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  PlanetArk 15 May 07
South Korea Land Reclaim Starves Shore Birds - Studies
Story by Jon Herskovitz

 BBC 12 May 07
Birds 'starve' at South Korea wetland

Tens of thousands of migratory birds are facing starvation in South Korea, the UK-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) says.

The group says a land reclamation project has destroyed key wetlands used by the birds on their way from Asia to their breeding grounds in the Arctic. Without the food at the Saemangeum wetlands, on the east coast, many of the birds will not survive the journey.

Two endangered species of wading bird face extinction because of the changes. There are believed to be fewer than 1,000 mature spoonbilled sandpipers and Nordmann's greenshanks left in the wild.

The RSPB and other wildlife and conservation groups are highlighting the environmental problems at Saemangeum to mark World Migratory Birds Day. 'Motorway service station' Saemangeum was once an estuarine tidal flat on South Korea's Yellow Sea coast.

It was an important feeding ground for about 400,000 migrating birds making their way on a 24,000km round-trip between Asia and Alaska and Russia.

But 15 years ago, the government revealed plans for the world's biggest land reclamation project in order to drain the estuary and create fertile paddy fields. After a succession of legal challenges from conservationists, the 33km sea wall was finally closed a year ago.

Since then, according to the RSPB, the vast wetlands have been replaced by parched earth, shellfish beds and plants have been destroyed, and thousands of birds are starving as a result.

"What we've lost here is one of the jewels in the crown of wetland habitats," Sarah Dawkins, who is monitoring the impact of the sea wall on birds, told the BBC.

"The Yellow Sea is an amazingly important stopover point for birds travelling up from places like New Zealand and Australia to their breeding grounds in the Arctic." "And Saemangeum was one of the most important areas in the Yellow Sea."

Ms Dawkins said the birds relied on the tidal flats at Saemangeum as somewhere where they could land and "refuel" after a nine-day flight from New Zealand.

"It's a bit like losing a motorway service station and then your car running out of petrol," she explained.

Despite the damage, Ms Dawkins said there was still hope for the wetlands if the two sluice gates built into the sea wall were opened.

"That would restore a few thousand hectares of estuary system within Saemangeum and that would be at least something to help the birds," she said. "The birds are still here. They're still coming."

"I think we really do need to still try to save some of their habitat."

Ms Dawkins also said it was critically important to mount a global effort to safeguard other estuaries around Saemangeum, one of which the government is planning to reclaim.

PlanetArk 15 May 07
South Korea Land Reclaim Starves Shore Birds - Studies
Story by Jon Herskovitz

SOUTH KOREA: May 15, 2007 SEOUL - Migratory shore birds are starving and at least two species face extinction as a result of a huge South Korean land reclamation project, two environmental studies said.

The Saemangeum land reclamation, completed on the west coast last year and covering about 400 square kms (155 sq miles), has removed one of the largest feeding grounds on the Yellow Sea for 400,000 migratory birds who pass by a year, Birds Korea and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSBP) said.

"The Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann's Greenshank face extinction as their remaining populations rely on the tidal-flats of the Yellow Sea and on Saemangeum in particular, UK-based RSBP said in a report at the weekend.

The two groups said the project has led to a loss shellfish, fish and plants for the shore birds who used to stop there during their journeys between Russia and Asia.

Some species, such as the Great Knot, may not be able to put on weight and their breeding may suffer.

"These birds could be too poorly fed this year to survive their final flight north," it said. Lee Jeong-yeon, an official with the South Korean government affiliated National Institute of Environmental Research, agreed the reclamation project had hurt migratory birds.

But he said the wetlands had not been completely destroyed and that the government was trying to develop nearby wetlands to make sure the birds can find food during their trips.

South Korea, now one of the world's largest economies, launched its reclamation projects decades ago to increase its farm land when it was a poor country trying to rise from the ashes of the 1950-1953 Korean War to feed itself.

Bird Korea, which has conducted counts in the Saemangeum area, said the number of shore birds which have visited for the current March to May migration season has been about 50,000 so far, down from 150,000 in the same period a year ago.

Nial Moores, a U.K.-born conservationist who is the director environmental group, did not accept the government's argument that the shore birds would find new places to stop.

"They are not fit to support these huge concentrations of birds that Saemangeum supported in the past. They are not big enough. They are not productive enough. They are not diverse enough," Moores said.

(With additional reporting from Jessica Kim)
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