Sustainable Island Communities and Fishing Villages in South Korea: Challenges, Opportunities and Limitations

Island communities and fishing villages in South Korea have been affected by changes in policy and environmental conditions. This paper presents an overview of and potential solutions to sustainability challenges confronting Korea’s island communities and fishing villages. The paper is grounded in a review of the relevant Korean and international research literature. The paper identifies the following major challenges: climate change, overexploitation of and damage to marine resources, and sociocultural challenges. The paper recommends an integrated approach to sustainable development that involves building a cooperative system with the Korea Island Development Institute, focus on ‘livable islands’, encouraging in-migration to islands, improving island accessibility, and identifying and assessing island ecosystem services. The paper concludes that it is necessary to develop an integrated approach driven by institutional, policy, technological, and sociocultural innovation.