M.Sc. Ikchang Choi

Doktorand

Bis 09/2017 beim Lehrstuhl für Pflanzenökologie
e-Mail: s2ikchoi(at)stmail.uni-bayreuth.de

Trade-off between the benefit from the water quality improvement and the loss of ecosystem services under changes in land use, the Han River basin, South Korea

Ph.D. thesis supervised by Dr. Trung Thanh Nguyen and Prof. Dr. John Tenhunen

My study seeks to evaluate the willingness to pay (WTP) for water quality (including ecosystem services) improved by land use changes in the Han River Basin of South Korea.

The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), as one of the most important non-market valuation methods, is used to elicit WTP with water users (individual households).

The main points of my study are as below.

1. Water policy reforms in South Korea: A historical review and ongoing challenges - Opinion on the state-of-the-art of changes and reforms of water policies in South Korea, as well as the challenges along with their implications. - Suggesting that the new water management system for the adaption to climate change, the integrated water management organization handling quantity and quality of water, the application of “provider gets principle’, and ‘full-cost pricing principle’

2. Willingness to pay for a highland agricultural restriction policy 1) to improve water quality and 2) to conserve aquatic ecosystems (e.g. endangered fish species)

- Propose of a highland agricultural restriction policy as one of the new water management initiatives

- Estimating WTP and its determinants for a highland agricultural restriction policy on water quality improvement and ecosystems conservation.