water without further treatment.
The Government of South Korea has set the standard of water quality as a guideline of its environmental conservation policy. The government’s water quality control policy was in the past based on command and control only without any considerations given to the costs borne by the stakeholders in the upper regions. But such policies were not effective as evidenced by the deteriorating water quality in Figure 2.
The Ministry of Environment sets the standard for water quality in rivers and the total amount of effluents into the river is controlled by the state. The Ministry of Environment, based on the watershed conservation law of major rivers, moderates the interregional partnership. The government introduced a new policy for watershed conservation in 1999, starting with the Han River when the water quality reached an unendurable level. The policy was extended to other major rivers in 2002. The new water quality conservation programme is based on a partnership between communities in the upper and lower watershed areas. The partnership is legalized by political process and compromises.
The Han River watershed
Major rivers in South Korea
Figure 1. Location of the Han River watershed
Figure 2. Water quality in the Han River
WHAT MATTERS IN THE WATERSHED CONSERVATION POLICY?
A new policy is usually formulated to resolve a social problem, which involves many stakeholders. In the process of policy-making, the political power of stakeholders is decisive. Usually the political power is based on the social structure concerned. In a democratic society, the political powers of stakeholders are usually expressed in the forms of voting, campaigns and lobbying during the course of policy processes.
The scientific information on water quality and watershed management is vital in the water quality policy formulation and allocation of resources during the policy implementation. Without such information, the issues of water quality control and watershed conservation cannot be properly communicated among the interest groups. Information on watershed management is essential for the evaluation of a watershed conservation policy based on a newly introduced partnership among stakeholders.
The public awareness of issues and facts about water quality and watershed conservation is the first stage of a policy formulation. The awareness of water quality was instrumental in the case of the Han River watershed conservation partnership programme. The public awareness of the water quality problem brought out the downstream residents’ willingness to pay for benefits from watershed conservation.
The watershed conservation policy is an output of a series of negotiations between representatives of downstream and upper region residents. The stakeholders expressed their cases in the process of designing a new policy instrument composed of income transfer and collection of an extra water user fee. The new policy introduced an instrument for internalization of externalities from watershed conservation, based on the concept of environmental justice among the stakeholders.
STATUS QUO IN LEGAL SYSTEM
In Korea, there are many statutes relating to the watershed conservation as given below. The old but still valid statute, that is, the Civil Act, regulates the basic relations about water distribution and use among the residents in upper-and down-stream areas. But the new special statutes like the Riparian Act and the Dam Construction Act surpass the Civil Act in the respect of legal effect. According to such special statutes, the enterprises that obtained the licenses of water use by the government can obstruct the traditional rights to the riparian water of the indigenous peoples under the Civil Act or distribute the water of rivers. The following are laws ruling the social relations regarding water resource use and conservation:
The Civil Act of 1958 (subtitle 3 of title 2: neighbourship
rules)
The Clean Water Act of 1990
The Natural Conservation Act of
1997
The Riparian Act of 1999
The Dam Construction Act of 1999
The Han
River Water System Act of 1999
The Nag Dong River Water System Act of
2002
The Geum River Water System Act of 2002
The Young San and the Sum Jin
River Water System Act of 2002
WHO ARE THE STAKEHOLDERS?
There are many stakeholders in the new watershed conservation policy. The residents, fishermen, and manufacturing and service sectors in the lower areas such as the Seoul Metropolitan will be the beneficiaries of the new watershed conservation programme while they pay less for their use of the water from the Han River. The farmers, forest holders and tourism industry in the upper areas will have to bear the costs of limiting their economic activities in the watershed protection areas while they are compensated as much as possible. Among these, the farmers raising livestocks and the tourism industry were opposed to the introduction of a new law which regulates their economic activities in the upper regions. The forest owners were not active in the policy formulation process.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT WATERSHED MANAGEMENT?
In order to well inform the stakeholders about the problem of water quality and its relation to land use, questions like the following should be understood by the stakeholders:
Unfortunately, the information necessary to answer the above questions is not readily available in many cases including the Han River case.
HOW ARE THE DECISIONS REGARDING THE CONTROL OF WATER QUALITY-QUANTITY MADE?
The decision-making process in water conservation policy involved negotiations and compromises among the stakeholders. The negotiations were moderated by the government and non-government organizations since the gap between the interests of the upper and lower regions seemed too far apart. In the process of negotiations, local governments in the upper and lower regions actively presented the interests of their residents and industries while the central government played the role of an intermediary. Their political powers were well exerted in various ways including the law-making processes in the national parliament to secure the environmental justice of watershed protection policy. But there is still a remaining question of whether the minority’s interests were adequately presented or protected in the policy-making process. We are not sure that the information on the facts, costs and benefits of the new water conservation policy was provided and available to all the stakeholders equally.
HOW WAS THE WATER CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP ESTABLISHED?
The economic loss to residents in the upper regions is compensated by an income transfer programme of which the fund is created from user fees collected from tap water users of the lower regions. The residents of the lower regions pay 100 won per tonne of water consumed as user fee. The residents and landowners in the upper regions are compensated in the form of subsidy.
HOW IS THE WATER CONSERVATION POLICY EVALUATED?
The water quality in the river is monitored by the Ministry of Environment continuously and reported to the public periodically. The income transfer programm is audited by legal identities such as the national parliament and the central government. The public can participate in the process of distribution of funds among the upper communities and the mass media is readily available for reporting of any wrong doings in the process.
The success factors for the watershed conservation policy include:
CONCLUSION
In the case of the Han River, the conflicts of interest among the stakeholders can be resolved through the establishment of a partnership among themselves. Here the roles of government and non-governments organization are important in such arrangement of social relations. The political process is critical for success in interregional water conservation partnership. In the case of the Han River’s water conservation policy, the environmental justice as the base of the legal system has been somewhat realized in the partnership.
The effectiveness of the policy instrument is determined not only by the participation of the stakeholders but also by a sound understanding of the facts. We do not yet know much about the effect of forest management on water conservation. This lack of information makes it difficult for the water users to pay for the watershed protection function of forests.
| [22] Seoul National University,
Seoul, Korea; E-mail: [email protected] [23] Korea Legislation Research Institute, Seoul, Korea. |
