Fwd: Help Save 4 Rivers in South Korea

From: "Ma Yong-un" <ma@kfem.or.kr>

Date: August 6, 2010 12:46:38 AM PDT

To: water@lists.foei.org, water@foeapac.org

Subject: [foei_water] Help Save 4 Rivers in South Korea

Dear friends,
I hope everyone is well.

I am writing you to call your urgent response to help us save four largest rivers in South Korea.

The South Korean government is pushing ahead with the so-called Four Rivers Restoration Project which is building 18 new dams and dredging 570 million cubic meters of sand and gravel from the bottom of the rivers and riverine wetlands despite strong opposition from civil society organizations, opposition parties, religious groups and local people.

According to recent polls, about 80% of S. Korean people don't support the project, but the S. Korean government is just ignoring the people's voices of concern.

On July 22, 2010, five environmental activists of Korea Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM) / Friends of the Earth Korea (FoE Korea) started sitting in two dam construction sites.  One is on the top of a 20 meter high dam and the other is 40 meter high tower crane.  

It is 16th day of their sitting-in today.  Though, they are suffering from food and water shortage, heat waves and fatigue, they are still very determined to keep on the sitting-in unless their demands for the government to suspend the project and to form an objective mechanism to review the purpose and feasibility of the project.

Please have a look at the blog below for more information and send me your messages of support to save the rivers and riverine wetlands in South Korea.

http://koreawetlands.blogspot.com

http://koreawetlands.blogspot.com/2010/07/kfem-activists-sitting-in-at-2-new-dams.html

http://koreawetlands.blogspot.com/2010/05/impacts-of-four-rivers-restoration.html 


All the best,
Ma Yong-un


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Ma Yong-un  馬龍雲
Director, Nature Conservation Team

Korea Federation for Environmental Movements(KFEM) / Friends of the Earth Korea(FoE Korea)  韓國 環境運動聯合
251 Nuha-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea 110-806
Tel : 82-(0)2-735-7000
Fax : 82-(0)2-730-1240

e-mail: ma@kfem.or.kr
http://kfem.or.kr 
http://koreawetlands.blogspot.com  (Wetlands Campaign of KFEM) 
http://www.facebook.com/ecolia  
twitter  @ecolia  @forrivers (English)