Seminar on “Wetland Inventory Methodology and the Ramsar Convention” and survey at Samilpo, Kumgangsan
In cooperation with its partners from MoLEP and EAAFP, HSF is working towards sustainable use and conservation of wetlands.
Sufficient and clean water resources have become indispensable for the survival of human kind. However, the sustainable use of those areas can also provide important services to many people, including tourism, fishery and fresh water for agriculture. On the Korean peninsula, coastal areas along the Yellow Sea with large tidal flats and along the East Sea (Sea of Japan) with its various lagoons are of great importance to migratory birds on their East Asian – Australasian Flyway. For several years, the Hanns Seidel Foundation has been working towards the implementation of goals and plans aimed for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands in North Korea, in cooperation with the North Korean Ministry for Land and Environment Protection, the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention and the East Asian - Australasian Flyway Partnership, as well as other partners.
As part of these joined efforts, a seminar was conducted at Kumgangsan (Mt. Kumgang) with 25 experts of North Korean environmental institutions and foreign experts to prepare an inventory of wetlands in North Korea. The seminar was opened by Director General Mrs Ri Kyong-sim (Ministry for Land and Environment Protection), who emphasized the cooperation with the Hanns Seidel Foundation, that has been going on since 2015, and other international partners. Furthermore, she emphasized that the inventory is an integral objective of her country’s policy. In his welcoming address, Dr. Bernhard Seliger of the Hanns Seidel Foundation also referred to the positive results of the international cooperation.
Prof. Dr. Chong Jong-ryol of the Korea University in Tokyo and one of the initiators of the first wetland inventory in North Korea in 1995, emphasized his research on habitats of red-crowned cranes (Grus japonensis) and black-faced spoonbills (Platalea minor), that he has been studying for decades and that need protection the most. David Melville, who is an advisor on environmental issues with experiences from working several decades on the protection of wetlands along the East Asian – Australasian Flyway gave an introduction into the criteria for wetland inventories and provided practical examples on how to conduct surveys.
Dr. Nial Moores, founder and director of Birds Korea, an organisation that is concerned with the study and protection of migratory birds and their habitats on the Korean peninsula, put much emphasis on the importance of Korean wetlands for the East Asian – Australasian Flyway and the possibility and methodology of surveys. Dr. Bernhard Seliger of the Hanns Seidel Foundation shared the foundation’s experiences with three surveys in Rason. Director General Mrs Ri Kyong-sim provided an overview on the current state of preparation of the planned twelve-month inventory that is meant to result in a publication on the new inventory of wetlands.
Before the seminar, a brief environment survey of the former lagoon lake Samil-po in the Kumgangsan area and the adjacent rivers, rice paddies and coastal areas of Haekumgang was conducted. The survey lasted two days and revealed internationally significant concentrations of Yellow-billed Loons (Gavia adamsii) and Pelagic Cormorants (Phalacrocorax pelagicus) in the coastal areas.
You can read more about the surveys at Kumgangsan/Samil-po and Mundok here: www.birdskoreablog.org and here www.birdskoreablog.org