National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan of DPR Korea 2007.

This National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) of DPR Korea is a cross-sectoral policy document. The long-term objectives of the national biodiversity strategy are: 1.to enhance the conservative ability of protected areas including nature reserves and to establish protected area networks; 2.to make efforts to conserve ecosystem, species and genetic resources and establish the system for sustainable use of biodiversity components. The immediate objectives are: 1. to restore degraded ecosystems, halt the deterioration of ecological environment, reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity components and improve the whole ecological environment; 2. to improve the management of nature reserves for raising the effectiveness of the system; 3. to increase bio-productivity and service function of ecosystem and establish the system for the sustainable use of bio-resources.
The NBSAP gives an outline of the status of biodiversity in DPR Korea in all aspects of ecosystem, species and genetic diversity and describes the needs and urgencies of biodiversity conservation (Chapter 1). It evaluates the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in DPR Korea from the aspects of in-situ and ex-situ conservation, sustainable use of biological resources in forestry, agriculture, fishery (Chapter 2). The NBSAP provides the strategy for biodiversity conservation in DPR Korea in the aspects of conservation, sustainable use, benefit-sharing and cross-cutting measures (Chapter 4), and includes priority projects and action plans in biodiversity conservation and sustainable use (Chapter 5). In order to establish a system for sustainable use of biodiversity components, the Document requests the following:- for forestry, to promote afforestation to restore degraded forests and halt forest destruction; and maintain the capacity of forest ecosystem to deliver goods and services and support livelihoods; - for agriculture, to conduct the conservation of soil biodiversity and agro-biodiversity to protect agricultural eco-environment; and to develop the organic farming, both indigenous and ecologically-friendly, ensuring high and stable harvest yield; - for fishery, it is necessary to give priority to the conservation of inland water and coastal area ecosystem biodiversity; and to develop the cultivating fishery and fish farming, to satisfy increasing demands on aquatic products. The NBSAP seeks to establish national nature reserve network system, comprehensive protected area networks. By 2010, the size of protected areas is increased to 8% of the territory (at present 7.2%) and a comprehensive protected area network system established in a farsighted-way with a linkage to national nature reserve network system. In addition, it requests to strengthen the conservation of threatened species, animals and plants of economic value and genetic resources. The first and foremost priority should be given to the conservation of universally threatened species and endemic plant species of single-generasingle-species, and also the conservation of medicinal herb resources for traditional medicine.