Visioning ecologically diverse and harmonious futures of Korea in Good Anthropocene

Korea's rapid economic development has positioned it as a key player in Asia's economy and globally, albeit with significant environmental and societal consequences. The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), serving as a buffer between North and South Korea, holds immense historical, cultural, and ecological value and conservation and transformation potential. This study presents visioning-based exploration of ecologically diverse and peaceful futures of the Korean peninsula with its DMZ as a potential global commons. Through a visioning workshop, stakeholders used the Nature Futures Framework and Seeds of Good Anthropocene to develop four visions that reflect diverse value and meanings of nature for sustainable and wellbeing-oriented futures. The co-developed visions emphasize the importance of harmonizing human activities with nature, envisioning the DMZ as a space for peaceful coexistence and ecological restoration. They offer citizens’ perspectives on sustainable and inclusive futures with existing initiatives as levers and inter-sectoral and inter-disciplinary collaboration as mediums. This visioning highlights the role of science-policy-society interface, diverse stakeholder engagement, integration of history and culture, and convergence of ideas across generations. This paper reflects on the lessons from this process and the implications for the future development of scenarios that can identify policy options and societal transformations to catalyse nature-positive futures in Korea and beyond.