Society background

“The benefits that plants give to humanity are enormous.”
Plants provide the food we require for our survival, the lumber we use for building houses and the materials we use to make the clothes that protect our bodies. Plants are used to produce the paper that keeps our culture alive, to save energy, to purify the polluted air and to reduce noise pollution by controlling microclimates, and to improve the physical environment such as through preventing soil loss. They provide vitality and satisfy our five senses as seasons change, giving comfort or confidence to the mentally or physically handicapped and providing a clear link as a producer between decomposers and consumers, not only for humans but also for ecosystems. All of this means that plants are valuable to us, and the problems that we will face in the coming years of the 21st century, such as problems of food, pollution, biodiversity, and quality of life, can only be addressed with plants. Since the main roles of plants have already been actively researched by other societies, the Society of People, Plants and Environment focuses on other roles that have not been paid attention to despite their importance, such as the ways in which plants affect the health and quality of life of people, and conducts studies that are helpful for our daily lives through interdisciplinary research spanning different fields including landscape architecture, horticulture, forestry, rehabilitation medicine, preventive medicine, family medicine, mental health medicine, social work, special education, pedagogy, psychology, physical education and environmental economics.

President’s message

Plants not only affect humans, but also the environment surrounding us. What would the global environment look like if there were no plants on the earth? Would it be possible for humans to survive without plants? These questions speak to the necessity of this Society. Plants, people, and the environment should co-exist and live in harmony, and the Korean Society of Plants, People and Environment was established in 1998 in order to suggest theoretical grounds and practical methods for this based on socio-humanities and scientific studies. For the international activities of the Society and its journal, the Society was renamed as the Society of People, Plants and Environment in 2017, and has made efforts to expand international exchanges and internationalize the journal. The efforts that the previous presidents and members of the Society have made over the past two decades enabled the journal to be selected as a registered journal of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), and the publication of an English edition started in 2017, enabling it to be positioned as an international journal. The Society has developed remarkably thanks to the devoted efforts of its members and board members thus far, but it is your active participation that will enable the Society to take the next leap forward. The Society will continue to strive to be a society that its members can be proud of and happy with.

Best wishes,

Yong Kweon You, PhD
President of Society for People, Plants, and Environment, 2019-2021