ABSTRACT
In the Republic of Korea (the official name of South Korea), decentralization has had significant effects on tree volume, land use and, most significantly, forest fires. Massive forest fires have caused considerable environmental damage and adversely affected the social, economic and cultural aspects of forest sustainability at both local and national levels. The central government has now strengthened arson laws and fire preparedness, prevention and suppression, and integrated incident command guidelines have been developed to ensure cooperation between the central and local governments. The central government has taken more responsibility for natural resource conservation, but in the future, systematic cooperation among the central government, local governments and communities will be required to improve natural resource management.
