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Topic: Stop the Saemangeum Reclamation Project in S Korea (Read 1623 times) |
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Stop the Saemangeum Reclamation Project in S Korea
« on: Mar 3rd, 2006, 6:07pm » |
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Message from:
Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM) and
Friends of the Earth Korea (FoE Korea)
An Urgent Plea for Support in Stopping the Saemangeum Reclamation Project in South Korea
http://www.birdskorea.org/saemref.asp
Environmentalists in South Korea and around the world request urgent support for the most important environmental Supreme Court case in South Korean history. Environmental groups, fishers, and bird conservationists are fervently working to stop the reclamation of 40,100 hectares of tidal flats and shallows that are vitally important for an estimated 500,000 waterbirds annually. The Saemangeum estuary supports 30 waterbird species in internationally important concentrations, including the globally-threatened Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Spotted Greenshank, Black-faced Spoonbill, and Saunders’s Gull.
The Saemangeum Project, which is already 400 million USD over-budget and will require at least another 4.3 billion USD to complete, was recently allowed to go ahead when the Seoul Administrative Court’s landmark decision against the project was overturned on appeal. The Korean Supreme Court will begin hearing the Saemangeum case on February 16th, 2006. The timing is crucial given that all but 2.7 km of the 33 km seawall has already been built. The Ministry of Agriculture wants to complete the initial seawall during the month of April, 2006. The completion of the seawall will severely affect populations of birds that migrate along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. For background in English on the Saemangeum project and the numerous globally threatened bird species it will affect, please visit the websites of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement-FoE Korea: <http://english.kfem.or.kr>; and Birds Korea: http://www.birdskorea.org/saemref.asp. We would like to thank you for your past support and hope that you will speak out again against the Saemangeum project at this key moment. Please continue reading for a brief account of the legal struggle against the project and use the model protest letter at the bottom to voice your disapproval.
Brief History of the Legal Battle against the Saemangeum Project
The movement against the Saemangeum project became a national movement in 1998 when environmental groups and religious leaders became fully aware of the destruction it would cause to not only the environment, but also the 25,000 people whose economic livelihoods depend on the estuary for fish and aquaculture. Numerous protests were held at Saemangeum and in Seoul from 1998 onwards, with the project gaining international attention, especially as the area has been identified as the single most important site for shorebirds in the Yellow Sea - itself a key region for global shorebird conservation. Saemangeum and the movement against it became one of the most important environmental and media issues in South Korea in the spring and summer of 2003 with the “3 Steps and 1 Bow” Campaign. A Catholic Priest, Buddhist Monk, Protestant Reverend, and Won Buddhist Monk, along with tens of thousands of supporters, took part in an arduous 65 day campaign in which they walked from Saemangeum to Seoul whereby they took 3 steps and then 1 full bow to the ground. After garnering national news throughout the summer, symbolic reenactments were performed in the U.S., UK, and Italy.
(to be continued)
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| « Last Edit: Mar 3rd, 2006, 6:31pm by HKBWS Project » |
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HKBWS Manager (Projects & Communication)
香港觀鳥會 經理(項目及傳訊)
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HKBWS Project
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Please support HKBWS!
Posts: 207
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Re: Stopping the Saemangeum Reclamation Project in
« Reply #1 on: Mar 3rd, 2006, 6:10pm » |
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(An Urgent Plea for Support in Stopping the Saemangeum Reclamation Project in South Korea)
As part of the movement against the Saemangeum project, 3,500 local people and leading Korean environmentalists filed a court case to stop the construction of the 33 km seawall in August 2001. This case brought some relief as the court ordered new construction on the seawall to stop in July 2003. After a month, however, construction resumed. On February 4th, 2005, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled that the project should either be cancelled or required to apply for new permits given that the intent of the project had changed. The Court ruled that the environmental impact assessments conducted were inadequate, that the original plan to create more farmland was no longer the real objective given that Korean rice farming is no longer competitive and thus declining nation-wide, and that there was no way to ensure that the water would be usable given concerns about pollution.
The Ministry of Agriculture did not apply for new permits, but rather successfully appealed the ruling at the Seoul High Court on December 22nd, 2005. The Appellate Court argued that the economic cost of abandoning the project now outweighs the environmental cost. Furthermore, because of global warming and possible reunification with North Korea, South Korea should pursue self-sufficiency in rice. This is an odd argument, however, given that the land given to rice production has declined 10% in the last two years. Furthermore, WTO regulations and Korea’s push to sign Free Trade Agreements with the US and other major agricultural exporters contradicts the goal of food self-sufficiency. This is but a minor contradiction, however, when one considers the fact that South Korea is a signatory to both the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance and the Convention on Biological Diversity. South Korea will also host the next Ramsar Convention in 2008. It is thus surprising for the government to continue supporting the destruction of the most biodiverse and internationally important wetland system in the nation, and one of the most important anywhere in the entire East Asian-Australian Flyway. The 3,500 fishers and environmentalists who brought the original case have now appealed to the Supreme Court.
This is the biggest environmental case in Korea's history, and the future of Saemangeum is vitally important to the East Asian-Australasian flyway and the Yellow Sea eco-region. Urgent international support is crucial in halting this environmentally devastating and economically wasteful project.
Please send your endorsement for the following letter to Mr. Ma Yong-Un, international campaigner of KFEM, ma@kfem.or.kr, by March 8 as KFEM is going to submit the endorsement in early March before the final ruling of the Supreme Court is made in mid March.
Thank you for your support.
Ma Yong-Un
International Campaigner
Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM)-Friends of the Earth Korea (FoE Korea)
http://english.kfem.or.kr/
ma@kfem.or.kr
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香港觀鳥會 經理(項目及傳訊)
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