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A statement released by the World Wetland Network, an alliance of 145 NGOs around the world, calling for the dismantlement of the weirs on four major rivers. (provided by the Citizens’ Committee for Returning the Four Rivers to Their Natural State)
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The World Wetland Network calls for demolition of weirs
Some 160 NGOs around the world have released statements supporting the South Korean government’s efforts to demolish the weirs on four major rivers in the country and to return those rivers to their natural state. The next question is whether the statement will accelerate related discussion inside the government.
The Citizens’ Committee for Returning the Four Rivers to Their Natural State announced on June 6 that some 20 NGOs in countries around the world, in regions such as Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, have released a joint statement supporting the South Korean government’s policy of dismantling the weirs on the four rivers to restore the rivers to their natural state.
“The problem of the Four Rivers does not only belong to Korea. In the era when environmental deterioration and climate change have become global agendas, we all must protect our natural ecosystem across and beyond all borders. So it is with the Four Rivers. The rivers of Korea are also the rivers of the earth, a priceless ‘wealth’ that we must protect and nurture together for our own sustainable future,” the NGOs said, explaining why they’d released the statement.
The NGOs also expressed their support for demolishing the weirs on the four rivers. “Many countries around the world are pushing for restoration to natural rivers through the dismantling of weirs and dams. We hope that the Korean government will continue to pursue the policy of restoring the naturalness of the four rivers sharing the trend of international river management policy,” the statement said.
In February, a planning committee at the Ministry of Environment charged with surveying and assessing the four rivers released a draft report recommending that some of the weirs on the Geum River and the Yeongsan River be dismantled.
The World Wetland Network and Ramsar Network Japan, a coalition of Japanese groups for the conservation of wetlands, sent the Citizens’ Committee a separate statement supporting the policy of restoring the natural state of the four rivers. The World Wetland Network, an alliance of 145 NGOs around the world, represents international civic society at the Conference of the Contracting Parties for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, an international treaty framed to conserve wetlands. NGOs’ votes during the 2012 Ramsar conference helped select the four river project as the recipient of the Grey Globe Award, a dubious distinction that shines a spotlight on policies that have the effect of destroying wetlands.
The Citizens’ Committee is planning to soon forward the NGOs’ statement to the government.
By Choi Ye-rin, staff reporter
Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
