Wetlands offer numerous benefits, including improving water quality, providing habitats for wildlife, and storing water. They are areas where water either covers the soil or is just below the surface for extended periods. Wetlands play a crucial role in maintaining environmental balance and ecological stability. In South Korea, the Wetlands Conservation Act was established in 1999 to protect these vital ecosystems and their biodiversity. The law defines inland wetlands as lakes, ponds, swamps, rivers, and estuaries. However, the boundaries of these areas are often unclear, creating challenges for conservation and research. This ambiguity complicates effective management and the implementation of necessary protective measures. This study utilized topographic and aerial images to gather spatial information about inland wetlands and assess their areas. It identified the boundaries of inland wetlands in South Korea, revealing a total area of 3,833.452 km2, which is 3.8% of the country’s total land area. The classified the spatial data, showing that vegetated areas cover 1,355.666 km2, or 35.4% of the total area, with woody plants covering 102.987 km2 and herbaceous plants 1,252.679 km2. Non-vegetated areas account for 2,477.786 km2, or 64.6%, with open water 2,206.615 km2, natural land 160.995 km2, artificial land 72.343 km2, and Agricultural land 37.833 km2. Clearly defining wetland boundaries is essential for effective conservation and protection. Accurate boundary definitions facilitate legal protection and help prevent damage to wetlands. The results provide quantitative data that can inform future wetland conservation planning and management. And enhance our understanding of the size and changes in South Korea’s inland wetlands, supporting their preservation and protection.

Wetland ecosystem is rapidly changing due to human activities and climate change, leading to concerns about biodiversity loss and ecosystem function degradation. Study on the flora of wetlands is essential for conservation and sustainable management. This study analyzes the plant habitats in Gochang Ungok Wetland and Gochang Incheon River Estuary to provide baseline data for wetland protection and management strategies. In Gochang Ungok Wetland, 534 taxa were identified, including endangered two, vulnerable three, and least concern six taxa by Korean red list. Two endangered species and three invasive species were confirmed. In Gochang Incheon River Estuarine Wetland, 400 taxa were identified, including one endangered and three least concern taxa by Korean Red List. Three invasive species were confirmed. The analysis shows that Gochang Ungok Wetland has a higher proportion of wetland plants and greater species diversity compared to Incheon River Estuary. Both wetlands are well-managed, but there is a need to control ornamental and crop species and manage invasive species like common ragweed and bur cucumber. Continuous monitoring and systematic management plans are required to protect valuable species and prevent ecological disturbances.

This study aims to provide foundational data for the systematic conservation and management of protected wetland areas by identifying the distribution status of ecosystem-disturbing species. The study utilized the results of the intensive survey on the protected wetland areas from 2006 to 2023. These surveys, conducted under the Wetland Conservation Act, aimed to provide baseline data for the designation, basic planning, and conservation planning of wetlands. During the study period, we surveyed to 25 protected wetland areas designated by the Ministry of Environment. Twenty-five wetlands were categorized into 13 mountain wetlands, one artificial wetland, eight riverine wetlands, and three lacus wetlands. Ecosystem-disturbing species were found in 23 of the 25 surveyed areas, with the exception of the remote mountainous wetlands of Jangdo wetland and Sumeunmulbaengdui. In mountain wetlands, 13 species were the least, and in riverine wetlands, 21 species were the most identified among the four wetland types. The wetlands with the most ecosystem-disturbing species were identified as Nakdong river estuary, Damyang riverine wetland, and Hwapocheon wetland, with 14 species identified, and only one species was identified as Moojechineup, 1100 altitude wetland, and Mulyeongari-oreum. Two species that appeared more in mountain wetlands than in riverine wetlands is Hypochaeris radicata and Rumex acetosella, and Rumex acetosella was identified in six mountain wetlands and four riverine wetlands. Hypochaeris radicata were identified in three mountain wetlands and one riverine wetland. Except for the species are distributed regionally, it was confirmed that many ecosystem-disturbing species appeared in riverine wetlands that were relatively accessible to humans. This study analyzed the distribution status of ecosystem-disturbing species in protected wetland areas in Korea by wetland type, and the results are expected to be useful for future protected wetland areas management and conservation measures.

Extreme rainfall events intensified by climate change have increased the need for accurate and spatially explicit assessments of agricultural damage. Conventional flood-inundation-based analyses primarily detect the extent of water coverage and often fail to capture cultivation-infeasible damage such as sediment burial and cropland washout. To overcome this limitation, this study directly mapped severe agricultural land damage in the Sindeungcheon basin, South Korea, following the extreme rainfall event of July 19, 2025, using 10-m Sentinel-2 Level-2A imagery acquired before (July 9) and after (August 1) the event. Damaged croplands were defined as areas where more than 50% of the field surface was covered by sediment or where notable erosion and soil exposure indicated physical loss of arable land. A random forest classifier using four multispectral bands (blue, green, red, near-infrared) achieved high performance, with an overall accuracy of 99.1% and a kappa coefficient of 0.93 based on independent field-verified samples. Of the 2,743.41 ha of agricultural land in the basin, 65.56 ha (2.39%) were classified as severely damaged. Field crops experienced the largest impact (34.92 ha, 2.79%), followed by paddy fields (25.02 ha, 2.35%). Damage exhibited a clear spatial gradient, with the highest damage ratio (3.64%) occurring within 100 m of the river, highlighting the dominance of flood-driven sediment transport. Numerous micro-scale (<0.05 ha) damage patches also indicated highly localized and heterogeneous disturbance patterns. The resulting dataset provides a detailed representation of extreme-event-induced agricultural loss and addresses the key limitations of inundation-only damage assessments by identifying actual cultivation- infeasible areas. This dataset can support economic loss estimation, post-disaster recovery planning, and spatial mitigation strategies aimed at reducing agricultural vulnerability to future extreme rainfall events.