{"id":21981,"date":"2019-05-17T11:12:12","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T02:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=21981"},"modified":"2019-05-17T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T02:23:08","slug":"incheon-songdo-wetland-may-10-designation-as-flyway-network-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=21981","title":{"rendered":"Incheon Songdo Wetland, May 10 \u2013 Designation as Flyway Network Site"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dr. Bernhard Seliger with Maria Seliger<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, May 10, on occasion of the World Migratory Bird Day, in Songdo, Incheon the East Asian Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) celebrated the 10th<\/sup> anniversary of the EAAFP Secretariat. Among the guests were Cho Myung-Rae, Minister of Environment of the Republic of Korea, Park Nam-Chun, Mayor of Incheon, Martha Rojas, Secretary-General fo the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, and Pete Probasco, Chair of the EAAFP. Also Dr. Bernhard Seliger of Hanns-Seidel-Foundation Korea, partner of the EAAFP since 2017, joined the conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the\nhighlights of the conference was the designation of two new Flyway Network\nSites in the Republic of Korea, Incheon Songdo Wetland and Janghang Wetland\nnear the inner-Korean border area. Flyway Network sites are sites of\noutstanding importance on the East Asian \u2013 Pacific flyway. Out of thousands\nsuch sites, 145 are forming a special network and are working together for the\nsafe migration of certain species of waterbirds. While the designation itself\nhas no direct legal impact for the site, it is a strong indication that site\nmanagers and the underlying administrative structure, e.g. local governments, national\npark services, or environmental departments and ministries, are committed to\nthe protection of a certain site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take for example\nIncheon Songdo: once one of the most productive and important wetlands on the\nKorean Peninsula, the reclamation of Songdo for creating the new ultra-modern\nurban area dramatically reduced the wetland. Ironically, afterwards global\nenvironmental institutions like the EAAFP and the Green Climate Fund settled\ndown in Songdo. Fortunately, some areas remained and some new one, like the\nbreeding colony of Black-Faced Spoonbills, were added. The addition of Incheon\nSongdo Wetland to the list of Flyway Network sites does not solve all problems.\nStill, the ever-increasing trade and harbor development threaten the small\nremaining wetlands. But to recognize their importance is a first stop for\nbetter awareness and better protection of the sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A visit to Songdo wetland at the morning before the conference confirmed the importance for shorebirds and other rare seabirds, with Black-Faced Spoonbills, Saunders\u2019 gulls, Far Eastern Curlews, Whimbrels, Ruddy Turnstones, thousands of Dunlins, Grey Plovers, Mongolian Plovers, Great Egrets, Little Egrets, Common Greenshanks, Little Ringed Plovers, Terek Sandpipers, Black-winged Stilts and other species still being present nearly at the end of the migration period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dunlins (Calidris alpina<\/em><\/strong>) in Songdo \u00a9 Bernhard Seliger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres<\/em><\/strong> \u00a9 Bernhard Seliger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola<\/em><\/strong> \u00a9 Bernhard Seliger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus<\/em><\/strong> \u00a9 Maria Seliger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Black-Faced Spoonbills (Platalea minor<\/em><\/strong>) and Grey Herons (Ardea cinerea<\/em><\/strong>) \u00a9 Maria Seliger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Development pressure is great, but the designation as a Flyway Network Site could help raise awareness for the importance of Songdo wetland \u00a9 Maria Seliger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Designation of Songdo Tidal Flat as a Flyway Network Site at the EAAFP Conference \u00a9 Bernhard Seliger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Bernhard Seliger with Maria Seliger On Friday, May 10, on occasion of the World Migratory Bird Day, in Songdo, Incheon the East Asian Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) celebrated the 10th anniversary of the EAAFP Secretariat. Among the guests were … read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":21990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21981"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21998,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21981\/revisions\/21998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}