 John Holmes
A number of globally threatened species, such as the Spotted Greenshank, use Saemangeum as an important stop-over
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Future looks bleak for shorebird stronghold
17-03-2006
The long-running saga over the Saemangeum reclamation project in South Korea now appears to be reaching a conclusion. In a move that has dismayed conservation groups, the Korean Supreme Court has ruled that reclamation project is not illegal per se, allowing the government to continue building the seawall that will permanently close off 40,000 hectares of bird-rich tidal flats and shallows from the sea.
Although two of the thirteen judges declared that the project is based on a seriously flawed Environmental Impact Survey, and that it has costs that will need to be borne by future generations, the Supreme Court as a body fell short of demanding the project be cancelled.
The decision for restarting or cancelling the project now falls once again then to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the government as a whole. Based on developer's claims, the 33 km long seawall will be completed at the end of April this year, in time to choke the tidal-flats (and the several hundred thousand shorebirds they support on migration) this Spring. After that time, discussions will be held on how to use any land created.
Domestic protests have flared in recent weeks, with hunger strikes, sit-ins, and public condemnation of the project – including one of the nation's leading and most influential intellectuals.
"The finalisation of the Saemangeum project will cause a major loss of feeding habitat for the waterbirds which migrate through East Asia, including several globally threatened species, making the protection of the remaining inter-tidal wetlands around the Yellow and China Seas an even higher conservation priority." —Mike Crosby, Research & Data Manager of BirdLife’s Asia Division
The impacts on migratory shorebirds are expected to be enormous and long term. The site is famous for holding concentrations of globally threatened species such as Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus and Spotted Greenshank Tringa guttifer. It also is thought to hold up to 30% of the world's Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris.
The Australasian Wader Studies Group and Birds Korea will conduct a shorebird monitoring program at the site and in adjacent areas, to gather data on the project's impact on birds and their habitats. Approximately 12 international researchers will join domestic counters to carry out the work, starting on 31 March and continuing until the end of May.