環境正義論에 관한 연구

A Study of Environmental Justice Theory

&nbsp;&nbsp;In 1999, the Ministry of Environment tried to incorporate the environmental justice doctrine into the Korean environmental law and policy by amending the Basic Environmental Policy Act. Though the Ministry&quot;s attempt to amend the Act failed, the basic assumption that the environmental policy should particulary take into account the socially and biologically inferior class is deep-trenched into the mind of the environmental officials.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;The article intends to introduce and analyze the origin and development of the environmental justice movement and the legal and institutional framework of the environmental justice doctrine in the U.S. and the debate on the merits of the environmental justice issues. It also tries to analyze the policy implication of such debate for Korea&quot;s environmental law and policy.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Though the idea of the environmental justice seems attractive, it has on the wrong factual foundation. Researchers found that there is no solid finding that the environmental decision-making was affected by the race matter. Poverty and racial equality should better be handled separately from the environmental policy.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;However, it is strongly recommended that environmental policy should be fully open to local community and the decision-makers should consider possible negative impact upon the minority community. However, if the policy-makers try to input race and other class issues into the environmental policy arena, it could bring unwanted side-effects by detracting true issues and blurring the main problem. It should be a major lesson to be learned from the experience of the U.S.