Leadership in conserving wetlands and the environment? The 33km long seawall dams two estuaries and the most important shorebird site in the Yellow Sea.
Dead Spoon-billed Sandpiper at Saemangeum. This species is undergoing an extremely rapid decline - believed due in large part to coastal reclamation. Image Nial Moores, Birds Korea.
The Ramsar Convention is the inter-governmental convention dedicated to the "wise use" of wetlands worldwide.
Through its well-established system of Resolutions and Sites of International Importance, the Convention provides the framework to help guide 154 of the world's nations (the Contracting Parties) towards the sustainable and equitable use of wetlands. The decisions of the Convention are endorsed every three years at its Conferences of the Parties (COPs), with the next Convention to be hosted by the government of South Korea, in the southern city of Changwon, between October 28 and November 4th 2008.
There is no doubt how the South Korean Ministry of Environment intends to use the Ramsar 2008 Conference of the Parties: "It will be a great opportunity for Korea to promote globally its wetland policies and well-preserved wetlands and to enhance the image of the country as a leader in conserving wetlands and the environment." http://eng.me.go.kr/docs/news/print_press.html?seq=345.
A simple analysis of South Korea's Ramsar record is much less flattering:
As of June 4 2007, South Korea had only designated 5 Ramsar sites nationwide, totaling a derisory 4450 hectares, out of a world total of 150,228,225 hectares of Ramsar-designated wetland.
Korea's total Ramsar site area is equivalent to little more than one tenth of the area of the Saemangeum reclamation project (40,100 ha). This ranks Korea - the world's 11th largest economy - about 132nd among contracting parties to the Ramsar Convention in terms of wetland area with Ramsar designation.
South Korea historically had 450,000 ha of tidal-flats and now has little over 200,000 ha remaining, this area is likely to be still further reduced to only 110,000 ha within the coming decade.
South Korea: a "leader" in conserving wetlands and the environment?
For the sake of Saemangeum, the Geum Estuary and the health of the Yellow Sea, act online now, or Mail your concerns to:
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Global Environment Office,
Ministry of Environment,
Government Complex Gwacheon,
1 Joongang-Dong,
Gwacheon-si Gyeonggi-do 427 729,
Republic of Korea
Tel: +82 2 2110 6560
Fax: +82 2 2110 6558
Email: julia923@me.go.kr
or Kim Hyojeong at stella@me.go.kr
restoresaemangeum.com. Working to restore Saemangeum and preserve shorebird habitat and diversity on the Yellow Sea. Contact us at info@restoresaemangeum.com
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