Problem overview:

     Framework of coordination: The government of Korea has restructured itself to be more downsized and decentralized in order to efficiently work with other institutions both governmental and non-governmental in incorporating environmental and economic concerns in policy decisions.

     Integrating stakeholders: The Ministry of Environment in Korea encourages the participation of communities and NGOs in policy-making processes with support from the government.

Background:

      Modalities for integrating the participation of stakeholders

      Many policies and measures have not been successfully carried out, because they were thought of, by affected parties, as impractical or too costly to comply. The government should see the importance of incorporating the affected parties, or stakeholders, into the decision making process, for more efficient, well thought of, and realistic policies and measures.

      The MOE invites community representatives and NGOs to participate in the policy formulation process. The government has provided financial support in order to promote NGOs pro-environmental activities. In 1996, the total number of environmental NGOs is 339. Among them, 82 NGOs have registered with the MOE. The MOE used to utilize the NGOs as political pressures on incorporating environmental concerns in economic policy making processes or legislation processes.

      In order to efficiently incorporate environmental concerns into economic policy making, the government of Korea has recently restructured itself to be more downsized and decentralized. In the meantime, the government has established a decision making body, called the Environmental Preservation Committee, to cover major environmental policy decisions. This committee is an assembly of representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Industry and energy, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, other environmental organizations and non-governmental representatives (NGOs). With related ministries and non-governmental bodies all incorporated in the policy decision process, institutional conflicts are expected to be minimal, and policies are anticipated to be pragmatic.

      The Federation of Non-governmental Organization for Environment Policy was established by the legislation to incorporate the publics opinion into the government policy-making process in 1994. This organization consists of about 20 leaders of NGOs and has a regular meeting in every three months. As religious NGO installed SDN (Sustainable Development Network) in order to diffuse environmental information. The Baedal Eco-society runs three research institutes that contribute important in formation of the environmental debates. Recently NGOs are expanding their activities to more broad area such as environmental education, green consumption, environmental arts and culture.

      Among the leading NGOs, the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements publishes a monthly magazine with a circulation of 30,000 copies. And YMCA