Subject: [Tweeters] Development at Song Do (S. Korea) threatens shorebirds
Date: Sep 1 10:23:30 2009
From: Adam Sedgley - AdamS at seattleaudubon.org


Hi Tweets,

I am forwarding an important message to be read by those who care about
a tremendously important migratory stopover for Asian shorebirds. I
have a personal connection to this threat having seen several of those
threatened shorebirds, including Spoon-billed Sandpiper (est. 600-800
global pop.) and Nordmann's Greenshank (est. 3,000 global pop.), during
a trip to Thailand this past winter.

The tragedy is that the reclamation will offer "free facilities to
American universities. Its partners include the State University of New
York at Stony Brook, North Carolina State University (N.C. State), the
University of Missouri, the University of Southern California (USC),
George Mason University, the University of Delaware, Duke University,
the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), the University of
Illinois, Carnegie Mellon University, and Boston University. Stony Brook
and N.C. State, as the first two induced to join "this hub of education
in Asia," are scheduled to open their facilities in 2010."

The link below goes to a webpage with more information on the subject.
But I extracted an interesting quote: "The Song Do Tidal Flats meet the
Ramsar Convention's criteria for wetlands of international importance,
but South Korea refused to nominate them. It is shocking that any
American university would open a campus on land whose very creation
("reclamation") would be illegal under Ramsar criteria, U.S. coastal
best-management practices, or state regulations. Certainly North
Carolina State, USC, and Stony Brook, if they were expanding their home
campuses, would abide by the laws that protect fisheries, local
economies, and biological diversity in their own state."

I urge you to spread word of this development. If you have connections
to any of these universities, it certainly wouldn't hurt to remind them
of the consequences of this partnership. Paradoxically, the buildings
are already touted as "sustainable" with LEED certification and usage of
recycled/natural materials.

http://www.earthislandprojects.org/project/campaignPage.cfm?pageID=159&s
ubSiteID=25&CFID=5930437&CFTOKEN=18675767


Adam Sedgley
adams at seattleaudubon.org


Begin forwarded message:


Dear Waterbird Colleagues,

The Song Do International Business District (IBD) is a
$30-billion
designated Free Economic Zone, designed to be South Korea's
premier
effort at a public-private partnership in business development
for
Korean and international corporations. Already, its
sustainability
awards, LEED certification, recycled/natural materials, and
nominal
"green growth" are being highly praised.

But there is a real problem at hand.

Crucial tidal flats - home for all sorts of waterbirds - are
threatened under current plans for further development. Already,

nearby development has destroyed most of the region's rich tidal

flats. An estimated 4,000 hectares are already gone. Only about
1,000
hectares of the Song Do tidal flats remain. Especially
disturbing is
the fact that American companies and about a dozen prestigious
American universities are involved in gobbling up this space.

Long-legged waders and shorebirds aplenty still use the
wetlands.
Saunder's Gull and Nordmann's Greenshank are among the key
species
dependent upon the Song Do area. Relict Gull and Chinese Egret
are
already in dangerous declines due to previous reclamations in
the
area. Also, highly endangered Black-faced Spoonbills nest
nearby.

Fortunately, some international conservationists have been
working to
save what remains of the Song Do Tidal Flats. They maintain that

careful planning around retention ponds, an artificial island,
the
local creek flow, and the ebb and flow of the estuary can
combine to
blend in with public appreciation and appropriate development.
In the
U.S., a Berkeley-based organization (SAVE), working to save the
Black-faced Spoonbill, has taken a lead in this effort.

For more information on SAVE and Song Do tidal preservation
efforts, see:

http://www.earthislandprojects.org/project/campaignPage.cfm?pageID=159&s
ubSiteID=25&CFID=5930437&CFTOKEN=18675767

Everyone can do something, from simply spreading the word
(listservs,
etc.) among like-minded waterbird, shorebird, and conservation
friends, to raising the simple contradiction between green
buildings
and the destruction of habitat, to letting those American
companies
and universities know that their actions are counter to good
land-and-wildlife management.

Finally, two colleagues in the SAVE effort, willing to answer
your
questions are: Marcia McNally <cdbydesign at earthlink.net> and
Sheila Dickie
<falconmae at yahoo.com>