Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Canuckophile]

Folks,
If you want a nice day trip or weekend, I suggest you go to the Samangeum tidal flats. I went there once by bus - hitchhiking at the end - though I didn't get around much. The seawall is (unfortunately) partially constructed already, so you can walk out quite a ways and enjoy the vistas.

Pity the gov't doesn't understand the importance of protecting bird migrations. It's been documented that birds are one of the bellwethers of a healthy ecosystem. That's how the "canary in a coalmine" expression began; birds are more sensitive to air quality than we are, so miners took them down in the mines. When a canary passed out, miners knew it was time to get out.

And BTW, birds are not birdbrains. See today's NYT for an article on the latest research on birds. Many (esp crow family, which includes the ubiquitous magpie found in Korea) are easily as smart as most mammals. There's even a Japanese crow that's learned to put nuts on the highway, wait for cars to crack them, and then race in quickly to eat their treat!

Ain't nature grand? Shouldn't we in the human family recognize that is not only our responsibility - it is in our best interest - to protect nature as best we can, even if it is sometimes inconvenient? See NYT on "bird brains":

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/01/science/01bird.html

CANUCKOPHILE

[Canuckophile]

See Reuters article below.

One sad irony - tourism development throughout the "warm" world (near the equators, where poor countries typically want to encourage us foreigners to come and spend our cash) is destroying the wildlife and plantlife at break-neck speed, especially islands. The degradation can be "accomplished" in just a few years -- it reminds me of the way the sailors killed off the Dodo birds a few centuries ago -- though we humans seem to be the Dodos now!

And if anyone is surprised to see Japan listed in this article, apparently the BIGGEST industry in Japan is (not cars! not technology! not anything you likely would have thought!) ... ta dah! ... it's the construction industry. So outside their "protected" areas, the Japanese build with abandon. And now the Japanese are trying to build on such relatively pristine areas (controlled by the poor old Soviet Union, which never had money to spend on roads, etc.) as Sakhalin.
CANUCKOPHILE

Study Uncovers New Threatened Ecological Hotspots

February 02, 2005 � By Ed Stoddard, Reuters
JOHANNESBURG � A global study has identified nine new environmental "hotspots," areas of great ecological diversity that are under threat and together shelter most of the planet's endangered plant and animal species.

"Nine new hotspots have been identified, including one that traverses the U.S.-Mexico border, one in southern Africa, and one that encompasses the entire nation of Japan," said Conservation International, which helped organise the analysis.

The findings bring to 34 the number of hotspots identified by leading scientists.

They are home to 75 percent of the world's most threatened mammals, birds, and amphibians, which survive in fragile habitats covering just 2.3 percent of the Earth's surface.

These areas once covered almost 16 percent of the planet, an area the size of Russia and Australia combined, underscoring the threats posed by human encroachment and habitat destruction.

Nearly 400 scientists and other experts contributed to the four-year study, described in a book entitled "Hotspots Revisited" which was launched on Wednesday.

Two key factors are used to designate a hotspot: a high concentration of endemic species -- which means they are found nowhere else -- and a serious degree of threat.

"Environmental Emergency Rooms"

The Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands hotspot has 24 plant and vertebrate families found nowhere else on Earth.

Some of the hotspots have less than 10 percent of their original habitat left -- which means they probably once contained many unidentified species that have been lost forever.

"The biodiversity hotspots are the environmental emergency rooms of our planet ... We must now act decisively to avoid losing these irreplaceable storehouses of Earth's life forms," said Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International.

"We now know that by concentrating on the hotspots, we are not only protecting species, but deep lineages of evolutionary history. These areas capture the uniqueness of life on Earth," Mittermeier said.

Most of the hotspots are in tropical or sub-tropical areas, highlighting the diversity of life found near the equator, where year-round warmth and good rainfalls enable many plants and animals to thrive.

But many are also found in very poor countries or regions, which magnifies the threat as impoverished and swelling rural populations encroach on remaining habitat.

The new hotspots that have been added are:

- The East Melanesian islands which have been degraded dramatically over the last five years;
- the Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands on the U.S.-Mexico border.
- Japan
- The Horn of Africa
- Irano-Anatolian
- The mountains of central Asia
- Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany in southern Africa, which includes parts of Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland.
- The Himalaya and Eastern Afromontane, which stretches along the eastern edge of Africa from Saudi Arabia to Zimbabwe, have also been identified as distinct regional hotspots in their own right.

Source: Reuters

[Canuckophile]

EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE IN "National" Section of JoongAngDaily:

Though she has turned away dignitaries, the nun issued a statement yesterday in which she urged reporters to publicize the cause of her hunger protest. She said the focus of media attention has only been on her deteriorating condition.
"Please do not focus solely on my hunger strike, but on the importance of environmental problems," the statement said. "I think Korean society is currently confused between the need for development and the need to value the environment."


Editorial in today's JoongAng Daily (some sections highlighted by me):

[EDITORIALS]End the hunger strike now

Venerable Jiyul's hunger strike against the construction of a railroad tunnel through Mount Cheonseong continues past its 100th day. She is only skin and bones, and the shadow of death hovers over her. Doctors even said, "Her body has already passed the threshold of death." Observers now feel sorry and embarrassed.
We should no longer leave Jiyul as she is. First, the Buddhist groups to which she is affiliated should persuade her to end the hunger strike. Fortunately, the situation began to show signs of improvement yesterday.
The National Assembly's Construction and Transportation Committee passed a resolution unanimously urging an end to the hunger strike and the launching of an examination of the tunnel construction's effects on the environment. Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan and Prime Minister Lee Hai-chan tried to visit Jiyul.
We understand that the government is in a difficult position. It has incurred 2.5 trillion won ($2.4 billion) of losses since it suspended the tunnel construction through the mountain for 12 months. The government has so far dug 195 meters (640 feet) into the mountain.
If construction is suspended again, it is feared that other national projects, like the Saemangeum land reclamation and the construction of a nuclear waste treatment facility, may also be blocked by hunger strikes and other kinds of protests. The government should maintain the consistency of its project policies.
But what is more important than consistency is people's confidence in government policy. The tunnel issue got worse when President Roh Moo-hyun, during his presidential campaign, pledged to suspend the tunnel construction and consider an alternate route for the railroad. Meanwhile, there are doubts about the past evaluations of environmental impact, because it was disclosed that such evaluations were not fair for the Sihwa lake project or the Saemangeum land reclamation project. Those evaluations were skewed to prove that the development was proper.Jiyul should also open her mind. She has had success in attracting public attention to the issue, and she should now end her hunger strike. She should know that it is a misfortune for the country to solve an issue this way. The people close to her should make her stop the hunger strike right now.
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Except for managing a dig at Roh for going back on his word not to proceed with the tunnel (the JAD detests Roh), the JoongAng Daily still doesn't confront reality here.

Namely, most of the time, the only way that the Korean enviro/human rights movements can get their govt's attention is by extreme actions. (Remember Buan, the tiny town that found itself "selected" -- against their will -- to be the site of a nuclear waste dump??? Never made the news much until they started getting violent.)

Like, hey, Korean govt (and JoongAngDaily, listen up here), if you would do things legally to start with (on these environmental assessments, for example), maybe people wouldn't be forced to do extreme protests such as the Buddhist nun has....


CANUCKOPHILE

[Confused Canadian]

[red dog]

I'm confused too. I was going to re-send my letter to the president at his new address, but then I saw the update in the Herald:

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/02/04/200502040036.asp

How big a breakthrough is this? Are letters still helpful?

[Canuckophile]

Thank you very much for your concern and support for Venerable Jiyul and Mount Cheonseong.

Fortunately, Ven. Jiyul who was in the 100th of day of her hunger strike as of yesterday, Feb. 3rd, stopped her hunger strike late last night, accepting government's proposals.

After meeting Ven. Jiyul, Prime Minister and Miniter of Environment, government proposed to resume the Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA), especially on the impact of the tunnel construction on the highlands swamps, for three months.

During the process all the activities which will affect the reassessment will be prohibited. Government and environmental and civil society groups will compose a commission composed of 14 people(7 from each side) which will reexamine it.

Environmental groups of Korea welcomed the government's decision to have another assessment on the tunnel project.

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to those who supported the campaign from the inside and outside of the country. We will keep trying to solve the issue to make a more peaceful world living in harmony with nature.

Thank you again for your support on behalf of Ven. Jiyul and Mount Cheonseong.

[gypsyfish]

Buddhist clergy have come a long way in the past few years. It was only a few years ago that Buddhist monks were releasing fish, as part of some religious ceremony, into rivers where the fish had never been before. The problem was they were eating the fish native to the waterways. The monks refused to stop because it was part of their ceremony.

Don't know if they still do it.

[Canuckophile]

There has been some mention of the Saemangeum tidal flats in this thread. (This is prime bird migration territory - the Aussies are up in arms over this project because Ozzie birds divide their time between Sam and Down Under.)

Well, the Korean gov't has struck out 2 X in a row (the mountain/the nun) and the Saemangeum flats/the birds. The whole matter will go back to court again - doesn't mean they'll win in the long run, but if you want to read the gory details, here's what I have on it....

BTW, I don't think it's mentioned below (and this is irony, believe me) that planning to build the Samangeum seawall began in the 1970s or early 80s when Korea was still largely agricultural, and they thought they would need more rice paddies! Construction itself didn't even begin until the 1990's, when the situation had ALREADY changed, and that's when these lawsuits were launched.

The big irony of all this is that THERE NO GOOD REASON TO BUILD THE SEAWALL TO GROW MORE RICE - the Korean farmers can barely sell what they are already raising. The Korean farmer is a dying breed (very sad, but that's another story) so it is counterproductive to add more farmland now - they can't even use what they've got! The farmers themselves oppose this project, which was supposed to benefit them. So Saemangeum makes no sense no matter how you analyze it - except for the construction industry, which will make mega-billions, and the govt perhaps will save "face", since bazillions have already been spent. (Roh should have exercised some common sense here and cancelled as soon as he was elected - showing some leadership instead of throwing good money after bad AND destroying the wildlife habitat to boot.)


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Seoul Administration Court rules in favor of environmental concerns


On February 4th, 2005, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of environmental conservation in a legal suit challenging the controversial Saemangeum Reclamation Project brought by environmental groups and local people living around the Saemangeum tidal-flats.

The court ruled that no economic benefits can be expected from the Saemangeum reclamation project because of the anticipated economic losses caused by water pollution in the proposed reclamation reservoir, and by the destruction of the tidal-flat ecosystem.

The court ruled therefore that it is necessary to cancel or change the permit to reclaim the public water area, because the environmental, ecological and economic damage to be expected from the project is huge and irreversible. They listed the following reasons to support their ruling to change or cancel the original permit: the possibility of using land reclaimed through the project for agriculture is very low; it is anticipated that the water quality in the reclamation reservoir will be too poor to use for agriculture; estimates of economic benefits to be derived from converting the existing area to agriculture are flawed; and massive damage will be caused to the tidal-flat ecosystem.

The court added that no decision has yet been made on the end-use of the land to be reclaimed, but reiterated that it cannot be used for agriculture as water in the reclamation reservoir created for that purpose will be too polluted.

The court did not rule against continuing work to reinforce the existing sea-wall, but did rule against construction of any further sea-wall required to close the remaining 2.7 km stretch that remains open.

The massive and controversial reclamation project along the southwestern coastline of North Jeolla Province has therefore yet again run into another major hurdle due to this ruling.

Earlier, the court had tried to suggest a way forward by recommending that further research be conducted before their final ruling was made. It also recommended that the government should halt the project and set up a committee of experts to review fully the potential environmental and economic consequences of the reclamation. The court also suggested that parliament should legislate a special law to help iron out such issues. Although, environmental groups and local fishermen had welcomed these recommendations, the government and the ruling Uri Party openly rejected them on January 28th.

As the court has now ruled in favor of environmental conservation, the government will bring the case to the Seoul High Court.

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

Further Background Information
The Saemangeum reclamation is the largest known coastal reclamation project in the world. Initiated in 1991, the project called for the construction of a 33-km long seawall, to close off 40,100 ha of tidal-flats and sea shallows for conversion to agriculture and a 17,000 ha reservoir, to use for irrigation purposes. The permit to reclaim the area was issued in accordance with the Public Waters Act, which requires that the primary end-use of all areas so reclaimed is agriculture.

The project has been the focus of intense criticism and opposition for a number of years, both domestic and international.

Much of the domestic criticism has been based on the anticipated impacts to fisheries and fishing communities dependent upon the existing estuarine system, and on the massive environmental degradation being caused both by construction and proposed end-use. Domestic NGOs have been quick to point out the similarities between Saemangeum and other reclamation projects (e.g. Shihwa Lake), which when completed were shown to be unfit for agriculture due to water pollution. To protest the reclamation, NGOs and key individuals have conducted numerous protests, including challenging the reclamation project in the courts.

International criticism has focused largely on the importance of the Saemangeum estuarine system to migratory waterbird populations, which in accordance with national obligations held under both the Ramsar Convention and the Convention on Biological Diversity need to be conserved by the government of South Korea. The Saemangeum estuarine system is presently known as the single most important shorebird site in Yellow Sea, a region of critical importance to waterbirds of the East Asia-Australasian Flyway; it supports at least 27 waterbird species in internationally important concentrations; and has become known throughout the world as the most important known staging site for the endangered and fast-declining Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmeus.

This most recent court ruling, made on February 5th 2005, can be understood as the latest in a string of setbacks plaguing this project, and is likely to become the most embarrassing and damaging of all. It repeats concerns already made clear by the courts in 2003 (subsequently ignored by project proponents), and again validates the concerns of opponents to the project. This latest ruling clearly asks the government to respect national law and to reconsider the project honestly. Only time will tell if the national government has the maturity and wisdom to accept such a ruling, or if it instead remains determined to push ahead at all costs with a project declared both illegal and unnecessary by its critics.

For more information on the Saemangeum reclamation project in English, go to:

http://www.birdskorea.org/saemref.asp

For recent court opinions and government responses, go to:

http://www.birdskorea.org/saemref.asp#latnews