The trends of composite environmental indices in Korea.

In this paper we construct for the first time an annual Composite Environmental Index from 1986 to 1995 in Korea, which is useful for evaluating the efficiency of environmental policies. Nine types of environmental problems are examined. On average, the composite index has increased annually by 5.3% over the 1986-1995 period, which implies that overall environmental quality has deteriorated gradually during this period. Problems such as the greenhouse effect, loss of biodiversity, natural resource depletion, and ecotoxication led to deterioration of environmental quality in the 1990s.