Managing the Water-Energy-Land-Food Nexus in Korea
Policies and Governance Options
This report assesses the key bottlenecks within the water-energy-land-food nexus in Korea, and proposes policy recommendations and governance arrangements to future-proof environmental integrity and enhance sustainable growth. The increasing pressure caused by urbanisation, industrialisation, population growth and climate change in Korea has led to more land consumption and augmented water supply, at the expense of the environment and at a high cost for public finance. Korea has engaged with the OECD via a national policy dialogue to explore best practices from the wider international community to better manage the nexus at the river basin scale.
Executive Summary
The Republic of Korea (hereafter simply referred to as Korea) is the eighth-largest OECD economy and has been one of the fastest growing OECD economies over the past decade, driven by a large export-oriented manufacturing sector. However, urbanisation, industrialisation and population growth (at least until 2030) are increasing energy and food demands, which in turn, are exacerbating pressure on Korea’s scarce natural resources and ecosystems, including water and land. These pressures and others raise the stakes on how to allocate and re-allocate water and land resource uses across the water-energy-land-food (WELF) nexus for sustainable growth.