From: "=?euc-kr?B?uO3Iow==?=" <MHOSR@ecoserve.kfem.or.kr>
Subject: Korean Wetlands Alliance / Korean NGOs for Ramsar
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 17:26:30 +0900

Hi...
I am a member of KFEM(Korean Federation for Environmental Movement ) Recently We make a new site about Korean Wetland... http://kfem.or.kr/wetland

Korean Wetlands Alliance
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 following participation in the Brisbane Ramsar Conference (1996), the Alliance now contains 13 enlisted organisations, and enjoys an increasing level of cooperation and respect from academic, government and citizen movement groups

Our Homepage is Http://kfem.or.kr/wetland

Saemangum - Saemankeum
An interim report for presentation at the Saemankeum symposium, November 26 1998. Nial Moores, Waterfowl and Wetland Researcher, Kyungnam University, and Korean Wetlands Alliance

The name Saemankeum is given to what is claimed to be the world's largest ongoing reclamation: a 40, 100 hectare reclamation project at the mouth of the Mankyung and Tongjin Rivers, in Chollabok Do, west Republic of Korea (centred at approximately 35 Deg 50'N, 126 Deg 45'E). Such a reclamation, entailing a 33 km long seawall (56% complete, as of October 1998), it is suggested will expand the national area , help in the supply of agriculture and industrial water , lead to better drainage of adjacent land , and allow development of an international harbor (anon. 1996?). This report, however, uses the same name to describe the extensive tidal-flat and shallows region as an ecological unit, and aims to provide evidence of the extreme international importance of this region to migratory waterfowl, especially shorebirds, and to the possible ecological impacts the proposed reclamation will cause. In total no less than 25 species of waterfowl have been recorded in internationally important numbers in this area, on available data the highest number nationwide, and amongst the highest anywhere in East Asia. It is believed that many of these species will be significantly and negatively impacted by the reclamation.

Our Homepage is Http://kfem.or.kr/wetland

From: "=?euc-kr?B?uO3Iow==?=" < MHOSR@ecoserve.kfem.or.kr >
Subject: Saemankeum Declaration
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 11:26:50 +0900

http://kfem.or.kr/wetland

for Conservation of Tidal Flats in Korea and Japan

Saemankeum Declaration

1. Korea's Saemankeum reclamation project is the largest and most destructive on-going tidal flat reclamation project in the world.

2. Tidal flats and coastal ecosystems have astounding value, both biologically and culturally. Moreover, they form the basis for the productivity and integrity of marine ecosystems. For example, the lives of fully two-thirds of all marine fish species depend on tidal flats.

3. We take particular note of recent documentation that clarifies the fact that the tidal flats of the Saemankeum region are among the most valuable tidal flat ecosystems in the world.

4. In light of the international importance of this region, Korean citizens'organizations welcome the concern and support of environmental organizations and people in Japan and other countries for the movement opposing the Saemankeum
reclamation project.

5. The tidal flats and marine ecosystems of Japan and Korea share the same species of fish, waterbirds, and benthic organisms, and the two regions have many similarities, both ecologically and culturally.

6. Over the past 50 years, the once large-scale tidal flats of both countries have been destroyed through reclamation projects, which have thereby led to the loss of habitat conditions for the region's shared fish and migratory birds. Japan's Isahaya Bay and Korea's Shihwa Lake are representative of such destructive projects.

7. The upcoming seventh Conference of the Parties of the Ramsar Convention on wetlands protection, which will have as its theme "People and Wetlands the Vital Link," will likely draw worldwide attention to tidal flat reclamation projects in East Asia. Citizens' groups in Korea and Japan will naturally work together for the upcoming Ramsar meeting, and will promote future cooperation to ensure the preservation of both countries' wetlands.

8. The people and environmental organizations participating here express their support for the efforts of the government of Korea to withdraw plans for the Youngsan River four-stage project and to halt further reclamation projects due to recognition of its international importance. We further urge the governments of both Korea and Japan to recognize the true cultural and ecological values of tidal flats, and to cancel all reclamation projects that are under way or being planned.

9. Furthermore, we call on the Korean government and Japanese government to cancel all plans to landfill and reclaim Japan's Fujimae tidal flat and Korea's Saemankeum tidal flats, which are the most important tidal flats in the respective countries, as well as to recognize all remaining tidal flats as conservation areas. Further, we call for the opening of the Isahaya Bay seawall gates, in order to restore the destroyed tidal flat there.

January 16, 1999

Participants:

Korea:

Korean Wetlands Alliance( http://kfem.or.kr/wetland )
Korean Federation for Environment Movement(KFEM) http://kfem.or.kr/engkfem
Cholla-nam-do Eastern Region Social Research Institute
Haenam Forum
Namhae Environmental Conservation Committee
Inchon Federation for Environmental Movement
Seosan-Taean Federation for Environmental Movement
Cholla-buk-do Federation for Environmental Movement
Mokpo Federation for Environmental Movement
Kwangju Cholla-nam-do Federation for Environmental Movement
Cheju Federation for Environmental Movement
Masan-Changwon Federation for Environmental Movement
Chongnyoung Federation for Environmental Movement
Ulsan Federation for Environmental Movement
Sokcho Federation for Environmental Movement
Pusan Federation for Environmental Movement

Japan:

Japan Wetlands Action Network (JAWAN)
Kyushu-Ryukyu Wetlands Action Network
Isahaya Bay Emergency Rescue Headquarters
Citizens' Committee to Pass on to the Future the Rich Nature of Hakata Bay
Committee to Preserve the Nature of Amakusa
Save Sone Wetlands Association
Yatsushiro Wild Bird Association

--------------------------------------------------------------
Team Leader, Myoung, Ho
citizens' Information Center for Environment.
KFEM(Korean Federation for Environmental Movement)

251 Nooha-dong Chongro-Gu Seoul,
110-042, South Korea
Tel : 82-2-735-7000 / Dir: 82-2-730-1325
Fax: 82-2-730-1240
E-mail: MHOSR@kfem.or.kr
http://kfem.or.kr/engkfem

| National Parks Association of NSW home page | Back to the NPANSW scrapbook |