Reconstructing Village Groves After a Typhoon in Korea

Abstract

Resource management scholar Eunju Lee describes how Koreans’ social memory of the ecological and cultural importance of small village groves was leveraged to replant these small forested areas following years of decline and a devastating typhoon. In Korea, villagers traditionally planted ‘village groves’ (Maeul-sup) when they founded a new community, following special guidelines in Korean culture (e.g., native beliefs, Feng-shui, Confucianism) and using traditional ecological knowledge. These village groves were cooperatively owned, managed, and conserved by villagers and played an important role in villages’ social activities. Rural Koreans used to regard village groves as the symbol of their hometown and even their fate. Although many village groves have been degraded and even destroyed during the past several decades of industrialization, more than a thousand village groves remain in South Korea today providing ecosystem services to the nearby community.