Development of ecological indicators for sustainability assessment of village groves: The case of Namwon City, Republic of Korea

Background/Question/Methods

Many Village groves in Korea have been degraded and destroyed during the last century. The village groves were established and protected by the residents of village. The original purpose and current functions are different reflecting the social changes over time. Some of their functions have become obsolete due to rapid social changes. Many of them are left unmanaged due to lack of utility or some other reasons, which led to degradation or even loss of village groves. Other reasons may include privatization of the woodland and dissolution of community self-governance. /In order to manage the village groves sustainably it is necessary to design an appropriate management scheme. Ecological health indicators for village groves were developed for the purpose of assessing the sustainability and monitor management of natural resources. /The DSR (driving force-state-response) framework was employed for the selection of indicators. The DSR framework is a theory of cause-and-effect which explains changes the state of the ecosystem based on the hypothesis that external environment surrounding an ecosystem becomes a driving force which cause the change. The changed state (physical, chemical and biological changes) affects the external environment in feedback and the response (policies, programs, actions) of the affected people feedbacks the driving force again. In this framework, the driving force was inferred from the characteristics of the ecosystem being studied. Because the characteristics of the ecosystem were formed by many factors changed the original state. As such, these ecological indicators selected reflect the state of the ecosystem

Results/Conclusions

As time passes, the village groves may be ecologically isolated due to urbanization. The extent of use of village woodlands appears to vary according to the location and purpose of the woodland and it affects soil condition that determines the condition for tree health. Anthropogenic disturbances (e.g. garbage disposal, installation of community facilities) that interfere with the growth of trees are different among the village groves studied. Furthermore, the village groves are becoming aged because understory vegetations are undeveloped due to too much use or mismanagement which may eventually lead to a depletion of secondary vegetation. Considering these characteristics of village groves, degree of forest fragmentation, degree of soil stamping and erosion, the percentage of area covered by facilities to the woodland area, acidity degree of soil, and tree age were selected as variables for indicators of ecological health assessment.