A train, a salamander, & a nun....

[CTReptileRescue]

Desperation fuels hunger strike for South Korean Buddhist Nun
By Robert Kaplan and Daesik Park , Korean Working Group Co-Chairs

A recent event in South Korea involving a salamander, a train and a
Buddhist nun made international headlines and prompted us to share the
story with DAPTF members and introduce the Korean Working Group of the
DAPTF to interested parties. Jiyul, a 48 year-old Buddhist nun from Naewon
Temple on Mount Cheonseong, northwest of Pusan, recently fasted for 100
days demanding an immediate halt to the construction of a highway
tunnel. She believed that the tunnel would change underground water
systems, resulting in drying of swamps and marshes and destroying plants and
animals living in the area. In particular, she was concerned about the
long-tailed clawed salamander, Onychodactylus fischeri. This national
crisis soon became more than a story about the plight of the hynobiid
clawed salamander. Jiyul's fast focused an entire nation's attention to
the issue and provided an important insight into a culture whose values
are not well appreciated on an international scale, but whose !
people have a long and rich tradition of protecting and preserving
wildlife in the face of commonly understood setbacks. The problem is both
complex (related to economics, religion, politics, and the environment)
and compelling.

The story begins in 1992 with the construction of a Korean train
express (KTX) system intended to save 3 hours of travel time between Seoul
and Pusan, the second largest city in the country. The project had
already cost more than 18 billion dollars. The 13th portion of the project
required the construction of a 13.2 km long tunnel under Mt. Cheonseong,
where a buddhist temple and 22 unusual mountain swamps can be found.
Due to the highly developed swamp systems and well-conserved forests,
many endangered species live in the Mt. Cheonseong area, including 11
species listed as endangered in the Korean Red Data Book, including two
mammals, six birds, one snake, one salamander, two insects, and four
plants.

In Korea, the Ministry of the Environment must submit an environmental
evaluation to the Court before beginning any major construction
project. Researchers are drawn from universities, government agencies and
private research institutes. In this case an environmental evaluation
conducted in 1994 "indicated" that the tunnel project would not affect any
environmentally sensitive locations or animals living in them.
Unfortunately, the environmental evaluation is not available for public review.
The Ministry of Environment approved the project allowing the Ministry
of Construction and Transportation to start the work. The whole
rail-line was approved at that time and a 293.7 km segment from Seoul to Taegu
began operating in 2004.

It has become standard procedure in Korea for large scale development
projects to be planned with little attention to long-term environmental
planning. This is particularly true during election periods. Once a
project is approved and started, proponents routinely state that not
finishing the project would have serious economic consequences and argue
that stopping the project would result in the loss of jobs.

In 2001 when the construction project reached the mountain area, many
environmental organizations and a local buddhist group argued that the
tunnel would disrupt the watershed and probably result in significant
environmental perturbation. In particular, the long-tailed, clawed
salamander, Onychodactylus fischeri, lives there. As a lungless hynobiid
that requires relatively mature forest systems to survive (Kuzmin, 1995)
it has been recognized as an environmental indicator species in Korea.
The members of the organizations and temple made the salamander the
plaintiff against the Ministry of Environment, suing to stop the project
until another environmental assessment could be undertaken. This was the
first time a non-human animal was a plaintiff in a law suit in Korea
and it became known as the "salamander trial." Several thousand people
appeared before the court testifying on the salamanders' behalf, some
even trying to represent a salamander's "feelings" to the judge. Th!
e courts ultimately decided in 2004 that Onychodactylus had no legal
standing.

The current President Rho, as a candidate in 2002, promised that
another fair environmental evaluation would be carried out and the project
carefully re-considered if he were elected. The promise was not kept,
however, prompting the nun, Jiyul, to get involved. She urged the
government to conduct another evaluation to be undertaken by researchers
selected by both the government and private environmental organizations.

Several months ago, Jiyul started her third hunger strike in front of
the President's house taking only water and salt for 87 days. But when
no progress was made she suddenly left the location without a word,
leading people to imagine that she went off to an unknown place to die for
her beloved salamanders. Huge national debates rapidly ensued arguing
both for and against the nun and her salamander. After several days, a
Buddhist organization found her and started to take care of her. She
still refused to eat and as her condition deteriorated the national
debate turned to one of questioning the impact of her death on Korean
society as a whole. At the eleventh hour on the 100th day, the government
relinquished and agreed to conduct another environmental evaluation
within three months.

The plight of the hynobiid clawed salamander has focused an entire
nation's attention and is looming large in the minds of many Koreans. An
important challenge facing the country is how to continue the long and
rich tradition of protecting and preserving wildlife in the face of
unbridled development.

References

Kuzmin SL. 1995. The clawed salamanders of Asia; biology, distribution,
and conservation. Westarp Wissenschaften, Magdeburg.

For further information please contact:
Daesik Park: parkda@kangwon.ac.kr
or Robert Kaplan: taricha@reed.edu
Website in Korean: http://academic.reed.edu/biology/korea_daptf/
________________________________________________________________________
Rusty

[Ginevive]

It has become standard procedure in Korea for large scale development
projects to be planned with little attention to long-term environmental
planning. This is particularly true during election periods. Once a
project is approved and started, proponents routinely state that not
finishing the project would have serious economic consequences and argue
that stopping the project would result in the loss of jobs.
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Don't you just love the psychology behind that?
I wonder what ever happened to the nun..?
________________________________________________________________________
Rusty