Republic of Korea

1. Overview

The Republic of Korea's fifth National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) was developed in 2023 by the Ministry of Environment under Article 7 of the Act on the Conservation and Use of Biological Diversity (the Biodiversity Act, 2012), which consolidated previously dispersed biodiversity statutes. Korea acceded to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1995 and adopted its first NBSAP in 1998. The document is characterised as "the highest-level, cross-ministerial strategy in biodiversity" [§4].

The plan organises Korea's programme into 21 national commitments* aligned section-by-section with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), grouped into three clusters: reducing threats (Commitments 1–8), sustainable use and benefit-sharing (9–13), and implementation tools (14–21) [§26]. The 21 commitments do not map 1:1 to the 23 GBF Targets: Korea collapses GBF Targets 9 and 10 into National Commitment 9, and splits GBF Target 19 across National Commitments 18 (domestic finance) and 19 (international finance and ODA). National Commitment 5 is framed around wildlife quarantine and zoonotic safety rather than sustainable harvest levels.

* Korea's NBSAP calls these "national targets." This page uses "national commitment" to avoid confusion with the 23 GBF Targets. Korea's 21 numbered targets are renumbered against the KMGBF: "Commitment 3" on this page corresponds to Korea's Target 3 and maps to GBF Target 3, but numbering diverges from Commitment 9 onward. A separate set of four 2050 goals restates the strategy's long-term direction; these are paraphrases and are not a one-to-one adoption of GBF Goals A–D [§25]. The NBSAP translates OECM as "Nature Coexistence Area" (tentatively) [§51]. Headline and complementary indicators are tagged Developed (○), In development (△) or To be developed (X); most CBD-standard headline indicators are flagged "to be developed" [§28].

The plan was drafted through a two-tier process — a Working Group and an NBSAP Development Committee convened under the Enforcement Decree of the Biodiversity Act — and taken through six rounds of consultation with local governments, civil society, industry, youth and women, a policy idea contest, and a 23 November 2023 public hearing [§6, §7].

Korea's fifth NBSAP sets 21 national commitments aligned to the KMGBF, adopts 30×30 for protected areas, couples ecological restoration to a domestic carbon-credit scheme, and extends its NBSAP cycle from five to ten years to match the global CBD review cadence. The plan sits within a whole-of-government architecture in which all ministries carry cross-cutting tasks, coordinated through a formalised National Biodiversity Center and the CBD-CHM Korea clearing house.

Sources:

• §3 — 1. Background > I. Overview of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan
• §4 — 2. Significance
• §6 — I. Introduction > 3.2 Cross-ministerial discussions
• §7 — I. Introduction > 3.3 Public consultation
• §25 — IV. National Targets > 1. Vision and goals > 2050 Vision and Goals
• §26 — IV. National Targets > 1. Vision and goals > 2030 National targets
• §28 — III. National Biodiversity Targets and Indicators > 3. Selected indicators
• §51 — Current status and needs (OECM translation)

2. Ecological Context

Korea's terrestrial land cover has shifted sharply over a generation. Between the late 1980s and 2023, forest cover fell from 66.3% to 58.5% (67,085 km² to 59,333 km²) and farmland from 23.6% to 17.6% (23,843 km² to 17,903 km²), while settlement area more than tripled from 2.1% to 7.1% [§11]. A 1989–2009 comparison records that urbanised and arid areas approximately doubled, while wetlands declined by 61% and grasslands by 24% [§122].

The Ministry of Environment's count of domestically designated endangered species rose from 92 in 1989 to 198 in 1998, 246 in 2012, 267 in 2017 and 282 in 2022 [§62]. Alongside that count, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) lists 91 protected marine species, the Korea Forest Service (KFS) 931 rare and endemic plant species, and the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) 461 natural-monument species [§62].

As of 2022, 17.3% of terrestrial and 1.8% of marine and coastal areas were managed as protected areas — 17,351.26 km² of a 100,284 km² terrestrial total and 7,967.62 km² of a 438,000 km² coastal and marine total [§51]. The NBSAP states that this "calls for additional efforts to meet the GBF target" and identifies Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) as a complement to protected areas, translating the category domestically as "Nature Coexistence Area" [§51].

Invasive alien species have risen at an average of 16% per year, from 894 species in 2009 to 2,653 in 2021 [§83]. On pollution, the NBSAP reports Korea as the twelfth-largest plastic-waste generator globally (4.5 million metric tons), ranked 26th in fertilizer use per cropland area (281 kg/ha; World Bank, 2021) and 10th in pesticide use (10 kg/ha; FAO, 2022) [§92]. Eco-friendly farm numbers fell from 59,249 to 50,722 and eco-friendly agricultural area from 81,827 ha to 70,127 ha; the total nearshore catch fell from 1.09 million metric tons in 2021 to 887,000 metric tons in 2022 [§112].

Urban forest area per capita is 11.48 m² nationally, below the comparator range for major world cities; the Seoul Metropolitan Area sits below the World Health Organization guideline of 9 m² [§135]. A national survey reports that 87% of respondents were aware of the terms "biodiversity" and "biological resources" but only 10% knew the exact meaning of biodiversity; awareness of the CBD was 46.7%, against 75.2% for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change [§11].

Sources:

• §11 — 2.1 National biodiversity status
• §51 — Target 3 > Current status and needs
• §62 — Target 4 > Current status and needs
• §83 — Target 6 > Current status and needs
• §92 — Target 7 > Current status and needs
• §112 — Target 9 > Current status and needs
• §122 — Target 10 > Current status and needs
• §135 — Target 11 > Current status and needs

3. National Commitments and GBF Alignment

The NBSAP's 2050 vision is "to build a sustainable society where people live in harmony with nature and share its benefits equitably," supported by four 2050 goals covering ecosystem, species and genetic diversity maintenance; public access to nature's benefits; benefit-sharing through use of genetic resources; and means of implementation [§25]. Below, the 21 national commitments are grouped by the NBSAP's three clusters.

Reducing threats to biodiversity (Commitments 1–8)

Commitment 1 — Spatial planning (GBF Target 1). Korea commits to aligning national territorial plans with environmental conservation plans, incorporating spatial environmental data into plans that restore key spatial ecological axes from 2024, and introducing a Korean Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) by 2026 with downstream Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) guidelines the same year [§33, §36]. Key instruments: National Environmental Zoning Map, Ecosystem and Nature Map, Marine Ecology Map, biotope maps. Directional aspiration — the outcome metric for halting loss of biologically important areas is not quantified; the 2026 RLE and TNFD guidelines are outputs.

Commitment 2 — Ecosystem restoration (GBF Target 2). Commits to identifying degraded ecosystems by 2027 and placing 30% of priority restoration areas under restoration by 2030, restoring 2,750 ha of forests and the Baekdudaegan Ecological Axis at 22 locations under the first Master Plan for Forest Restoration (2020–2029), restoring 10 km² of tidal flats and 105 km² of vegetation areas by 2030, and generating Korean Credit Unit (KCU) carbon offsets from ecological restoration [§39, §46, §47]. Measurable commitment.

Commitment 3 — Protected areas and OECMs (GBF Target 3). Commits to 30% terrestrial and marine/coastal coverage by 2030 through protected areas and OECMs, with PAME (Protected Area Management Effectiveness) assessment expanded to all protected areas and OECM legislative definition from 2024 [§50, §54]. Instruments: Korea Database on Protected Areas (KDPA); payments for ecosystem services (PES) scheme modified by 2025 with weighting for protected-area residents. Measurable commitment (headline), with large gap between 1.8% marine baseline and target.

Commitment 4 — Species recovery and genetic diversity (GBF Target 4). Commits to maintaining genetic diversity at 95%, increasing recovery target species to 70 by 2030, and developing a human-wildlife conflict (HWC) index [§59, §65, §69]. Instruments: National Marine Species Recovery Center, Otter Conservation Center, bear sanctuary (with the bear-farming ban from 2026), revisions to the Wildlife Protection and Management Act. Headline indicators include the Red List Index and a domestic index using effective population size >500. Measurable commitment.

Commitment 5 — Wildlife quarantine and control (GBF Target 5). Commits to reducing illegal wildlife trade and preventing zoonotic outbreaks through the wildlife quarantine system commencing May 2024, the Korea Zoological Information Management System (K-ZIMS) by 2025, and a whitelist of animal species allowed for import developed in phases by 2025 [§71, §75, §76, §78]. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) implementation sits under Commitment 19. Directional aspiration — illegal-trade reduction is not quantified; the approach reframes GBF 5 around zoonotic safety and supply-chain whitelisting rather than sustainable harvest levels.

Commitment 6 — Invasive alien species (GBF Target 6). Commits to reducing the establishment rate of invasive alien species by 50% by 2030, expanding the alert species list from 700 (2023) to 1,000 (2025), and extending surveys to islands beginning with Jeju and Ulleungdo [§81, §84, §87]. Measurable commitment.

Commitment 7 — Pollution reduction (GBF Target 7). Household plastic waste to fall from 4.8 million metric tons/year (2021) to 3.5 mt/year by 2030; marine plastic waste from 67,000 mt/year to 27,000 mt/year by 2030 [§90, §96]. Fertiliser and pesticide use is framed as "encourage moderate use" without a percentage threshold. The fourth Comprehensive Plan on Non-Point Pollutants Management (2026–2030) is to be developed in 2025, with stricter total nitrogen (T-N) discharge limits considered in 2026 [§97]. Measurable commitment for plastics; directional on agrochemicals (the NBSAP does not set a percentage pesticide-risk reduction comparable to GBF 7's 50%).

Commitment 8 — Climate change and ocean acidification (GBF Target 8). Commits to cutting 26.7 million metric tons CO₂ via nature-based solutions (NbS), maintaining ocean carbon absorption at 1.06 million metric tons by 2030 to meet the nationally determined contribution (NDC) target, expanding the Riverine Ecobelt from 29.66 km² (2020) to 83.75 km² (2030) and annual afforestation of 20,000 ha [§99, §102]. Measurable commitment.

Sustainable use and benefit-sharing (Commitments 9–13)

Commitment 9 — Sustainable agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture (GBF Targets 9 and 10). The Total Allowable Catch (TAC) scheme to cover 60% of nearshore catch by 2027–2028 (up from 27% in 2021), and the Korea Forest Certification Council forest-management scheme to reach 762,000 ha by 2028 (from 725,000 ha in 2023) with Chain of Custody certification incorporated into corporate ESG assessments [§116, §118]. Measurable commitment.

Commitment 10 — Ecosystem services (GBF Target 11). Commits to publishing a national ecosystem-services assessment every five years from 2025, designating 20 Ecosystem Service Promotion Zones by 2030, and applying low-impact development (LID) techniques for urban NbS [§120, §123, §124]. Directional aspiration — headline outcome for "maintain or enhance nature's benefits" is not quantified.

Commitment 11 — Urban biodiversity (GBF Target 12). Accessible urban forests to expand from 54,354 ha (2020) to 70,700 ha (2027); Climate-Resilient Urban Forests from 207 (2021) to 1,200 (2027); the 3-30-300 rule applied to each local government, backed by a 2024 Biodiversity Act amendment setting quantitative green/blue targets in Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (LBSAPs) [§129, §136, §138]. Measurable commitment.

Commitment 12 — Benefit-sharing from genetic resources and DSI (GBF Target 13). Commits to upgrading the benefit-sharing mechanism by 2028, publishing a Handbook on ABS of Genetic Resources (2024) and Guideline on Access and Compliance Reporting (2025), connecting the Access and Benefit-Sharing Clearing-House (ABSCH) to the National Biodiversity Clearing-House (CBD-CHM Korea) by 2026, and operating a legal support network in 10 countries outside Korea [§142, §146, §149, §150]. The DSI track is sequenced alongside the BBNJ Treaty, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), the World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework (PIPF) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties [§147]. Directional aspiration — benefit-sharing outcomes are process-based rather than quantified.

Implementation and mainstreaming tools (Commitments 13–21)

Commitment 13 — Natural capital accounting (GBF Target 14). Commits to standardising a national natural capital accounting framework through a five-stage sequence (ecosystem scale, health, service values by type, service values by cost, monetisation), piloting Ecosystem Accounting within the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) in 2028 with reference to the EU Ecosystem Accounting system [§151, §154, §155]. Directional aspiration.

Commitment 14 — Biodiversity and ESG management (GBF Target 15). Commits to TNFD standard guidelines for each industry classification (10 sectors, 34 classifications) by 2025, revision of the Green Taxonomy of the ROK in 2024, the Biz N Biodiversity Platform (BNBP) pilot, and raising the share of companies disclosing natural-capital information from 30% (2027) to 50% (2030) [§157, §162, §163]. Measurable commitment.

Commitment 15 — Sustainable consumption (GBF Target 16). RFID-based food-waste management in apartment buildings to rise from 45% (2022) to 60% of local governments (2027); mandatory public green procurement from KRW 4.45 tn (2020) to KRW 6.44 tn (2025) [§166, §172, §174]. Measurable commitment.

Commitment 16 — Biosafety (GBF Target 17). Living Modified Organisms (LMO) natural-environment monitoring sites to expand to 1,200 by 2026, biosafety awareness trainings from 87 (2023) to 150 (2027), ratification discussion of the Nagoya–Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol in 2026 [§177, §180, §181, §184]. Measurable commitment on monitoring and training; directional on protocol ratification.

Commitment 17 — Harmful subsidies (GBF Target 18). Commits to identifying harmful subsidies by 2025, establishing a roadmap in 2026, and gradually reducing them from 2026; expanding protection and management agreements on temple forests and other high-conservation-value private forests from 3 (2022) to 6 (2027) [§186, §191, §192]. Directional aspiration — neither a KRW reduction value nor a percentage target is set.

Commitment 18 — Domestic finance mobilisation (GBF Target 19(b)–(g)). Commits to a study from 2025 to design measures mobilising financial resources for the NBSAP, with green bonds a priority instrument (2024 research on a Green Taxonomy loan plan, pilot loan project with the financial industry) [§193, §196, §197]. Interim commitment — the NBSAP states "there is no national finance plan related to biodiversity in place yet" [§195].

Commitment 19 — International contributions (GBF Targets 19(a) and 20). Commits to bolstering green ODA "to match the average OECD level" — currently 19.6% against an OECD average of 28.1% — through two models: a package-type model (industry-entry) and a strategic-type model (GBF capacity-building), and expanding joint research partners from 11 (2023) to 15 (2030) [§199, §203, §204, §206]. Directional aspiration on OECD convergence (no Korean deadline); quantified on partner-country expansion.

Commitment 20 — Capacity, research and implementation management (GBF Target 21). Biotechnology level to rise from 77.9% (2020) to 85% (2030); mass-propagation species from 13 (2023) to 174 (2030); NBSAP feedback system bolstered from 2024 with annual ministerial assessments and biennial ministry-level action plans [§210, §216, §221, §222]. Measurable commitment on biomaterials; directional on implementation management.

Commitment 21 — Stakeholder participation and LBSAPs (GBF Targets 22 and 23). Commits to 2024 guidelines to ensure the participation of women, youth and persons with disabilities in NBSAP formulation and implementation, with "more than a certain percentage" recommended in meeting bodies; 2024 Biodiversity Act amendment creating a legal obligation for metropolitan local governments to develop LBSAPs [§223, §226, §229]. Directional aspiration — the representation percentage is not published.

Sources:

• §25, §26, §27 — 2050 Vision, 2030 national targets and key quantitative commitments
• §33, §36, §39, §47, §50, §54, §59, §65, §69 — Commitments 1–4
• §71, §75, §76, §78, §81, §84, §87, §90, §96, §97, §99, §102 — Commitments 5–8
• §107, §116, §118, §120, §123, §124, §129, §136, §138, §142, §146, §147, §149, §150 — Commitments 9–12
• §151, §154, §155, §157, §162, §163, §166, §172, §174, §177, §180, §181, §184, §186, §191, §192 — Commitments 13–17
• §193, §195, §196, §197, §199, §203, §204, §206, §210, §216, §221, §222, §223, §226, §229 — Commitments 18–21

4. Delivery Architecture

Legislation and institutions. The plan rests on the Act on the Conservation and Use of Biological Diversity (Biodiversity Act, 2012), which the NBSAP commits to amending in 2024 to: specify the roles of the National Biodiversity Center in collecting, verifying and disclosing biodiversity statistics and preparing national reports; create a legal obligation for metropolitan local governments to develop LBSAPs; and set quantitative green/blue-space targets in LBSAPs under the 3-30-300 rule [§138, §216, §229]. Related legislation includes the Natural Environment Conservation Act (January 2022 amendment on restoration), the Wildlife Protection and Management Act, the Transboundary Movement of Living Modified Organisms Act, the Forest Resources Creation and Management Act (to be revised from 2024 for public-private partnerships), and the Framework Act on National Heritage (from May 2024) [§44, §69, §105, §117, §181].

Spatial information stack. Four interlocking spatial instruments anchor planning: the National Environmental Zoning Map (usage guideline in 2024, annual ecological data updates to 2027, 10 new habitat-value indicators by 2027 incorporating RLE criteria), the Ecosystem and Nature Map (upgraded with drones and citizen-scientist surveys), the Marine Ecology Map (three-level classification expanded), and biotope maps (institutionally enabled from 2025) [§34, §37]. A Support Center for Integrated Management of National Territorial and Environmental Planning provides a dedicated consulting desk [§35].

Conservation and species programmes. Flagship restoration is delivered through the Master Plan for Forest Restoration (2020–2029), the Master Plan for the Management and Ecological Restoration of Tidal Flats and Adjacent Areas, the Janghang National Wetland Restoration Project (from 2024, pilot for Ecosystem Service Promotion Zones from 2025), and restoration of former military bases and abandoned mines [§43, §44]. Species infrastructure includes the National Marine Species Recovery Center, the Otter Conservation Center, the bear sanctuary (preparing for the 2026 ban on bear farming), the Korea Zoological Information Management System (K-ZIMS) by 2025, and the third edition of the Master Plan for the Management of Wildlife Diseases (2026–2030) [§64, §70, §76]. Supply-chain controls run through the Wildlife Integrated Management System (from December 2023), the import whitelist (phased to 2025) and the timber legality assurance system (expanded to wood pulp and boards from May 2025) [§78, §80].

Climate and urban instruments. The Climate-Resilient Urban Forests programme and wind path forests (circulating clean air in urban areas) are expanded alongside the Riverine Ecobelt multi-function zone (carbon, water purification, disaster prevention), Blue Carbon-Based Climate-Adaptive Coastal Infrastructure technology (2022–2026), and a national standard ecosystem observation network (2024–2028) [§102, §103, §105, §136]. Urban delivery is complemented by rooftop and wall greening (public buildings 2027–2029, private from 2030) via the Ecosystem Conservation Fund, and eco-friendly, water-friendly-city pilots around national rivers [§136, §137].

Market mechanisms. Korea's portfolio combines PES schemes weighted for protected-area residents (from 2025); Korean Credit Unit (KCU) recognition of ecological restoration as domestic carbon offsets (local governments and public bodies from 2025, private projects from 2026); Eco-Label certification (biomass-plastic content criterion rising from 40% in 2022 to 100% by 2050); deposit-refund for fishing gear (from 2024); and mandatory public green procurement rising to KRW 6.44 tn in 2025 [§47, §57, §165, §172].

Subnational arrangements. Only 12 of 17 metropolitan local governments had established an LBSAP since 2014. The 2024 Biodiversity Act amendment obligates LBSAPs; standardised Guidelines for Developing the LBSAP, annual workshops, and local-government cooperation networks meeting at least twice a year are to align subnational plans with the NBSAP from 2024, with monitoring published via CBD-CHM Korea from 2025 [§229, §230].

Sources:

• §34, §35, §37 — Spatial planning instruments
• §43, §44, §47, §57 — Restoration and market mechanisms
• §64, §70, §76, §78, §80 — Species and supply-chain instruments
• §102, §103, §105, §136, §137 — Climate and urban delivery
• §117, §138, §165, §172, §181, §216, §229, §230 — Legislation and subnational architecture

4a. A 10-year cycle and a whole-of-government scaffold

Korea is lengthening its NBSAP formulation cycle from five to ten years to align with the global CBD/GBF review cycle, with headline GBF indicators used as performance indicators of the NBSAP and the contribution of each goal to global goals assessed using scientific statistics [§234]. This is an unusual structural choice: most Parties retain the five-year domestic cycle.

The delivery scaffold runs through every commitment. The NBSAP was developed by a two-tier architecture — a Working Group of working-level officials from relevant ministries, experts and civil society organisations (sessions in March, April and June 2023) and an NBSAP Development Committee of senior officials constituted under Article 3, Paragraph 5 of the Enforcement Decree of the Biodiversity Act (sessions in March, June and November 2023) [§6]. Section VII of the plan sets out responsible ministries for each of the 21 commitments and their constituent tasks, with the Ministry of Environment as lead or co-lead for all biodiversity-specific tasks. Certain cross-cutting tasks — incorporating biodiversity into national policies and accounting, enhancing implementation of international agreements, NBSAP monitoring, and biodiversity awareness and education — are assigned to "All" ministries, bringing the Ministries of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Oceans and Fisheries, Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Science and ICT, Trade, Industry and Energy, Health and Welfare, Foreign Affairs, Economy and Finance, National Defense, alongside the Korea Forest Service, Cultural Heritage Administration, Rural Development Administration, Korea Customs Service and Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency into the plan's scope [§237].

The National Biodiversity Center is to be formalised through the 2024 Biodiversity Act amendment, with statutory roles in collecting, verifying and disclosing biodiversity statistics, preparing national reports, and supporting LBSAP establishment. The CBD-CHM Korea national clearing house (www.kbr.go.kr) is the disclosure channel for domestic and international reporting from 2024, supported by regular forums reviewing each strategic goal [§216].

4b. Corporate disclosure stack: TNFD, Green Taxonomy, RLE and BNBP

Corporate nature-related disclosure is woven through five commitments. The stack combines a national ecosystems classification, industry-specific disclosure guidance, a finance taxonomy, a platform for piloting reports, and a quantified uptake target.

At its base is the Korean version of the Red List of Ecosystems (RLE), to be introduced by 2026 as a global-standard methodology for ecosystem health and risk, with conservation approaches incorporating RLE results trialled in public development projects from the same year [§36]. Above that, by 2025, Korea commits to TNFD standard guidelines for each industry classification based on the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures' recommendations (10 sectors, 34 industry classifications) [§162]. The Green Taxonomy of the ROK is to be revised by 2024 to include biodiversity-protection economic activities, with extra points in the criteria for designating green companies from 2026 and dedicated ESG guidelines for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and middle market enterprises (MMEs) by 2025 [§163].

The Biz N Biodiversity Platform (BNBP) serves as the memorandum-of-understanding vehicle for piloting disclosure reports with companies and TNFD members, operating in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KOCHAM) through a Taskforce on the Promotion of Natural Capital Disclosures from 2024 [§162]. The stack is calibrated to a measurable trajectory: the share of companies disclosing natural-capital information rises from 30% in 2027 to 50% in 2030 [§162]. Green-bond issuance and pilot loans for Green Taxonomy–aligned projects (research in 2024) complete the finance interface [§197].

5. Monitoring and Accountability

Indicator framework. The fifth NBSAP sets out a table of headline and complementary indicators mapped to each of the 21 commitments, distinguishing CBD-developed methodologies from Korean methodologies and flagging indicators as Developed (○), In development (△) or To be developed (X) [§28]. Indicators recorded as developed under Korean methodology include the Red List Index (Commitment 4), number of species under propagation and restoration (Commitment 4), number of alien species under management (Commitment 6), carbon absorbed and stored through NbS (Commitment 8), proportion of agricultural area under eco-friendly practices (Commitment 9), progress towards sustainable forest management (Commitment 9), and food-waste and household-waste metrics (Commitment 15). A substantial set of CBD-standard headline indicators — including the Red List of Ecosystems, extent of natural ecosystems, percentage of land and seas covered by biodiversity-inclusive spatial plans, domestic public funding for biodiversity, private funding for biodiversity, and the indicator on positive incentives reform — are flagged "To be developed" or "In development by the CBD" [§28].

Reporting cycle and feedback. From 2024, the NBSAP feedback system covers development, implementation, monitoring, assessment, reporting and revision. Annual implementation assessments are conducted by ministerial consultative bodies, experts and civil society, with biennial ministry-level action plans reflecting assessment results [§216]. The NBSAP acknowledges that "overall improvement of the procedure for monitoring progress is needed, including comprehensive monitoring on implementation, indicator-based assessment, and the disclosure of implementation results rather than simple aggregation" [§215].

Protected Area Management Effectiveness (PAME). A PAME assessment and feedback system is established from 2024 based on trial assessments of inland wetland protected areas and ecosystem and landscape conservation areas conducted in 2022–2023, with PAME coverage extended to all protected areas and legal basis for regular assessments. OECM identification and management is institutionalised from 2024 through legislative revisions defining OECMs and the process to identify, list, manage and assess them [§54, §55].

Stakeholder participation in monitoring. The plan commits to 2024 guidelines ensuring the participation of women, youth and persons with disabilities in formulation and implementation, with recommended representation percentages in meeting bodies; from 2027, stakeholder opinions will be collected to evaluate and supplement implementation [§226]. The NBSAP does not separately name indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) as a category in the Korean context; the framing is women, youth, persons with disabilities and "local communities." A complementary indicator tracks the representation percentage of these groups in NBSAP meeting bodies [§224]. The NBSAP references that only 10% of Koreans clearly understand the meaning of biodiversity and frames awareness-raising as a consequent priority [§215].

Sources:

• §28 — Indicator table and status flags
• §54, §55 — PAME and OECM management
• §215, §216 — Implementation monitoring and National Biodiversity Center
• §224, §226 — Participation indicators and marginalised-group guidelines
• §234 — 10-year cycle alignment

6. Finance and Resource Mobilisation

The fifth NBSAP structures finance around three commitments: Commitment 17 phases out harmful subsidies (GBF Target 18), Commitment 18 mobilises domestic resources (GBF Target 19(b)–(g)) and Commitment 19 expands international contributions (GBF Targets 19(a) and 20) [§26].

Domestic baseline. The 2020 Environmental Protection Expenditure Account estimates Korean biodiversity expenditure at KRW 1.85 trillion per year. The NBSAP states that "there is no national finance plan related to biodiversity in place yet" [§195]. From 2025, the Ministry of Environment is to conduct a study on measures to mobilise financial resources for the NBSAP, reviewing national flows, financing needs, fund-raising plans and contributions to developing countries [§196].

Innovative instruments. Green bonds are identified as a priority instrument: research in 2024 on a loan plan for the Green Taxonomy of the ROK, with a pilot loan project carried out in collaboration with the financial industry [§197]. Korean Credit Unit (KCU) recognition of ecological restoration as a domestic carbon offset operationalises a climate-finance link — local governments and public organisations in 2025, private-sector projects from 2026 [§47]. Research on biodiversity-related financing schemes covers France's green-budgeting system as an international reference [§198].

Harmful subsidies. The 2020 Paulson Institute study puts global subsidies harmful to biodiversity (excluding fossil fuels) at US$273.9–542 billion per year [§188]. Korea commits to defining harmful subsidies and developing sector-specific classification schemes in 2024; identifying harmful subsidies among central-government transfers in 2025; convening a pan-governmental consultative body from 2025 across agriculture, fisheries, transportation and energy; and establishing a roadmap in 2026 covering phase-out, conversion to eco-friendly subsidies, and implementation measures [§189, §191].

International contributions and ODA. The same Paulson Institute study frames the global gap: biodiversity financing needs of US$722–967 billion per year against current financing of US$124–143 billion, a shortfall of approximately US$700 billion per year, with the GBF aiming to mobilise at least US$200 billion per year [§195]. Natural-infrastructure flows are estimated to have potential to rise from US$26.9 billion per year (2019) to US$104.7–138.6 billion per year by 2030 [§197].

Korea's green ODA share was 19.6% against the OECD average of 28.1%, and bilateral ODA projects in biodiversity "recorded a mere 4.7%" (OECD 2021 data) [§203]. Rio-Marker reported sizes of green ODA (2020–2021) were US$138.4 million for biodiversity, US$111.5 million for desertification prevention, US$58.8 million for climate-change mitigation, US$578.7 million for adaptation, and US$188.9 million for combined mitigation and adaptation [§203]. Korea structures its green ODA around two models:

• Package-type: restoration of desertified areas (Mongolia, Oman), the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystem (SAFE) Project in Cambodia and Vietnam, 3D ecosystem-management databases (Thailand, Vietnam), an ASEAN mangrove ecological information-sharing system (Thailand, Malaysia), and wetland conservation in East Asia (Bhutan, Myanmar).
• Strategic-type: species list and habitat identification in Ecuador, biodiversity exhibitions and education centres in Mekong River Basin countries, endangered-species conservation training in Kyrgyzstan, and GBF implementation capacity-building in Indonesia [§204].

Joint research with biodiversity-rich developing countries is to expand from 11 partners (2023) to 15 (2030), aiming for 20 joint patents in areas including hair-loss inhibition, anti-obesity, anti-arthritis, wrinkle improvement and eco-friendly pesticides [§206]. The plan frames further international contributions as matching "the country's global standing" [§235].

Positive incentives. PES unit prices rise for protected-area residents from 2025; direct payments for eco-friendly agriculture and fisheries expand from 2025; protection and management agreements on temple forests and other high-conservation-value private forests increase from 3 (2022) to 6 (2027); mandatory public green procurement rises to KRW 6.44 tn by 2025 [§172, §192].

Sources:

• §47, §57 — KCU carbon offsets and PES
• §172, §188, §189, §191, §192 — Harmful subsidies architecture and positive incentives
• §193, §195, §196, §197, §198 — Domestic finance
• §200, §203, §204, §206, §235 — International contributions and ODA

7. GBF Target Coverage

GBF Target 1 — Spatial planning. Addressed. National Commitment 1 aligns territorial and environmental conservation plans from 2024, with biotope maps enabled in development planning from 2025, a National Environmental Zoning Map usage guideline in 2024, and the Korean Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) introduced by 2026 [§33–§37]. Directional on the outcome metric.

GBF Target 2 — Ecosystem restoration. Addressed. Commitment 2 places 30% of priority restoration areas under restoration by 2030, restores 2,750 ha of forests and 22 Baekdudaegan locations under the 2020–2029 Master Plan for Forest Restoration, and 10 km² of tidal flats and 105 km² of vegetation by 2030. Distinctively, ecological restoration is recognised as a Korean Credit Unit (KCU) carbon offset — local governments from 2025, private projects from 2026 — coupling the target to climate finance.

GBF Target 3 — Protected areas (30×30). Addressed. Commitment 3 covers 30% of terrestrial and marine/coastal areas by 2030 via protected areas and OECMs (translated domestically as "Nature Coexistence Area"), with a 1.8% marine baseline flagged. PAME is extended to all protected areas and OECM legislative definition from 2024; PES modified for protected-area residents by 2025.

GBF Target 4 — Species recovery. Addressed. Commitment 4 maintains genetic diversity at 95%, raises recovery target species to 70 by 2030, uses effective population size >500 as a headline indicator, and introduces a human-wildlife conflict (HWC) index. Infrastructure includes the National Marine Species Recovery Center and a bear sanctuary ahead of the 2026 bear-farming ban.

GBF Target 5 — Sustainable harvest. Addressed. Commitment 5 is framed around wildlife quarantine and zoonotic safety rather than sustainable harvest levels. The wildlife quarantine system commenced in May 2024; K-ZIMS is to be developed by 2025; a whitelist of animal species allowed for import is phased to 2025; the Wildlife Integrated Management System tracks trade from import through distribution. CITES implementation sits under Commitment 19.

GBF Target 6 — Invasive alien species. Addressed. Commitment 6 reduces the establishment rate of invasive alien species by 50% by 2030, expanding the alert list from 700 (2023) to 1,000 (2025), using population genetic analysis for pathway identification (2021–2025) and extending surveys to islands (Jeju, Ulleungdo). A fact-finding survey on utilising ecosystem-disturbing species after removal runs from 2024.

GBF Target 7 — Pollution reduction. Addressed. Commitment 7 sets quantified pathways for household plastic waste (4.8→3.5 million metric tons/year) and marine plastic waste (67,000→27,000 metric tons/year) by 2030, with the fourth Comprehensive Plan on Non-Point Pollutants Management (2026–2030) prepared in 2025 and total nitrogen (T-N) limits considered in 2026. Pesticide and fertiliser framing is "encourage moderate use" without a percentage reduction comparable to GBF Target 7's 50%.

GBF Target 8 — Climate and biodiversity. Addressed. Commitment 8 commits to cutting 26.7 million metric tons CO₂ via NbS, maintaining ocean carbon absorption at 1.06 million metric tons by 2030 to meet the NDC, expanding the Riverine Ecobelt from 29.66 km² to 83.75 km² (2030) and afforestation of 20,000 ha/year. Ocean acidification research (2022–2026) continues.

GBF Target 9 — Wild species use. Mentioned. Commitment 9 covers sustainable agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, with wild-species supply-chain actions under Commitment 5. The headline indicator "Benefits from the sustainable use of wild species" is listed but methodology is flagged to be developed. No standalone treatment of traditional or subsistence use of wild species is provided [§71, §107].

GBF Target 10 — Agriculture and forestry. Addressed. Commitment 9 mapping to GBF Target 10 sets the Total Allowable Catch to cover 60% of nearshore catch by 2027–2028, raises Korea Forest Certification Council forest-management area from 725,000 ha (2023) to 762,000 ha (2028), and incentivises Chain of Custody certification via corporate ESG assessments. Eco-friendly fishery product certification categories consolidate from four to three in 2024.

GBF Target 11 — Ecosystem services. Addressed. Commitment 10 establishes national ecosystem-service assessment (reports every five years from 2025), designates 20 Ecosystem Service Promotion Zones by 2030, and deploys low-impact development (LID) techniques — bioretention, green roofs, tree box filters, bioswales, permeable paving — for urban NbS.

GBF Target 12 — Urban biodiversity. Addressed. Commitment 11 expands accessible urban forests from 54,354 ha (2020) to 70,700 ha (2027), Climate-Resilient Urban Forests from 207 to 1,200 (2027), and applies the 3-30-300 rule to each local government: at least 3 well-maintained trees visible from houses, urban tree canopy covering at least 30% of city land, and public green space within 300 m. The 2024 Biodiversity Act amendment sets quantitative green/blue targets in LBSAPs.

GBF Target 13 — Genetic resources / ABS. Addressed. Commitment 12 upgrades the benefit-sharing mechanism by 2028, publishes a Handbook on ABS of Genetic Resources (2024) and Guideline on Access and Compliance Reporting (2025), and connects the ABSCH to CBD-CHM Korea by 2026. Digital Sequence Information (DSI) work is sequenced alongside the BBNJ Treaty, ITPGRFA, WHO PIPF and WIPO treaties, supported by a legal support network in 10 countries.

GBF Target 14 — Mainstreaming. Addressed. Commitment 13 develops a national natural capital accounting framework through a five-stage sequence, with a 2025 taskforce launch and a 2028 pilot of Ecosystem Accounting within the SEEA referencing the EU system. Statutory-plan alignment tools are developed by 2025 and applied from 2026 across all ministries.

GBF Target 15 — Business disclosure. Addressed. Commitment 14 develops TNFD standard guidelines by 2025 across 10 sectors and 34 industry classifications, revises the Green Taxonomy of the ROK in 2024, pilots disclosures through the Biz N Biodiversity Platform (BNBP) with IUCN and KOCHAM, and raises the share of companies disclosing natural-capital information from 30% (2027) to 50% (2030).

GBF Target 16 — Sustainable consumption. Addressed. Commitment 15 raises RFID-based food-waste management uptake in apartment buildings from 45% (2022) to 60% of local governments (2027), with an online management system for large-volume food-waste producers (built 2024, piloted 2025, legally operated from 2026). Mandatory public green procurement rises to KRW 6.44 tn by 2025. The NBSAP frames this against Korea's ecological footprint at 3.9× biocapacity.

GBF Target 17 — Biosafety. Addressed. Commitment 16 distributes LMO responsibility across seven ministries by use-case, expands LMO natural-environment monitoring sites to 1,200 by 2026, raises biosafety awareness trainings from 87 (2023) to 150 (2027), and schedules a 2026 decision on ratification of the Nagoya–Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress. An LMO clearing house at MOF is to be established in 2026.

GBF Target 18 — Harmful subsidies. Addressed. Commitment 17 sequences harmful-subsidy reform: define and classify in 2024, identify central-government subsidies in 2025, convene a pan-governmental consultative body from 2025, establish a roadmap in 2026, reduce from 2026. Positive-incentive expansion includes PES unit-price uplift for protected-area residents and agreements on high-conservation-value private forests rising from 3 (2022) to 6 (2027). Directional — no KRW or percentage threshold for subsidy reduction.

GBF Target 19 — Finance mobilisation. Addressed. Commitments 18 and 19 split domestic and international finance. Commitment 18 is an interim commitment (Korea states no national finance plan exists; a study runs from 2025), supported by green-bond research (2024) and KCU carbon-credit recognition. Commitment 19 targets OECD-average green ODA (19.6%→28.1%) through package- and strategic-type models with a named country-project matrix, and expands joint research partners from 11 (2023) to 15 (2030).

GBF Target 20 — Capacity and technology. Addressed. Commitment 20 raises biotechnology level from 77.9% (2020) to 85% (2030), mass-propagation species from 13 (2023) to 174 (2030) and materials secured from 15,000 to 400,000 over the same period, anchored by a tentatively named R&D Support Center for Essential Materials for the Bio Industry. International cooperation under Commitment 19 links to GBIF, the IUCN Green List, the MOU with the CBD Secretariat, AFoCO, the Tripartite Policy Dialogue (Korea-China-Japan) and EAAFP.

GBF Target 21 — Data and information. Addressed. Commitment 20 bolsters the feedback system from 2024, formalises the National Biodiversity Center via the 2024 Biodiversity Act amendment, and publishes implementation progress through CBD-CHM Korea (www.kbr.go.kr). The citizen-science backbone runs through the Korea Biodiversity Observation Network (K-BON), 500 natural environment survey points in 2025, 200 citizen-science survey sites, coral schools, tidal-flat ecology guides, and a street-tree map platform.

GBF Target 22 — Inclusive participation. Addressed. Commitment 21 develops 2024 guidelines on participation of women, youth and persons with disabilities, with recommended representation percentages in meeting bodies and evaluation from 2027. Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) are not separately named as a category; framing is women, youth, persons with disabilities and "local communities." Subnational participation is delivered through the LBSAP legal obligation (2024 Biodiversity Act amendment) and local-government cooperation networks from 2024.

GBF Target 23 — Gender equality. Addressed. Gender equality is framed as participation and representation rather than sector-by-sector gender-responsive design. Section VI commits to strengthening women's rights and achieving gender equality in NBSAP formulation and implementation, paired with intergenerational equality through youth participation. No gender-disaggregated sectoral targets or dedicated gender action plan are set out in the NBSAP; a single complementary indicator tracks women, youth and persons with disabilities collectively in meeting bodies.