Dear Ambassador Lee Joon-Gyu, I am writing to you today to express my deep concern over the impacts of the ongoing and massive Saemangeum reclamation on the west coast of South Korea; and the lack of adequate protection for the neighboring Geum Estuary. Research by both government and non-government organisations, including the Saemangeum Shorebird Monitoring Program (SSMP) conducted by Birds Korea and the Australasian Wader Studies Group, has confirmed that the Saemangeum area was the single most important site for migratory shorebirds in the whole of the Yellow Sea, itself a key region of the East Asian-Australasian Migratory Bird Flyway, which stretches from New Zealand in the far south to Alaska in the north. The neighboring and still threatened Geum Estuary has also been shown to meet multiple Ramsar Convention criteria for designation as a wetland of international importance (or Ramsar site). Both sites supported or still support several species of shorebirds that migrate from New Zealand to breeding grounds in the Arctic, stopping to refuel in Korea along the way. In particular the site supports internationally important concentrations of Bar-tailed Godwit, Limosa lapponica baueri, a species of particular significance and interest to the people of New Zealand. Satellite-tracking and leg-flagging by scientists has proven the connection between Korean tidal flats and Alaskan breeding grounds of this species. The SSMP in 2006 and 2007 has further shown that since the completion of the Saemangeum seawall in April 2006, much of the tidal flat area within the Saemangeum reclamation area has now dried out or become flooded, and there has already been a major decline in the number of shorebirds able to use the site. Pro-reclamation bodies claimed that shorebirds displaced by the Saemangeum Reclamation would simply relocate to Gomso Bay and the Geum Estuary. The Monitoring Program has shown that many thousands of shorebirds, including Bar-tailed Godwits, have been lost from Saemangeum since seawall closure, but they have not re-established themselves in these neighbouring wetlands. Scientific evidence indicates that overall populations of several species of migrant bird, including this species, will very likely decline due to this major loss of habitat. I would therefore respectfully urge the government of the Republic of Korea to take the great opportunity offered by the hosting of the next Ramsar Convention conference (in South Korea in October-November, 2008) to fulfill existing international obligations. To do so, tidal flow urgently needs to be maintained and increased within the Saemangeum area, and the neighboring Geum Estuary also needs to become a fully protected area under national law, and an internationally recognised Ramsar site. Such decisions made now by the government of South Korea would allow for greater time to identify ways in which to reduce the terrible international impacts of the Saemangeum reclamation – not only on migratory birds and fisheries, but also on South Korea's image overseas. With respect,