| 초록 |
Examined in this article is primarily the colonial authorities' perception of forests, first as a 'capital' that would generate meaningful interests, and secondly as an 'object of management' which would ensure such outcome. Also examined are certain notions of 'preservation' and 'development' that were suggested at the time. Previous studies of Korean modern forests rather concentrated upon 'ownership' issues or seeking 'how they were exploited,' or even trying to gauge the level of modernity such forests may have been harboring. As a result, such studies tend to lack examination of the people themselves, who were the ones to perceive and use such forests. So this article focused examination upon just that, and in order to serve such purpose, this article chose to tackle upon the issue of 'sustainability' (of which such prospect would have been determined by the outcome of clashes waged between aspirations of preservation and aspirations development) from a historical point of view dealing with ecosystems and ecological environments. Prime focus of this effort would be certain suggestions (of forest development) and ideas (concerning forest preservation) which were presented by a Japanese official named Saito Otosaku(齋藤音作), who served the Joseon Government-General within the capacity of forest policies, and became famous for his accomplishments of inviting and securing forest business capital. His ideas were formed around the possibility of sustainability, and therefore should be considered as an idea worthy of environmental history, but the fact that he merely considered the colonial Joseon people -who should have been allowed to lead such preservation and greenification efforts- as only the 'recipients' of fruits of such efforts, and that he rather pursued creating interests and even the 'financialization of nature' by developing them, we can see his ideas had plenty of problems as well. It reminds us that only when compromises and balances between power and the society, or even within the locals itself or with the surrounding ecosystem, a true level of greenificaton could be achieved, not only in the past but also in the future. |
