North Korea Capacity Building

Partnering with North Korea to address pressing environmental concerns

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea as it is also known, is a socialist industrial state that has developed its economy and culture through a strong emphasis on self-reliance. Over the last two decades, inadequate environmental management practices, economic stresses, natural disasters and a host of other setbacks have pushed the country towards a crisis that encompasses social, economic and environmental dimensions. Years of international isolation have eroded DPRK's technical and capital resources and limited DPRK's ability to fulfill its obligations under multilateral environmental agreements.

Following encouraging meetings with officials from DPRK's Ministry of Land and Environment protection in Pyongyang in 2004, IISD developed a project to help DPRK address pressing environmental concerns. The goals of the project were to:

  1. build government capacity to undertake strategic planning for sustainable development at the national and sub-national levels;

  2. build capacity to monitor, assess and report on environmental pressures, impacts and responses and to analyze policies and emerging issues in the context of sustainable development planning; and

  3. strengthen knowledge transfer and environmental cooperation between organizations in China, Canada and DPRK.

The project involved collaboration among IISD staff and Chinese experts that culminated in an intensive 10-day workshop in November 2005 in Beijing. Participants visited institutions in Beijing involved in China's sustainable development efforts.

This work was carried out in partnership with the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

For more information, please contact IISD Associate Graham Ashford.