Black-Faced Spoonbill (image: Wikipedia, by Creando) Korean government plan to develop the dredged soil landfil in Yeongjong-do, in Incheon, has been fiercely resisted by environmental groups. They say the area concerned is a precious habitat for Black-Faced-Spoonbill.
SEOUL, July 14 (Korea Bizwire) – The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said on July 12 that it would develop the dredged soil landfill in an environmentally friendly way to protect the habitat for Black-faced Spoonbills, an endangered bird species. The ministry’s announcement was a response to a news report by The Hankyoreh criticizing the government’s plan to cover the rare bird habitat with soil dredged from nearby mud flat.
Instead of building the landfill right across the home for the birds, the ministry will locate the second landfill 150 meters away from it. Once the dumping ground is filled, it will create a wetlands ecological park and a green buffer zone whose widths are 130 and 20 meters, respectively, effectively making the landfill 300 meters away from the bird habitat.
To a criticism that the government agency is obsessed with profit-making development without regard to environmental implications, the ministry said, “The Incheon Port needs continuous dredging in order to function properly as the area is high in the tidal range.” Currently the No. 1 and No. 3 landfills operated by the Incheon Port are almost full, which necessitates the building of a new landfill site.
