[News Terms] Growing Interest in 'Eco Wakening' in Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] 'Eco-wakening' refers to the trend of rapidly increasing public awareness about environmental destruction.

The concept was first introduced in a research report released ahead of International Biodiversity Day on May 22, 2021, conducted jointly by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a subsidiary of the UK economic weekly The Economist.

From 2016 to 2020, WWF and EIU analyzed and studied changes in people's perceptions of nature across 54 countries and 27 language groups, covering about 80% of the global population. The results showed that mentions of environmental destruction on social media increased by approximately 65%, Google searches related to biodiversity and nature rose by about 16%, and searches for sustainable products grew by around 71%. This demonstrated that the 'eco-wakening' phenomenon, where people become more interested in nature and aware of the severity of environmental destruction, is indeed spreading.

A panoramic view of Yeongdeok Wind Power Complex, the first large-scale wind power complex in Korea. / Gyeongbuk Uljin - Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

Big data analysis results released on the 30th also show that the 'eco-wakening' phenomenon is evident in Korean society. According to a survey commissioned by WWF Korea to the data analysis firm Ars Praxia, YouTube comments containing keywords such as 'climate crisis,' 'biodiversity,' 'marine litter,' and 'eco-friendly consumption' totaled 108,324 from January 2017 to September last year.

The number of comments increased significantly from 96 in 2017, 2,657 in 2018, 4,587 in 2019, 10,088 in 2020, to 35,374 in 2021, and reached as many as 55,520 comments by the third quarter of last year. The topic of climate crisis (50,640 comments, 47%) was the most discussed, followed by marine litter (34,832 comments, 32%), biodiversity (14,950 comments, 14%), and eco-friendly consumption (7,902 comments, 7%).

Hong Yoon-hee, Secretary General of WWF Korea, appealed, "As the sense of urgency that we can no longer delay spreads in people's awareness, changes and actions from individuals, governments, and companies are all necessary."