Int'l park experts attend 'Korea Nat'l Park Friendship Program'
우리나라 국립공원, 외국공원청 직원연수 프로그램 진행
Park experts from Southeast Asia have been in Korea for the past month to learn about the various ways the country manages its vast areas of natural beauty.
They also talked about ways to better preserve and develop national parks globally.
Kim Mok-yeon reports.
Korea has 17 mountainous, 4 coastal, and 1 historical national parks, that portray the beauty and uniqueness of the country's landscape in four distinctive seasons.
In these parks where more than 4,500 flora and fauna species exist, wildlife experts from neighboring countries gathered to learn about Korea's park management system through the 'Korea National Park Friendship Program'.
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Representatives from Mongolia, Malaysia, China and Thailand are here at the Jirisan National Park to see what the 4 week program has to offer.
For the past 3 weeks, experts and officials visited seven of Korea's national parks including the ones located on Byeonsanbando peninsula and Woraksan mountain and learned about the country's management of endangered species through various programs ranging from seminars and special classes to on-site training.
This program I think is good for me. I looked around the Byeonsanbando Nat'l Park. I think its very good and high technology. I can improve the technology and adapt it in my country.
So lots of knowledge I gain from this program. And I think its very useful to bring back to our country and implement it.
Fifty years ago, the national park management system was first implemented in Korea in order to create a better environment for both local residents and indigenous animal and plant species.
As part of such efforts, the Korea National Park Service has been inviting industry workers from other countries since 2014, to promote and share its outstanding park management skills.
If the past 50 years were about restoring what has been damaged, we hope to preserve our national parks as much as possible, and make them sustainable in the next 50 years.
Here at the nation's largest and oldest national park, the Jirisan national park, participants were taught about Korea's ways of preserving and coexisting with endangered species.
The park is known for its restoration of some 40 endangered species, especially the Asiatic black bear.
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The most important thing in a restoration project is to prevent conflict between humans and animals.
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Back then, there were many farms that engaged in apiculture, and bears also happen to love honey.
The way that they work with villagers and the people who live around here to make them understand and help them with their business and support from the government is important to ensure that they understand and know how important the bear is to the ecosystem.
To wrap up the four week program, participants gathered at the head office of the Korea National Park Service in Wonju for a final presentation.
During the meeting, the representatives talked about how they were impressed by
Korea's use of advanced technologies in park management, and also on how members of the general public were willing to participate in volunteer programs for the development of the country's parks.
So it will be a lesson that will be with me for all of my life. And apart from that, it is more important that I can apply what I can see and understand and have hand on experience to use in the Thailand national park.
The program also allowed for the organizers to learn about other creative practices from other countries that Korea could adapt to, making the Korea National Park Friendship Program a win-win event for both the host and the guests.
Though we all came from different races and from different cultures, we realized that we are all colleagues on the same boat, heading towards pursuing our mutual goal of preserving mother earth.
Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang News.
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