Tweets - this is for those of you who write letters for/against
environmental problems. It is long, but I think worthwhile to respond to,
at least by e-mail. Birds are global! Diann MacRae

>X-Sender: braunlich at home.ipn.de
>Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 19:30:41 +0100
>From: Axel Braunlich <braunlich at ipn.de>
>Subject: KOREA - urgent help needed!
>
>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 at 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 at 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 at 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 at 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
>
>
>