Excellent Case Study of Ecological Conservation through Proper Governance
Masterpiece of Nature and Time, Suncheon Bay Conservation Project (1997~present) ICLEI Korea Office Case Study Series No.11
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Mud flats comprise a unique ecological system incomparable to other ecological systems on Earth. The wetlands in Suncheon Bay are spread out extensively around streams and mud flats in the downstream region where the streams Dongcheon and Isacheon meet. Due to littering and government indifference, the bay remained abandoned for a long time. From the late 1990s, however, civic groups and the city government began to emphasize ecological and economic values, and this eventually led to more effective residentgovernment governance and cooperation with international societies that transformed Suncheon-Bay into a repository of marine ecology receiving both domestic and global recognition. Since the wetlands around the bay remain Korea’s only mud flats with salt marsh, they have high preservation value from the aspect of natural ecological history. In the area, the Reed and Chilmyeoncho communities are the dominant species and provide a habitat for many migratory birds. Many tourists also come to see reed fields in the region every year. The Suncheon-Bay conservation project is a combination of the efforts of the Suncheon city government, residents and the world to preserve natural resources. As of 2016, the city of Suncheon, while implementing projects suggested by residents with the Suncheon Bay Conservation Department playing the main role, is working hard to preserve its valuable natural assets for the benefit of succeeding generations.
Population 281,887 (October 2016) Area 910.43 square kilometers Budget KRW 1,073,367 million
Case Study Background of Implementation Mud flats are a unique ecological system incomparable to other ecological systems on Earth. Reclamation and landfills are the main causes of damaging mud flats in Korea. The country’s history of reclamation in Korea began in the 1200s in the Goryeo Dynasty period. The purpose of reclamation was to provide agricultural land for securing more food. Full-scale reclamation projects began while Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, and while such projects from national liberation in 1945 to the 1960s were mostly of a small scale to build agricultural land, the 1970s saw large-scale reclamation efforts for multiple purposes such as the formation of industrial land and securing of water available for use. The purpose of these projects was securing foods on the western and southern coasts in various scales and forms. From 2006, Suncheon Bay began to draw wide attention at home and abroad after its first participation in the Ramsar Convention as a national coastal wetland. The jar-shaped back bay is located at the center of the southern coast surrounded by the Yeosu and Goheung peninsulas that run north and south. In the early 1990s, Suncheon Bay was unfamiliar to most people as a place where the reeds of the Dongcheon Streamestuary, residents, and organisms in mud flats coexisted. Now, the bay is one of the leading ecological tourist attractions of the world's top five coastal wetlands: the eastern coasts of both the U.S. and Canada, the estuary of the Amazon River in Brazil and the coast of the North Sea in Europe. Suncheon Bay is famous as a repository of the ecosystem and natural habitat diversity with a varied topography covering 22.64 million square meters of mud flats, 536 square meters of reed fields, salt marshes, and islands in which about 340 species of plants coexist. More than ten years of efforts by residents, related organizations and the Suncheon city government that started in the late 1990s made it possible to discover and preserve the bay’s ecological value. Through this report on the case study of Suncheon Bay, ICLEI Korea Office seeks to share the secrets of a locally initiated conservation effort after finding an ecological value that is now an ecological tourist attraction thanks to a collaboration with the central government and international organizations.
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Ramsar Convention Wetlands are the world’s most productive ecosystem that supports life whose conservation is critical for biological, hydrographical and economic reasons. The proliferation of irrigation, landfills, and pollution is destroying wetlands in many areas around the globe. To halt this destruction, the International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau (IWRB) in 1960 held a series of international conferences and workinglevel (technology) conferences. The result of these discussions was the Ramsar Convention signed in Ramsar, Iran, on Feb. 2, 1971. The convention’s official name is Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat. The wetlands in the title refer to marshland, swamp, peatland, and water zones whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, standing or flowingor fresh, brackish or hydrous. They also include the seas in which the water level is under six meters at low tide. This convention acknowledges the important value of wetlands in the economy, culture, science, and leisure, and seeks to keep preventing gradual erosion and loss of wetlands under the perception that wetlands cannot be recovered after being lost. On July 28, 1997, Korea became the 101st country to sign the convention, joining 117 other nations that have 1,011 wetlands in an area of 71.8 million ha listed. Suncheon Bay was first registered as a coastal wetland in Korea on Jan. 20, 2006.
Progress and Results of Conservation Project Objectives The preservation of Suncheon Bay is a conservation and restoration project that began in the late 1990s. To keep the bay looking as it is, the first objective is an acknowledgment of the bay’s high ecological value, something that had been non-existent due to littering and government indifference. The second objective is establishing a sustainable and ecological tourist attraction that contributes to the regional economy via a wellpreserved ecological environment.
Progress and Results This conservation project utilizes the combined efforts of the Suncheon city government, civic groups, local residents, ecological experts and the world to preserve natural resources.
➊ New Value on Abandoned Land In 1992, the estuary of Suncheon Bay was an abandoned spot filled with litter. A year later, the area began gaining recognition after a resident group known to have prepared a project to restore the river channel of the Dongcheon Stream downstream and collect aggregate. To preserve the Reed field, civic groups and residents from the area asked that the project permit is canceled and for evaluations of the ecological and cultural value of the Reed field and the environmental effects of the estuary ecosystem. In 1996, experts conducted the first ecological study on the bay and shined the spotlight on the area’s ecological value by reporting the presence of internationally rare migratory birds, salt plants and the purifying function of the Reed field. Consequently, the project to collect aggregate was canceled in 1998, and the bay was designated as the Third Mud Flat Wetland Conservation Area by the Korean Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries on Jan. 31, 2003. Activity for the conservation of the Reed field at the mouth of Dongcheon Stream and efforts to oppose the aggregate collection project provided an opportunity to recognize the value of the Reed field and mud flats and made the bay an ecological resource representing Suncheon.
➋ Conservation of Wetlands and Mud Flats via Resident-government Governance Since 2005, Suncheon residents, civic groups, and the city government have jointly recognized the necessity of policy toward the sustainable conservation and use of Suncheon Bay. As a result, the Suncheon Bay mud flat (28㎢) and that in Boseong (10.3㎢)on Jan. 20, 2006, were registered under the name of “Suncheon Bay” as a Ramsar site (Ramsar Convention, Site No. 1594) within the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The same year, Korea Tourism Organization also designated Suncheon-bay as the country’s top tourist attraction for natural scenery appreciation, and as the government-designated cultural property Scenic Spot No. 41 on June 13, 2008. In 2011, the bay was dubbed a must-see scenic spot in “Michelin Green Guide: South Korea,” a world-famous travel guide. More recently in 2016, the European Union affiliates organization Green Destinations selected it one of the 100 Sustainable Ecological Tourist Attractions in the World. So Suncheon Bay is undoubtedly a leading ecological tourist attraction of Korea.
➌ Formation of Institutional Conservation Framework and Integrated Ecosystem Management Suncheon City Hall has designated Suncheon Bay as a natural ecological park and the area surrounding its mud flats and wetland of 773 ha as an ecosystem conservation area; the city also manages and protects the bay from unsustainable development. Also, restaurants and residences near the reed field were moved and car access by tourists was restricted amid environmental reconstruction and the execution of wetland restoration projects in landfills, agricultural land, and riverside areas as well as the building of paddy field
Urban Zone
Transition Zone
Suncheon Bay National Garden
Buffer Zone
Wetland Conservation area at the mouth of SuncheonDongcheonStream
Ecoreserved Zone
Wetland Conservation Area of Suncheon Bay Mudflats
(Picture1) Suncheon Bay Preservation Master Plan
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Timeline of Preservation Efforts for Suncheon Bay 1992 : Devised plan to maintain Dongcheon Stream downstream region (Suncheon Bay upper region) 1996 : Opposed Suncheon Bay's aggregation collection process 1997 : Observed internationally rare migratory birds including storks, white-naped cranes and black headed seagulls 1998 : Canceled Suncheon Bay’s aggregate collection permit 1998~2000 : Promoted residentgovernment governance 2000 : Began project to turn Suncheon Bay into natural ecological park 2003 : Designated wetland conservation area 2004 : Opened Suncheon Bay Eco Center 2006 : Marked Suncheon Bay’s designation as Ramsar site 2008 : Raised participation of residents Designated ecological conservation area Began a wetland restoration project Planned Suncheon Bay garden expo 2009 : Removed 282 telephone poles in agricultural land near Suncheon Bay Operated Black Crane Hope Agricultural Complex 2012 : Opened Suncheon Bay International Wetland Center 2013 : Held Suncheon Bay Garden Expo 2014 : Decided on a permanent exhibition of Suncheon Bay Garden 2015 : Marked Suncheon Bay Garden’s designation as Korea’s firstnational garden 2016 : Marked Dongcheon Stream estuary’s designation as Ramsar site
wetlands. In 2015, the city government designated paddy field wetlands at the mouth of Dongcheon downstream and that of the river as national wetland conservation areas covering 5.394㎢ and registered them as Ramsar wetlands in January 2016. Thus municipal authorities built an integrated wetland management system that connects the major ecological axes of coastal, estuary and paddy field wetlands.
Results Overcoming the clash between development and conservation in the late 1990s, Suncheon municipal authorities chose the smart way to preserve nature with residents. The fruit of such efforts is that Suncheon Bay is now a crucial ecological resource offering social and economic benefits while preserving environmental value in the region. Environmental Value Fish spawning ground, habitat for shellfish, waterfowl and wildlife, water quality preservation (filter pollutants, remove soil, produce oxygen and circulate nutrient salts), improvement of underwater productivity and
Social and Economic Value Flood control, prevention of marine disasters, management of coastal erosion, supervision and re-provision of subterranean water, provision of lumber and natural resources, livestock feed, esthetical value, subjects for educational and scientific research, and
fine adjustment of climate
cultural and archaeological assets
Follow-up Maintenance ➊ Conservation Project Conducted with Suncheon Bay Residents The participation of and recognition promotion by stakeholders including residents are critical for the smart and sustainable use of wetlands. Suncheon City Hall enacted a bylaw on conserving Suncheon Bay wetlands for the bay’s permanent conservation and has used 10 percent of the revenue generated by such wetlands and Suncheon National Garden for the conservation project. The Suncheon Bay Wetland Committee, which is composed of 20 members including national and international experts on the wetland ecosystem, and representatives from resident groups and NGOs, was formed in 2007 and boosted support for the effective conservation and wise use of Suncheon Bay and reinforced the role of expert consultation. The Resident Participation Subcommittee reviews and consults on resident participation contests and the Reeds Festival Subcommittee induces resident-government co-participation in the planning stage and encourages participation of ecological committee members for a successful ecological festival.
➋ Management through Solidarity with Civic Groups Residents are encouraged to actively participate in making Suncheon a beautiful ecological city by collaborating with civic groups like Green Suncheon 21, the Suncheon Environmental Movement Association, Jeonnam Eastern Regional Society Research Institute and the Korean Wildlife Rescue Center. Since 2015, a contest for residents of the Suncheon Bay area attracts volunteers and expands the participation of residents and social groups in the city to promote private projects for wetland conservation. The contest seeks villagespecific projects for wetland conservation, monitors the process of project implementation and publishes a white paper on the project’s implementation, accomplishments, trial and error, and voices in the field.
Results and Accomplishments ➊ Topography of Suncheon Bay Preserved in Natural State Dongcheon Stream, which starts from Songchibong Peak in the village of Cheongso-ri of the township of Seomyeon, Suncheon, passes through the city center and flows into Suncheon Bay. The reclaimed flood plain and mud flats in the stream’s estuary area are used as agricultural land. The waterway was formed while the freely winding Dongcheon and Isacheon streams wind freely were straightened, so a bank was built, an agricultural land created and the waterway changed. The old waterway remains in the form of winding streams in many areas and has lost its function as a river, but acts as a channel for water intake, drainage, and reservoir. In low tide, a wide mud flat appearing around the estuary serves as a sanctuary for migratory birds, and the Dongcheon Stream estuary becomes a deep tidal channel. Wide mud flats in Suncheon Bay differ in appearance to those of the western coast, where embayment is open.
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Suncheon Bay is blocked by the distal ends of the Yeosu and Goheung peninsulas, with a narrow entrance and wide inside and shaped like an upside-down gourd bottle. The enclosed-typed bay’s characteristic is that materials provided from the inside cannot easily move to the outside and materials provided from the outside cannot move to the inside, either. Thus the flow of materials to the outside is limited and mud flats show a system of materials provided from a gneiss mountainous site in the rear being independently provided and moved. Suncheon Bay mud flats cover 22.21㎢(mud 21.97㎢ and mud and sand mixture 0.24㎢) and the reeds community is 2.3㎢.
➋ Sanctuary for Migratory Birds
(Picture2) Waterway in Suncheon Bay
In the Suncheon Bay area, many villages and regions are named after birds like the villages of Haksan-ri, Seonhak-ri and Songhak-ri, the neighborhood of Hakdong and the valley of Hwangsae-gol. Since old times, songhak in Korean has meant “stork” and hak “crane.” It is no coincidence that Suncheon Bay is now an important habitat for migratory birds including the hooded crane. The bay is a wetland with various habitats that include brackish zone, salt marsh, a wide reed field and mud flats where birds of 239 species, 54 families, and 17 orders can be observed. Among them, 33 species are in danger of extinction and survive depending on the bay’s natural character. Thousands of waterfowl such as the hooded crane, common crane, white-naped crane, spoonbill, Saunder's gull, oxbird, whooper swan and Sheldrake spend winter in this area. In spring and fall, numerous plovers like the spoonbill, Whimbrel, greenshank, Terek Sandpiper, Eastern curlew, Indian Curlew, gray Plover, Kentish plover and lesser sand plover use the area as a middle stopover for moving between Siberia and Australia. The hooded crane, the official bird of the city of Suncheon, migrates in winter and visits the bay every October, spends winter there for about six months and leaves near the end of March the next year. The bird in traditional Korean culture symbolizes a grace a loof from others, the spirit of the classic scholar, long life and good luck, conjugal love, and nobility. Since an estimated 70 of the birds were first observed to spend winter in Suncheon Bay in November 1996, the implementation of the conservation project has resulted in the continuous rise in the number of crane species that spend winter in Suncheon Bay, with 1,418 coming in 2015. Since that year, Suncheon has become the city of a thousand cranes.
1600
1418
1400 1200 871
1000 693
800 600 400 200 0
350 70
202
1996
2004
2009
2012
2013
2015
Change in No. of Cranes in Suncheon Bay
➌ Model City for Ecological Tourism in Korea Suncheon in 2016 saw 7,917,955 tourists, up 3.1 percent from 7,679,487 in 2015. The target for 2017 is nine million. Tourism attraction efforts including the hosting of the Natural Environment Art Festival, Suncheon Bay Reeds Festival and Starlight Festival at Suncheon Bay National Garden and wetlands, as well as the appeal of the surrounding natural environment. Thanks to the uniqueness of the garden, tourist attractions, and customized tourism policy, the number of visitors and school excursion groups going to Suncheon is steadily increasing. With 2017 marking the 20th anniversary of the Suncheon Bay restoration project, Suncheon has emerged as a prime destination for ecological tourism and a benchmark for local governments in the country for the pursuit of sustainable and ecological tourism.
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(Picture3) Scenic View of Suncheon Bay National Garden
Remaining Tasks As Suncheon Bay’s brand power grew, the sense of relative deprivation and alienation by residents was high. After wetland conservation by-laws were enacted, however, efforts went toward improving resident satisfaction. Part of the bay’s revenue was invested in residents and environmental movements were implemented to energize village community and enhance biodiversity. Through continuous projects for restoration of ecology and village culture, raising residents' self-esteem and finding a project to restore village-specific ecological restoration will be needed to improve the quality of life for residents.
Lessons Learned & Benchmarking Tips ➊ Listening to Residents Residents of the Suncheon Bay area were the first to acknowledge the bay’s ecological and economical value and press for conservation. Starting with the inaugural Suncheon Reeds Festival to preserve the ecosystem and oppose aggregate collection in the area, they publicized the necessity of wetland conservation both at home and abroad. Suncheon Municipality canceled the permit of the reconstruction project for the Dongcheon Stream channel and began full-scale wetland conversation starting with the Bay's designation as a national area for wetland conservation. Through cultivation projects with residents, designation of the area near the conservation area as an ecological conservation district, and relocation of restaurants, stores and residences near Suncheon Bay, the city government and residents have propelled preservation of the area in its natural state.
➋ International Exchange and Collaboration Since 2007, Suncheon City Hall has promoted the conservation project and sought to introduce international trends by holding international conferences like the International Symposium for the Advancement of Coastal Management, International Symposium for Hooded Crane Habitat Conservation, International Wetlands NGO Conference to Celebrate the Ramsar General Meeting, the second regional meeting of Wetland Link International (WLI) Asia, a workshop marking International Migratory Bird Day, Northeast Asia Marine Sanctuary Network Meeting and Wetland Manager Workshop in Asian Developing Countries. When the Suncheon Bay International Garden Exposition was held in 2013, the event’s organizing committee and ICLEI Korea Office jointly hosted the 2013 Biodiversity International Forum under the theme “Making a Sustainable City through Biodiversity Conservation.” Based on this, Suncheon's biodiversity strategy in 2014 was shared with international experts at the Biodiversity Summit for Cities and Sub-national Governments 2014 held in Gangwon Province. Meanwhile, the Wetlands Conservation Act was enacted in Korea to implement the Ramsar Convention after Korea joined the convention in 1997. As of January 2016, 35 places (Ministry of Environment 21 places, Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries 11 and three places designated by cities and provinces) have been designated wetland conservation areas and managed by the law. Suncheon Bay, designated a wetland conservation area in December 2003, joined the Northeast Asia Crane Conservation International Network in 2004 and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) in 2009. In May 2016, the Bay hosted the World Migratory Bird Celebration and a workshop with EAAFP. On March 11, 2016, the Ramsar Regional Center - East Asia was opened in Suncheon as the first international organization to be based in the Honam region comprising Gwangju and the Jeollabuk & Jeollanam provinces; this sets the foundation for Korea to lead Ramsar wetland conservation activity in 17 regions of East and Southeast Asia.
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ICLEI’s mission is to start and support local government movements around the globe for practical improvement of e n v i r o n m e n t- f o c u s e d sustainability based on accumulated local activities.
➌ Devising Proper Institutional Strategy The preservation of a broad area requires more than just regional efforts and promises. Suncheon Bay was designated and notified as a national area for wetland conservation by the Wetlands Conservation Act, and ensuing legal measures sought to secure the area’s sustainability including the issuance of permits for common fishing ground in villages. To alleviate pressure for development of agricultural land near Suncheon Bay in advance, the surrounding over land areas were designated an ecosystem conservation district and national area for wetland conservation in December 2015. It was registered as a Ramsar site in 2016 and has been managed as such.
Budget and Finances
The case study series of ICLEI’s Korea Office is supported by ICLEI Korea member local governments and seeks to find and introduce sustainable development policy and project cases for such governments. The aim is to share this series with everyone working in each area of Korean society for sustainable development, including local governments and Local Agenda 21.
The Suncheon Bay Conservation Department of Suncheon City Hall is spending a considerable amount of budget for the Suncheon Bay Conservation Project. A review of the relevant budget’s last five years shows that the city's annual budget is about KRW 4 billion, with a special budget also compiled every year. This budget also includes the cost of the resident contest project. The city spent KRW 100 million in 2015 and KRW 200 million in 2016 for projects conducted with residents; expansion of the budget to KRW 300 million is planned for 2018. 2012-16 Budget for Suncheon Bay Conservation Project
Item
Budget for Suncheon Bay over last 5 years Year Total
Suncheon Bay Manage -ment Budget
Nat’l cost Provincial cost
2012 4,425,859
2013
2014
2015
4,986,416
3,257,620
4,177,794
6,751,895
50,000
2,050,000
3,777,794
4,701,895
35,000 17,500
580,000
165,000
City cost
3,878,359
4,406,416
3,092,620
Special accounting
495,000
2016
Notes
350,000
References
For more information on the case study series, please contact Kang Jeongmuk, Manager of Policy & Knowledge Management Team.
Wetlands Conservation Area Project for Residents' Happiness (focusing on contest for Suncheon Bay resident participation) Suncheon Bay Story, Suncheon City Suncheon Bay Conservation Dept. 2016, Suncheon City, “Suncheon Bay Wetland Conservation: Programs and Policies of Suncheon Bay,” Suncheon City Hall’s presentation materials for 2016 Ecosystem Service Asia General Meeting Suncheon Bay Wetland: http://www.suncheonbay.go.kr/ Suncheon Bay National Garden: http://www.scgardens.or.kr/
(031-255-3257, jeongmuk.kang@iclei.org)
Written and edited by Kang Jeongmuk, Manager, Policy & Knowledge Management Team, ICLEI Korea Office (Enlish Version) Edited by Ko Hyjin, Program Officer, Policy & Knowledge Management Team, ICLEI Korea Office Special thanks go to Hwang Soon-mi, action officer at the Suncheon Bay Conservation Department of Suncheon City Hall, for providing basic references and relevant project information and overseeing the manuscript for the case study.
Local Governments for Sustainability, ICLEI Korea Office Local Governments for Sustainability, ICLEI Korea Office 3F, Suwon City Research Institute, 126, Suin-ro, Gwonsun-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do 16429 Tel: (031) 255-3257 Fax: (031) 256-3257 Email: iclei.korea@iclei.org www.icleikorea.org / www.iclei.org www.facebook.com/ICLEI.KOREA.ORG Twitter ID: @ICLEIKOREA
www.icleikorea.org / www.iclei.org
ICLEI Korea Office Case Study Series No. 11 •Published date : Sep. 1, 2017 •Publisher : Park Yeon-hee •Writer : Kang Jeongmuk •English editor : Ko Hyejin •Published by ICLEI Korea Office