Korean demilitarized zone now a wildlife haven

Policy experts, environmentalists, and representatives of various governments gathered in South Korea late last month for a DMZ symposium. It preceded the 10th Ramsar Convention on Wetland Conservation, also hosted here this year. What emerged from these two events was the most promising show of support yet for the zone’s official preservation, says Kim Ke-chung, a native South Korean and director of Penn State’s Center for BioDiversity Research in University Park.

Breaking with their former pro-development stance regarding their CCZ territories, the provinces neighboring the DMZ now show serious interest in conservation. South Korea’s Ministry of Environment, as well as NGOs by the dozen are also in support. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s opening speech at Ramsar about the need to work jointly with North Korea to address environmental issues and make green growth a policy focus gave the clearest signal that a paradigm shift is under way.

After five decades of South Korea’s hyperspeed development, when environmental sustainability was an afterthought at best, the government has begun to tap the brakes on its growth-at-all-costs policy.

“For the first time, the Korean government has taken on DMZ conservation as a national agenda,” says Dr. Kim, a cofounder of the DMZ Forum and former professor of etymology at Penn State.

Despite the newfound support, conservationists say that some development must occur within this valuable real estate to bring greater economic opportunity to CCZ residents.

“Simply conserving the DMZ is not politically feasible,” says Park Eun-jin, a research fellow at Gyeonggi Research Institute in Suwon, South Korea, which is developing conservation plans. “We have to create economic benefits for communities or support won’t exist.”

One popular scenario goes like this: South Korea officially protects the CCZ and establishes it and the DMZ as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site. Educational and low-impact ecotourism sites spring up. Next, North Korea works with South Korea to take similar steps to protect its adjacent territory. Ultimately, the separate sites are connected as one contiguous nature park, with the DMZ at its center.

The Korea Tourism Development Insti­tute says some 1.2 million people visit the DMZ annually, including nearly 20 percent of all foreign visitors. While the area’s history draws much of the crowd, conservationists say interest, and tourist spending, will rise markedly if it were to also become a nature reserve.

Cooperation could hasten peace
There are myriad hurdles to creating any large nature park, but those facing the DMZ are unique. About 1 million land mines would need to be cleared, along with the remains of fallen soldiers and the detritus of war. Prewar land claims would need to be settled. These may raise complex legal and logistical issues.

The biggest obstacle, though, is North Korean strongman Kim Jung-il, whose erratic leadership can stall progress at a whim. Without North Korean cooperation, which has been less than exuberant, this ecological time capsule can only be partially protected. The North’s recent threat to cut off all overland crossings with South Korea next month shows the vulnerability of this bilateral diplomacy.

But there is hope, says Kim Hyun, senior program officer at the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

“The North Koreans have been open to environmental conservation activities in the past, and are interested in getting more involved,” says Mr. Kim. He has worked with North Korean conservationists before and is now planning future IUCN environmental projects there.

Cooperation could foster peace. “The two Koreas coming together on this issue would incur tremendous goodwill and a surge of investment into both countries,” says author Weisman. “It could even help bring peace to the peninsula.”

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