Military Truce Produces Wildlife Refuge in Korea?

Back to Map Page July, 1999 Heightened tension between North Korea and its neighbors this summer have returned environmentalists' attention to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a strip of land that exists in a tense balance of restrained hostility between the two Koreas. Awareness of the importance of this area has been gradually spreading for several years, but this summer's renewed efforts at peace negotiations between the two Koreas, as well as fears of escalating tension, have renewed attention to the DMZ and its future.   Korea's DMZ offers a rare chance to preserve threatened wildlife The DMZ is a truce line between two countries that stopped fighting in 1953 but never officially ended their war. This narrow strip of land is about 4 km wide and 250 km long. Both countries continuously patrol and monitor the area, which is also guarded by land mines and barbed wire. Consequently it has remained a uniquely unpopulated area in this crowded peninsula. Now this strip of land is a unique refuge for birds and animals that have become scarce or absent in the rest of Korea. Industrialization in the South and deforestation and erosion in the North have dramatically reduced habitat availability for the region's flora and fauna. Although much of the peninsula's plants and animals have not yet been scientifically identified and described, a 1994 study found that 14% of known birds, 23% of freshwater fish, 29% of mammals, 48% of reptiles, and 60% of amphibians in South Korea were either endangered or extirpated. Now a consortium of scientists concerned with biodiversity are pushing for official international protection for the DMZ. Since last winter three major groups, the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Penn State Center for Biodiversity Research, and the Institute of Public Administration, have formed the DMZ Forum an organization working to raise awareness of the zone's fragile fauna and pushing for conservation in the area before it is too late. To read more, see Environmental Science, A Global Concern, Cunningham and Saigo, 5th ed. Map of human disturbance: 104 Habitat destruction, Human-caused reductions in biodiversity: p. 276-78 Habitat protection: p. 288 Environmental Science, a Study of Interrelationships, Enger and Smith, 7th ed. Exploitation and modification of terrestrial ecosystems: p. 191-92 Areas with minimal human impact: wilderness and remote areas: p. 196-97 Back to Map Page feedback form | permissions | international | locate your campus rep | request a review copy digital solutions | publish with us | customer service | mhhe home Copyright ©2001 The McGraw-Hill Companies. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. McGraw-Hill Higher Education is one of the many fine businesses of the The McGraw-Hill Companies.