By SHELTON BUMGARNER
Marmot’s Hole Guest Blogger
CNN founder and “Mouth of the South” Ted Turner visited Pyongyang Saturday to broach the subject of turning the DMZ into a nature reserve.
Turner’s hometown newspaper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, provides some detail:
Phillip Evans, a Turner spokesman, said Turner planned to visit North Korea for a day or two “to promote the idea of north-south cooperation in restoring environmental integrity on the peninsula,” with a particular emphasis on preserving the unique ecosystem in the demilitarized zone, or DMZ. He said Turner and others were pushing a plan to restore and conserve habitats and “strengthen local community residents through sustainable farming.”
[...]
About 80 species of fish thrive in DMZ rivers, including at least 10 found nowhere else on Earth, said Hall Healy of Facilitated Solutions International, an environmental consulting company. He said it makes sense to plan now to protect the DMZ’s ecosystem rather than risking its economic development in the event of Korean unification or other events.
Hundreds of kinds of birds, including the endangered white-naped and red-necked cranes, fly over a ribbon of land roughly two miles wide, above leopards and Asiatic black bears and maybe tigers ?? scientists do not know for sure because few humans have ventured into the DMZ in the last half century.
14 Comments
leopards and Asiatic black bears and maybe tigers
I want some of what these guys are smoking. Besides, the idea of turning the Z into a nature preserve wasn’t thought of yesterday, although now that CNN Ted is on it I’d say it’s less likely to happen.
I haven’t studied up much on the DMZ’s ecology, but I have heard that there is some dispute about the amount and diversity of species there–also, it’s probably a highly toxic area filled with unexploded ordinance, land mines, fuel spills and god knows what else.
What a grand suggestion — a pleasant nature reserve for the starving and the tortured. I am sure that biodiversity is top of mind for the masses in the DPRK.
Why is it that when a famous guy tries to use his fame for a good cause we shit on him. I’ve never been a big T.Turner fan (my Blue Jays DID beat his braves back in ‘92, if you’ll recall!^^ and we hated him during that series), but i think he’s at least garnering the issue some publicity.
Wedge is correct when he says the idea is not new.
In fact, the area already is a nature preserve b/c no development can take place there. I’ve been to Chorwon and it’s beautiful. And, for what it’s worth, the DPRK over the years has consistently been much clearer on their position for what should happen to the DMZ than the ROK.
Yeah, it’s easy to pick on Turner, especially having Hanoi Jane as an ex-wife and giving $1 billion to the United Nations of Sinecures and Corruption. Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean I’ll stop, though.
Now it?s the first issue what is most comparable to the German unification: How to preserve the nature along the former border zone. What makes this zone so interesting is that the impact of agriculture was at a minimum. The vegetation in Germany changed most or a lot because of the massive use of fertilizer. Plants, those who need open fields were outcompeted by fast growing ones in the spring time etc.. I don?t know the current situation in the DMZ but I think it?s comparable.
But to keep this status one don?t need a master plan, or protection plan, or signs with: Trespassing prohibited!
Nice idea and a historic opportunity to preserve land that has been almost untouched for many years. However, the cultural implications need to be taken into account. If/when Korea is unified, the border preserve could be seen as a scar upon Korea’s history. It also would still be a post-unification dividing line for the country. Selected pieces of the DMZ would be appropriate but not the majority of the land there. For the Norks, it would be nice in that they can see what uneroded hills look like.
I’ve seen a few stories that say “any animal heavy enough to set off a land mine no longer lives in the DMZ,” so they could call it “Nature Lite Preserve.” Seriously, wouldn’t the DMZ need major remediation, even for the animals there?
I’ve wondered about that, too, foreigner (#9), but is that really what we’re talking about? Don’t the mines require a certain amount of weight put on them, something close to adult human weight? And if that’s true, are there other mammals on the DMZ that could set one of those off? A korani deer or a wild boar, for example, might weigh nearly that of a human, but the weight is distributed over four legs, not two, so when it is stepped on, the entire weight of the animal is not there, thus it might not set it off. I’m just thinking out loud is all… I think this was covered in a nature documentary I worked on, but I think the answer was that most of the animals would not be affected.
Nature preserve tourists, on the other hand…
I linked this story to my new Asia blog “The Asianist” here, but I don’t seem to be able to do a trackback to it. Can someone instruct me on how to do that? Thanks.
James
aka Guns and Butter
aka The Asianist
Turner gave 1 billion dollars from his own pockets. What’s so bad about that? UN is such an evil organization that it is morally bankrupt to write 1 billion dollar checks to UN? Are you suggesting that Turner or any civic minded moral person would work hard to destroy the institution that is the UN? Bottom line is that SOMEBODY has to talk about what will happen to that strip of land. Of course, whether or not anyone talks about what they will do to teh DMZ, it’s just too dangerous and expensive to convert that land for practical use. They are going to be finding land mines in there for ages and ages to come.
It’s as if everyone’s mad that Turner isn’t going to the DPRK to talk about human rights and they automatically think Turner=Liberal=Evil Ergo by Transitive Property Turner’s actions in DPRK must be evil. ????
That?s right - the mine fields will stay for a long time. So is the situation in Croatia and Bosnia 10 years after the Dayton treaty. Even in areas with international army troops. When you go to the Unesco protected lakes and waterfalls of Plitvice -a tourist attraction- there are warning signs along the road.
Carnival of the Revolutions, 29 August 2005
Welcome to the Carnival of the Revolutions edition for August 29th. Hosting next week’s edition (Sept. 5) will be Thinking-East; next up (Sept. 12) is Quid Nimis.