Commemoration
World Water Day and HSF’s Support

March 22: the World Water Day

March 22 is the World Water Day held ever since 1993, sanctioned by the United Nations to promote the importance of freshwater. World Water Day focuses on the importance of freshwater and aims to raise awareness of the 2.2 billion people that lack access to safe water which is in line with the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. In 2022, the focus of the day is particularly on ‘groundwater, making the invisible visible’. Groundwater is responsible for many lives on the Earth since it supplies most of the water we drink, produce food, sanitate, and industrial processes. Along with groundwater, it is noted that it also is critically important to protect the health of ecosystems such as wetlands rivers.

HSF’s Efforts and Supports from North Korea

HSF Korea supports the conservation of wetlands and recognizes the need for cooperation among involved nations in order for the healthy functioning of ecosystems and to reserve freshwater. The West/Yellow Sea, located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, is an important area for wildlife living in the intertidal mudflats of the region. As part of Korea’s ‘Getbol, Korean Tidal Flat’ candidacy, HSF Korea supported the inscription of Korean mudflats in the UNESCO World Heritage List.  

There also have been wetland protection efforts from the DPRK. The department director of the Ministry of Land and Environment Protection alarmed that ‘wetland inventory for DPRK’ recording more than 50 typical wetlands in North Korea was published in Juche 107 (2018) to be used for wetland protection and management. And further in 2020, wetland-related articles were supplemented to the Nature Reserve Law of the DRPK, enabling the better protection and management of wetland. HSF recognizes the need for cooperation among all involved nations in order to promote the significance of wetland protection and to also promote the importance of freshwater.