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The Honorable Roh Moo Hyun, President RE: Please protect Saemangeum tidal flat Dear President: I am deeply concerned regarding the fate of the Saemangeum tidal flat, one of the world’s most ecologically important mudflats and critical habitat for many endangered migratory shorebirds. I join the great majority of South Korean citizens who oppose completion of the Saemangeum Reclamation Project, which would destroy this incredible ecosystem as well as the livelihood of many thousands of fishermen. The Saemangeum tidal flat, which formed over many thousands of years, is teaming with fish, shellfish and invertebrates. The mudflats support over 25,000 small-scale fishermen and their families. Saemangeum also provides the most important feeding ground for hundreds of thousands of shorebirds that migrate between Australia and the Arctic. The Ramsar Convention defines as “wetlands of international importance” those used regularly by 20,000 shorebirds. Saemangeum is used by over 500,000 shorebirds per year. Thirty species of waterbird are supported in internationally important concentrations at Saemangeum – more than any other site in Korea. In 1991 your government began building a 33-kilometer sea wall to cut the flow of seawater across the Saemangeum mudflats and “reclaim” them for agricultural use. Against the advice of your government’s own 2001 Expert Review Panel, and in spite of a decade of public demonstrations, construction has continued on the sea wall, now 75% complete. If completed as scheduled in 2005, the sea wall would be the world’s longest and would destroy a 208-square-kilometer ecosystem that is Korea’s most important wetland. The Yellow Sea fishery would lose a major spawning ground, and ornithologists believe that a tenth of the visiting bird populations would perish for lack of sustenance. I applaud your government for its commitment to the Ramsar Convention for Wetlands and the Convention on Biological Diversity. I now urge you to fulfill these commitments by immediately halting construction of the Saemangeum sea wall, canceling the reclamation project, and establishing a Ramsar protected area for migratory birds. I will join millions of concerned citizens around the world in continuing to monitor this situation very closely. Most Sincerely,
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