Land reclamation projects taking toll along Korea’s coast
Over the past two decades, around 20 percent of the tidal flats along South Korea’s western coast have disappeared, mainly due to work designed to reclaim the land for farming or development. At this rate, experts say, about half of the existing tidelands will vanish within five years. The forecast is based on a report by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, which looked at coastal reclamation work done over the past 20 years. According to the report, the area of the nation’s tidal flats declined from 1997 to 2006 by 19.3 percent, to 2,250 sq. km. The report found that 611 sq. km. of tidal flats disappeared during that time due to 337 reclamation projects. There are 267 more reclamation works currently underway, which experts see making an additional 1,044 sq. meters of tidelands disappear. Including ongoing and future reclamation plans, a total of 1,136 sq. km. of tideland, or 44.5 percent of such existing land, will vanish, the report said.The report showed that most of the reclaimed flats are being converted into arable land. Of the total land reclaimed, 73.5 percent was assigned for agriculture, followed by 10.4 percent for industrial purposes. South Jeolla Province had the largest share of reclamation work currently being done, with 29.7 percent of the nation’s tideland reclamation work taking place there. North Jeolla Province came next, followed by South Chungcheong Province, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon, meaning most of the reclamation projects are occurring along Korea’s west coast. The maritime ministry said that it plans to conduct a feasibility study of around 20 reclamation projects awaiting approval and step up cooperation with related government agencies to find ways of minimizing unnecessary damage to tidal flats. [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
