University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository University of Calgary Press University of Calgary Press Open Access Books 2012 Parks, peace, and partnership: global initiatives in transboundary conservation University of Calgary Press "Parks, peace, and partnership: global initiatives in transboundary conservation". Michael S. Quinn, Len Broberg, and Wayne Freimund, Eds. Series: Energy, ecology, and the environment series, No. 4. University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Alberta, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/49304 book http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Unported Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca University of Calgary Press www.uofcpress.com PARKS, PEACE, AND PARTNERSHIP: GLOBAL INITIATIVES IN TRANSBOUNDARY CONSERVATION Edited by Michael S. Quinn, Len Broberg, and Wayne Freimund ISBN 978-1-55238-643-9 THIS BOOK IS AN OPEN ACCESS E-BOOK. 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Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the wording around open access used by Australian publisher, re.press, and thank them for giving us permission to adapt their wording to our policy http://www.re-press.org/content/view/17/33/ 16 Korean Demilitarized Zone Peace and Nature Park Hall Healy INTRODUCTION With the idea of dividing Korea into spheres of influence in 1896, Japan and Russia conducted negotiations that almost resulted in the partition of the country along a mid-peninsula boundary line, though not at the 38th parallel, where the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) now is nominally situated (Cumings 1997). A division was not to take place until more than fifty years later, and then as a consequence of World War II and the Korean War. Subsequently, the DMZ became a symbol of the United States’ Cold War containment policy. Now it is a stark remnant of that standoff, but at the same time a reminder of nature’s tremendous resilience and the hope which that affords (Map 1). Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the DMZ has been essen- tially off limits to all but a few residents living in two showcase villages, one in North Korea and one in South Korea in the heart of the DMZ near Panmunjom. It has been part of a geopolitical vacuum and memory of 383 war. The DMZand Civilian Control Zone (CCZ) on the south side also have been occupied by approximately one million land mines, reinforc- ing the zone’s barbed wire perimeter extending along much of its length. But, within the forbidden zone, nature has staged a renaissance during the last fifty-plus years. The natural resources contained in the DMZ and CCZ represent millions of years of evolution, some of its species being found nowhere else in the world, and thousands of years of human his- tory, about five thousand of which have been with a people identified as distinctly Korean. The two zones offer an urgent and unique opportunity for dialogue between the Koreas and other regional stakeholders that can assist in creating peace on the peninsula. Properly managed for sustain- ability, these same resources also can garner billions of dollars for both Koreas and one day provide help for a re-united peninsula. This chapter will address: (1) the importance of the DMZ from multiple perspectives; (2) threats to conserving it; (3) current initiatives to preserve it; and (4) other potential steps to conserve its resources. IMPORTANCE AND VALUE OF THE DMZ The Demarcation Line created at the end of the Korean War to separate the two Koreas was 248 kilometres [154 miles] long, bisecting the DMZ 4 kilometres [2.5 miles] wide – the established DMZ covering an area of 99,200 hectares [383 square miles]. An informal and contiguous CCZ was established in the Republic of Korea (ROK)/South Korea, that averaged 5.5 kilometres [3.4 miles] in width; a CCZ of similar width is said to ex- ist immediately north of the DMZ. Thus, the combined area of the DMZ and two associated buffer zones is perhaps 367,000 hectares [1,417 square miles] in size. The buffer zone contains rivers and many ecosystem types, supporting thousands of species. Biological Resources There are reportedly upwards of 4,000 species – up to 1,597 plants, 66 mammals, hundreds of bird species, and almost one hundred fish spe- cies – in the DMZ and CCZ. By one count, the species there represent 384 KOREAN DEMILITARIZED ZONE PEACE AND NATURE PARK Map 1. Location of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (M. Croot). 67 per cent of all those found in Korea (Kim 1997), and the DMZ is the only place where many of them still reside, having been extirpated from the rest of the peninsula due to development and industrialization in the south and deforestation in the north. From 1995 to the present, field and literature surveys have been conducted to assess biological resources of the area. Reports detail a broad range in the numbers of species: 256–1,597 plants, 4–66 mammals, 143–939 animals other than mammals, 49–233 birds, 6–46 amphibians and reptiles, 13–98 freshwater fish and 50,000– 51,000 insects (Kim and Cho 2005; Shin 2007; Kim 2007). These estimates poignantly portray the vast richness of the area. Their wide disparity is symptomatic of the lack of direct access to the DMZ itself, which is be- ginning to change. Until recently, data has been collected mainly from observations inside the CCZ, without the ability to enter the DMZ. The Hall Healy 385 variety of species that studies have identified are described below. The lists illustrate and underscore the importance and breadth of flora and fauna diversity existing within the DMZ and CCZ and what an unusual treasure trove it is. Mammals Many charismatic mammal species, including Asiatic black bear (Selenarctos thibetanus), musk deer (Moschus moschiferus), spotted seal (Phoca largha), and leopard (Panthera pardus) are reported to inhabit and depend on the DMZ and CCZ. The Cultural Heritage Administration of South Korea has designated several DMZ species as “natural monuments,” including: • Korea-Okhotsk gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), in waters off the DMZ’s east coast; • Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis); • Amur goral (Naemorhedus caudatus raddeanus), a rare type of goat; • otter (Lutra lutra), re-introduced just south of the DMZ in Hwacheon County; • leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis); and • Korean yellow-necked marten (Martes flavigula koreana). Reportedly, in the late twentieth century there were even tigers in the mountains around Seoul, the capital of South Korea; and there has been anecdotal evidence of tigers in the DMZ, CCZ area since that time. However, to date, no scientifically based studies have been conducted to verify their presence. Birds The DMZ forms a vital link between ecosystems throughout Northeast Asia. Hundreds of bird species migrate twice a year through the DMZ 386 KOREAN DEMILITARIZED ZONE PEACE AND NATURE PARK going to and from Mongolia, China, Russia, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, and Australia, essentially from the top to the bottom of the planet! If the DMZ green belt were destroyed, what would happen to this globe-spanning chain? Species include many that, according to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), are endangered. For example, most of the Black-faced Spoonbills (Platelea minor), with a total estimated world population of 1,679, breed on the western coastal islands off the DMZ (Yu and Wong 2006; Coulter 2007).