North Korea has actively participated in the international community related to environmental agreements. It has proposed various environmental policies internally since the Kim Jong-un regime. In particular, it emphasizes activities related to climate change response, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the conservation of ecosystems including forests and wetlands. In this study, a new security cooperation plan was proposed with an understanding of the climate crisis and environmental regime as a starting point. To this end, trends and recent activities for climate-environment cooperation in the international community and on the Korean Peninsula were analyzed. In addition, North Korea’s conditions for cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, technology demand, and the projected future environment of the Korean Peninsula were dealt with. Ultimately, through advice of experts, we were able to discover cooperation agendas by sector and propose short-term and long-term environmental cooperation strategies for the Korean Peninsula based on them. In this study, conditions and directions for cooperation in fields of climate technology, biological resources, air/weather, water environment, biodiversity, renewable energy, bioenergy, and so on were considered comprehensively. Among 21 cooperation agendas discovered in this study, energy showed the largest number of areas. Renewable energy, forest resources, and environmental and meteorological information stood out as agendas that could be cooperated in the short term. As representative initiatives, joint promotion of ‘renewable energy’ that could contribute to North Korea’s energy demand and carbon neutrality and ‘forest cooperation’ that could be recognized as a source of disaster reduction and greenhouse gas sinks were suggested.

Environmental damage caused by marine plastic debris occurs and has become a major contributor to marine pollution. This study analyzed the current state of marine plastic debris pollution and proposed essential strategies to reduce damage. To assess the current state of pollution arising from marine plastic debris, this study investigated the properties of plastic debris, reviewed case studies of ecological impacts, and examined the inflow and distribution of marine plastic debris. The results of this study indicate that the major deleterious effects of marine plastics are entanglement and ingestion. In addition, the amount of plastic waste entering the sea was estimated to be 230 Mt in 2015 and may increase to 554 Mt in 2050. In this study, three key strategies were proposed to reduce damage and preserve the ecosystem, including: 1) removing plastic debris in the marine environment, 2) limiting the release of plastic debris to the marine environment, and 3) preventing damage to humans and marine life from plastic debris. To minimize the environmental damage caused by marine plastic debris, the proposed response strategies should be implemented in parallel.

The Straits of Malacca and Singapore is without hesitation, a vital sea lane of communication with the geographical advantage of linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Geographically, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore is shallow and fairly narrow on its eastern part and has created one of the most important traffic choke points in the world. Being a crucial sea-lane has experience the Straits with high density of vessel traffic. The increase in shipping activities has risen the challenge in safety of navigation and marine environmental protection problem which generally end up with huge financial losses for the seafarers and damages to the marine environment. Owing significant limitations in the geographical landscape, this article has primary objectives to examine how navigational safety and marine environment can be effectively protect using existing regulatory instruments. This article provides a review and analysis of existing laws and regulations to assess the status of navigational safety for marine environmental protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. The article also evaluates potential strategies to this problem using insights from literature. The article finds out that the littoral States to the Straits of Malacca and Singapore should adopt more forward-looking perspective in the formulation of legal measures to enhance navigational safety for marine environmental protection. The article finally suggests the potential strategies for navigational safety and marine environmental protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. This will help in setting priorities for future efforts in improving navigational safety for marine environmental protection with regard to international and regional initiatives.

물거미는 한국에서 유일하게 연천군 은대리의 좁은 습지에서만 제한적으로 분포하고 있다. 이 연구에서는 물거미 개체군에 영향을 주는 서식 환경요인을 규명하기 위하여 습지내 물거미의 개체수와 수생태계의 다양한 물리화학 및 생물학적 환경요인과의 관계를 조사하였다. 그 결과 물거미의 개체수는 서식지의 물리화학적 환경요인 중에서 습지의 면적이 좁고 암모니아태질소와 전기전도도가 높을수록 증가하였다. 물거미는 포식자나 먹이인 피식자와는 관련성이 낮고 왕우렁이의 개체수가 많을수록 감소하였다. 또한 정수식물의 피도와는 관련성이 없었으나 부엽식물의 피도가 높을수록 물거미수는 감소하였고, 그 반대로 침수 식물의 피도가 높을수록 이에 비례하여 물거미 수는 증가 하였다. 이러한 결과는 물거미의 서식환경에서 수생식물이 중요하게 관련됨을 의미하고, 현재 이 서식지에서 외래종인 왕우렁이는 수생식물의 최대 섭식자로 작용하고 있으므로 이에 대한 제어대책이 시급히 필요하다.

오늘날처럼 경쟁이 치열한 글로벌 해운시장 환경에 대한 외항선사의 대응능력은 기업성장과 물동량 창출에 매우 중요하다. 이러한 측면에서 본 연구는 우리나라 외항선사이 직면하고 있는 해운환경의 특성을 규명하고 이러한 환경 대응능력과 전략실행프로세스 및 경영성과와의 관계를 규명하여 외항선사의 경쟁력을 결정하게 되는 핵심요인이 환경대응력에 의해서만 결정되는 것이 아니고, 전략실행을 위한 내부프로세스와의 상호작용에 의해서도 달라진다는 것을 실증적으로 제시하였다. 이는 외항선사의 환경대응과 전략실행 및 경영성과의 관계를 종합적으로 검증한 것으로 해운환경변화에의 대응능력 향상과 적절한 전략수행의 유인을 통해 외항선사의 경쟁력 강화에 공헌할 수 있다는 데에 연구의 가치가 있다고 본다.