From: "Myoung, Ho" MHOSR@ecoserve.kfem.or.kr
Subject: saemankeum campaign
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 18:32:50 +0900

Please take the time to respond by writing an e-mail or a letter and forward this text to as many people as you can

SAEMANKEUM: Largest ongoing reclamation project will destroy South Korea's most important shorebird and waterfowl site

The Yellow Sea is a large inlet of the western Pacific Ocean lying between the Chinese mainland on the west and north and the Korean Peninsula on the east. This region of great biodiversity and productivity is one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world.

The tidal-flats along the coasts are particularly severely endangered by reclamation. Of the current reclamation schemes, one clearly stands out as the most critical. This is the so-called SAEMANKEUM project (pronounced "Say-Man-Goom") which, at 40,100 hectares, is the world's largest ongoing reclamation. Saemankeum, centred at 35 50_N / 126 45_E, in the south-west of South Korea, near the cities of Kunsan and Cheonju, aims to landfill the estuaries of the Mankyung and Tongjin Rivers. A 33 km sea-dike is to be constructed, linking the islands off the coast with each other and with the mainland. The completion of the project would have disastrous ecological effects (see also BACKGROUND INFORMATION below).

With international support, the Korean Wetlands Alliance and allied organisations should be able to convince the South Korean government to cancel this project. How can the international community in general and you in particular help Korean people to stop the Saemankeum project?

PLEASE SEND RESPECTFUL E-MAILS (OR BETTER STILL, LETTERS) OF CONCERN TO BOTH THE MAIN PROPONENT OF THE SAEMANKEUM PROJECT, THE REGIONAL GOVERNOR, MR. YOU JONG-KEUN, AND TO THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, MR. KIM SUNG-HOON (Addresses below).

Please include the following sentences in your letters (you can use the cut/paste commands of your software):

Please suspend the Saemankeum reclamation project to allow further urgently needed research on the ecological and economic consequences of completing this project. The Saemankeum area, together with the estuaries of the Mankyung and the Tongjin Rivers, is now known to be vitally significant to sustain economically important fish stocks and other marine resources in the region (for example, by providing spawning and nursing places), and of immense global importance for migratory waterfowl.

Unless some solution can be found, whereby existing waterfowl populations and regional fishery resources can be maintained at existing levels, I would urge you to cancel the project. Although much money has already been spent on the project, the loss of the Saemankeum tidal flats to reclamation will cause much greater expense in the long term - through loss of fishery resources, increased pollution, and damage to South Korea's international image.

By cancelling this scheme, the world's largest ongoing reclamation project, Korea will win respect world-wide.

Yours sincerely,

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLEASE DO TAKE THE TIME TO RESPOND ?OUR EXPERIENCE HAS SHOWN THAT IT REALLY MAKES A DIFFERENCE! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

Addresses:

Mr. You, Jong-Keun
Governor of Chollabuk-do
#1, 4-ga, Chungang-Dong, Wansan-gu
Cheonju City, Chollabuk-do
Republic of Korea 560-761
e-mail: cbso@fiic.or.kr

Minister Kim, Sung-Hoon
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Government Complex
#1, Joongang-dong
Kwacheon-si, Kyounggi-do
Republic of Korea 422-760
e-mail: minister@maf.go.kr

Please forward your responses to the Korean Wetlands Alliance:

Korean Wetlands Alliance, KFEM
Palyongdong 192-6 2F, Changwon 641-465
Republic of Korea
e-mail: jangjy@kfem.or.kr

Letters of concern to the South Korean embassy in your country could be very helpful too. Addresses can be obtained from:

Axel Braunlich, NABU (German Society for Nature Conservation),
Brusseler Str. 46, 13353 Berlin, Germany
Tel.: ++49 (30) 453 66 92, e-mail: braunlich@ipn.de

BACKGROUND INFORMATION The Yellow Sea is situated midway on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, one of the world's great migratory bird routes, which extends from Alaska and north-east Siberia through East Asia to Australia and New Zealand. This sea is bordered by c. one million hectares of tidal flats. These are critically important to a significant percentage of the flyway's shorebirds, and to nesting endemic birds such as Saunders's Gull, (world population 5,000 ?10,000), Chinese Egret (world pop. c. 2,200), and Black-faced Spoonbill (world pop. c. 615), which are all globally endangered. The Yellow Sea also supports a huge fishing industry, and many coastal communities are dependent upon seaweed cultivation, salt production and shellfish harvesting. Research has shown that no less than two-thirds of all fish species found in Korean waters are dependent upon tidal-flats during some part of their life-cycle.

Despite this immense value, in the 1980's South Korea adopted a National Reclamation Master Plan with the objective of reclaiming 85% of all remaining tidal-flats, whilst in the mid-1990's China stated that it intended to reclaim almost 100% of its tidal-flats by 2018. A North Korean plan for 1980 to 1993 indicated that the country aimed to reclaim 300,000 hectares of coastal wetlands. With many projects completed (including a single reclamation of 50,000 hectares in the south-west of S Korea), Yellow Sea fish stocks have already been significantly depleted, and many waterfowl species appear to be in decline.

In South Korea, where approximately 290,000 hectares of tidal-flat still remain, research by the Korean Wetlands Alliance in 1998 located at least 13 coastal wetlands that supported more than 5,000 shorebirds at a time. Furthermore, in each of these sites at least three shorebird species occurred in internationally important concentrations Of these 13 most important shorebird sites, one has already been largely reclaimed, two are in the process of being completely reclaimed, and another already

has a complete seawall along one side. Three sites are being negatively impacted and, along with Kanghwa Island, are targeted for more significant reclamation. No tidal wetlands nation-wide are effectively protected, though five wetlands have been saved from imminent destruction - at least in the short-term - through the efforts of the Korean Wetlands Alliance and support groups between July and December 1998. The data available also shows that many other internationally important sites have already been reclaimed in part or in full or are facing imminent reclamation.

The justification given for these reclamations is that they will increase the area of national territory, whilst creating land for agricultural uses and reservoirs to provide freshwater for industry and farming. Korean experts argue against the projects, pointing out that tidal-flats are already "national territory", that much farmland is already under-used regionally and nationally (largely due to rural exodus triggered by industrialisation) and that tidal-flats and sea shallows are critical to fisheries and aquaculture. In addition they also recall that the projects are clearly in breach of the "wise use of wetlands" concept enshrined in the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, to which South Korea acceded in 1997.

The outstanding importance of the Saemankeum area for waterfowl is clearly shown by bird census data. For example, in 1998 its tidal-flats supported peak counts of 22,200 Dunlin (representing 10% of the known flyway population of the Dunlins eastern race), 180 Spoon-billed Sandpiper (largest count ever world wide; world population 4,000 ? 5,000), 61 Nordmann's Greenshank (world population 1,000 only) and of 38,500 Great Knot (representing more than 10% of the world population). On the basis of current data, the Saemankeum area is believed to be the second most important site for Great Knot in all of Asia. In the past three years, at least 25 species of waterfowl have been recorded in internationally important concentrations, including up to 500 Saunder's Gulls and 1 - 2% of the world's Black-faced Spoonbills. Research to date indicates that Saemankeum supports the highest number of shorebirds and waterfowl species in internationally important concentrations within Korea.

What will happen to these birds if the Saemankeum dike is completed? All shorebird feeding areas will be lost, as all of the tidal flats in the estuaries will be cut off from the sea by the dike, and analyses indicate that no new tidal flats will form outside it. All available evidence indicates that the destruction of the vital waterbird feeding areas at Seamankeum will inevitably reduce survival rates of many birds, and most probably cause the overall populations of these species to decline. Regional fisheries will also be devastated. It is very likely that reservoirs created would be too polluted to use, if they were anything like those developed elsewhere with similar reclamation technology. Furthermore, much of the newly generated land will doubtless lay idle, as has been seen with other reclamations completed.

As of November 1998, 56% of the 33 km sea-dike is already complete, and the scheme is likely to be completed within two or three years. There is little time left to oppose this project. But there is still much hope. Support for the Saemankeum project is fading, while opposition to it grows ever stronger, as the financial and environmental costs of the project become clearer. Several ministries and government agencies (e.g. the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and the Forestry Administration) have recently voiced their opposition to reclamation in general. A similar shift in policy direction can be detected in the July 1998 by the Ministry of Agriculture, the ministry responsible for the Saemankeum project, to cancel the 55,000 hectare reclamation proposed for the Yongsan River region. Moreover, even the leading proponent of the Saemankeum project, the regional governor, Mr. You Jong-Keun, stated in January 1999 that the project would need to be reviewed - or even stopped, if it were shown to negatively impact the marine ecosystem.

The Korean Wetlands Alliance is a South Korean umbrella organisation of individuals and environmental groups committed to wetland conservation, through research, education and action. Initiated in 1996, the Alliance now encompasses 13 enlisted organisations, and enjoys an increasing level of co-operation and respect from academics, government and citizen movement groups. Please visit us at our homepage http://kfem.or.kr/wetland.

The text of this e-mail can be found on the Internet at http://www.birdnet.de/korea.htm

| More on this project | National Parks Association of NSW home page | Back to the NPANSW scrapbook |