Work is proceeding on the controversial Four Rivers Restoration Project despite Church and popular protest. Fr Mun-su Park SJ, Director, Jesuit Research Center for Advocacy and Solidarity presents the background of the project that is destroying the ecology integrity of the affected area and reflects on the prophetic meaning of the protest.
Six months after South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak gave in to public opposition and discarded his plan for a Pan-Korea Grand Waterway, a canal system, the government announced the Four Rivers Restoration Project. From the project plans published by the Ministry of Land Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM) on June 9, 2009, this project appears to be preparation for canals rather than a restoration project.
Deception in the project name
The word “restoration” is normally applied to projects that remove artificial barriers from a river and restore it to its natural flow. This project, however, consists mainly of dredging deep river beds and constructing dams, artificial riverbanks and cultural and recreational facilities. The project initially received praise in a United Nations Environment Programme pamphlet, but the UNEP later backed away from its previous endorsement, saying the project’s “implementation needs to follow approaches that will result in effective ‘ecological restoration,’ by making efforts to enhance the ecological integrity of river ecosystems…”
The Government steamrolls popular opposition and hurries the project
The project calls for building 16 dams, dredging 570 million cubic metres of sand and gravel to deepen nearly 700 kilometres of riverbed, renovating two estuarine barrages, and constructing bike trails, athletic fields, and parks along the waterways. At US$19 billion, it is one of the costliest engineering projects in the country’s history. Despite much public opposition the government hurried the project and as of September 2011, the dam building and dredging have been completed and work has begun on 1,728 km of bike trails and 96 water reservoirs for agricultural use.
Reasons for opposing the project
Several academic associations have publicly condemned the project. They accuse the government and supporters of twisting data and ignoring expert panel recommendations on issues such as water quality, flood control, rainfall patterns and environmental impacts of the project. The historical record shows that floods and droughts have been mainly a problem in the small rivers and far upstream in the tributaries, and landslides on the mountainsides have been more of a problem than floods on the large rivers. As such, this project will not only fail to achieve its stated objectives (flood control and water supply), it will harm the environment.
In addition, Birds Korea has highlighted the harm the project will do to the feeding and nesting sites of 50 species of birds, some of which are already endangered species
Environmental and civic groups are aghast at the projected loss of wetlands, the extensive placement of concrete barriers to river flow leading to high levels of biological oxygen demand, the alarming pollution created by construction and dredging, and the slipshod investigations into the project’s expected impact on the environment. As a protest against the government’s refusal to engage in dialogue on these issues, activists of the Korea Federation of Environmental Movements conducted a sit-in for more than a month on the top of structures at two new dam construction sites.
The Catholic Church and Jesuits get involved
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Korea, spurred by opposition among many clergy and laity to the project, asked the government to hold a public discussion on the project. The government refused.
A prominent scientist told the Bishops “Water, as a God-given gift to all people, cannot be managed by the government alone. It requires democratic participation in responsible governance, scientific knowledge for wise management, an integral, ecological administrative system, making all citizens access to clean water a top priority. It also requires scientific understanding of the causes of water problems allowing interventions that correct the problems at their source. The only good parts of the so-called Four Rivers project are the parts compatible with these requirements. Thus the whole Four Rivers project should be stopped immediately and in its place develop governance that balances the widely-varying water needs of all the people and all living things.”
The Bishops Conference released a public statement opposing the project in March 2010, thus officially encouraging the groundswell of opposition.
Jesuits have participated in demonstrations at dam-building sites, our novices have walked along one of the rivers being dammed, and more than 30 Jesuits have attended the huge protest Masses taking place at the site of one of the egregious sins of the project — a plan to displace organic farms in order to build a so-called eco-park”.
The Jesuits in Korea also appealed for international protest against the project especially around the time of the South Korea National Assembly in late 2010. We provided on our website an aid to sending letters of protest, which included the background to the project, links to more information and a sample letter.
Political opposition failed to block the project, and environmental groups have become fatigued. But a weekly protest Mass continues near the national assembly building, with many of our Jesuits attending.
Reflection
Catholics, Protestants and Buddhists who oppose this project share a deep reverence for nature. The scientists who oppose the project know the limitations of technology and the need to be humble before nature’s vastness. This reverence and humility contrasts with the view of developers who regard nature only in terms of the investment opportunities they can get from it. The developers allied themselves with technocrats and power-driven politicians to override ecology concerns.
Most Jesuits of the Korean Province see the importance of taking a public stance to protect the environment against the juggernaut of unbridled exploitation of nature.
Many religious persons have taken a Jeremiah-like prophetic stance. Will there be an environmental equivalent to the Babylonian captivity? Will Koreans come to mourn the loss of wetlands and their biodiversity? The situation calls for continuing prophetic witness, scientific research, and theological reflection.
To find out more about the Jesuit Research Center for Advocacy and Solidarity, go to www.jesuits.or.kr/advocacy.