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ABSTRACT. Countries around the world have responded to the problems associated with rapid urban growth and increasingly land-consumptive development patterns by creating a wide range of policy instruments designed to manage urban growth. Of the array of growth management techniques, urban containment policies are considered by some to be a promising approach. This paper focuses on greenbelts, the most restrictive form of urban containment policy. The long-standing greenbelt of Seoul, Republic of Korea is examined as a case study. Seoul's greenbelt has generated both significant social costs and benefits. Costs include higher land and housing prices in the urban area surrounded by the greenbelt, additional costs incurred by commuters who live beyond the greenbelt and work in Seoul, and increased congestion and related quality of life impacts. Benefits include the amenity value of living near the greenbelt, recreational resources, bequest and heritage values, fiscal savings due to increased efficiency in the provision of public services and infrastructure, and a wide range of life-supporting ecosystem services. After standing virtually unchanged for almost three decades, Korea's greenbelt policy is currently being revised and weakened, largely due to pressure from greenbelt landowners and developers. Although there is no definitive answer to the question of whether Seoul would be a more or less "sustainable city" today without the greenbelt, it is certain that in the absence of the greenbelt, Seoul would have lost much of its rich natural heritage and essential ecosystem services.

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Mangrove plays a significant role in climate change mitigation particularly in carbon absorption and minimizing the detrimental impacts of sea level rise, saltwater intrusion and tidal surges. In Bohol Province, Philippines, a small coastal island community known as Banacon is one of the successful cases in mangrove reforestation. Recognizing the site's potential for a carbon sequestration project, a biomass and carbon stock assessment of mangrove trees was done. Using standard sampling techniques and allometric equations, tree carbon storage was measured across stand ages, namely 15-, 20-and 40-year-old plantations. Mature natural stands were also included in the assessment. By estimate, the 40-year-old plantation has the largest carbon density with 370.7 ton ha 71 , followed by the 15-year-old plantation with 208.5 ton ha 71 , 20-year-old plantation with 149.5 ton ha 71 , and lastly by natural stand with 145.6 ton ha 71. Overall, Banacon mangroves are in a vigorous condition of storing vast amount of carbon. Local community and government should therefore sustain their commitment in coastal reforestation activities in order to enhance the mangrove carbon stocks. Policies and programs that can help provide incentives and livelihoods to local people who are largely dependent on mangroves should likewise be explored in order to sustainably reap the economic and ecological benefits of conserving mangrove forest.

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