Dr Nial Moores, National Director, Birds Korea
Bird and wetland conservation needs good data; resolve and honesty; and the development of plans and designs that can help many people to benefit over the long-term rather than merely profit a very few in the short-term.
As our members know, Birds Korea and Birds Korea Yeoncheon have therefore been working with Yeoncheon County in the highly-important Yeoncheon Imjin Biosphere Reserve for several years now, gathering data; and making conservation proposals. As part of our approach, in 2023 and 2024 we then helped to build an expert environmental planning collaboration which now includes Birds Korea and Birds Korea Yeoncheon, Yeoncheon County, a team from the University of California, Berkeley, led by Professor Emeritus Randy Hester and Professor Matt Kondolf, and the distinguished CEO of the company Land Aura in Seoul, Ms. Oh Han-Na.
This year, this collaboration has been working both in the USA and in the ROK on refining proposals for the proposed Jeongok Wetlands Park (formerly called the “spoonbills project”: fuller details in English, here and in Korean, here) presented at the very successful international symposium on Scaly-sided Merganser last year; and on developing a wider (Biosphere Reserve-wide) Vision Plan, which aims both to conserve biodiversity and to grow tourism and opportunities for green business throughout Yeoncheon County. Both of these proposals were developed further first through coursework at UCB in February and March (2024), and then under contract with Yeoncheon County.
Now, Birds Korea is delighted to inform our members and ALL those interested in environmental design and conservation planning that the team from the University of California Berkeley will re-visit Yeoncheon County in early August, to share progress at an international symposium, to be held on August 2nd.
In addition to this symposium and informal opportunities to meet and discuss, two additional dedicated work sessions will also be held.
The first session, to be held at County Hall on August 1st, is for experienced practitioners and academics with an interest in ecological restoration and planning; and the second session, to be held at a cafe on August 3rd, is aimed more at environmental educators, university students, local people and anyone with a deep interest in biodiversity conservation through planning and design. We would love for you to involve!
Because the number of places at the Work Sessions is limited, please mail < Nial.Moores at birdskorea.org >before July 25th.
Thank you, and hope to see you there!
