1970년대 새마을운동이 산림녹화에 미친 영향 분석

(Analyzing the effect of Saemaul Undong on the Forest Rehabilitation of South Korea in the 1970s)

This study investigates how Saemaul Undong in 1970s contributed to the successful forest rehabilitation of South Korea. Based on the theoretical model explaining the relationship between deforestation and income, we conduct an empirical analysis on the driving factors of successful afforestation in South Korea, using the panel data from 1967 to 1979. Results show that afforestation with people’s participation, massive plantation for chestnut production, construction of agriculture roads for income improvement among Saemaul Undong programs had significant impacts on the success of forest rehabilitation in South Korea. In particular, the increase of farm income contributes to converting the main energy source of farm households from fuelwood to fossil-fuel. In addition, strong leadership and people’s participation made synergetic impacts on other Saemaul programs, which resulted in the achievement of national afforestation plan in a short time. This study provides important lessons that implies income improvement is a necessary condition for developing countries to resolve their deforestation problem.