. | . |
SKorea announces new 14.2 bln dlr plan to develop wetlands
Seoul (AFP) Oct 21, 2008 South Korea on Tuesday announced an amended 18.9 trillion won (14.2 billion dollar) plan for developing a vast wetland area on its southwest coast, fuelling fears of environmental damage. The tidal area around Saemangeum estuary was dammed in 2006 following a long fight between the government and environmentalists, who said the reclamation project would deprive migratory birds of a key habitat and pose water pollution risks. A new plan approved by the cabinet will see more of the reclamation developed and less used for farmland than was originally envisaged. It is also twice as expensive as the original plan. The new plan calls for 30 percent of the 18,410 hectare (45,473 acre) site to be used for non-agricultural purposes, 39 percent for farming and the rest unspecified to provide flexibility in the future. The old plan would have seen development of 70 percent of the land for farming. Agriculture in South Korea has become less competitive in recent years because of the small amount of available arable land and high production costs. The new plan envisions a two-stage approach that would permit the building of factories, power plants, tourism and resort zones by 2020. A further 9,890 hectares of reclaimed land will be developed from 2021. Of the total budget, 12.1 trillion won will be used to prepare land, 4.4 trillion for building infrastructure such as roads, railways and port facilities, and 2.4 trillion won for environmental projects. Lee Bong-Ho, head of the agriculture ministry's farmland development division, said 7.8 trillion won would come from the central government, 10.6 trillion won from the private sector and 500 billion from local government. Saemangeum estuary sits at the mouths of two rivers, the Mangyeong and Dongjin. The completion of the 33-kilometre (21 mile) seawall in April 2006 has interrupted the flows of the rivers, which critics say has increased pollution risks. Activists charge the amended project is worse than the original. "The central government and the provincial governments have spent a lot of tax money for purifying the two rivers but there is no sign of any progress," the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement said in a statement. "Under these circumstances, water pollution will only get worse if industrial facilities and commuter towns, instead of farmland, pop up on a large scale." Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Forestry News - Global and Local News, Science and Application
When It Comes To Forest Soil, Wildfires Pack 1-2 Punch Portland OR (SPX) Oct 21, 2008 For decades, scientists and resource managers have known that wildfires affect forest soils, evidenced, in part, by the erosion that often occurs after a fire kills vegetation and disrupts soil structure. But, the lack of detailed knowledge of forest soils before they are burned by wildfire has hampered efforts to understand fire's effects on soil fertility and forest ecology. |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |