Public Awareness and Education

For research to work for conservation, data and information needs to be made accessible to the general public and to decision-makers. While much exchange of information goes on behind-the-scenes, Birds Korea also has an impressive record of open, public information-sharing. For example:

  1. In 2004, we developed the nation’s first websites dedicated to bird conservation that were fully in both Korean and in English. Our dual websites provide thousands of pages of original, honest and scientific information on species, sites and key conservation issues in both Korean and English. Core sections include “landing pages” for selected species and sites (such as Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Saemangeum) the Birds Korea Gallery (online since 2010 and containing over 2200 images of the nation’s birds), annual records reviews, a national checklist and the Forum (in Korean) and Blog. We also have a Facebook page and a Twitter presence.

  2. We have held regular eco-classes in our Busan office for several years now, made visits to universities and schools (even offering a school membership scheme), and core Birds Koreans have presented at numerous meetings here in the ROK and overseas (since 2010 in e.g. Japan, China, the Philippines and the USA).

  3. We have published several bilingual reports (including annual reports on the Saemangeum Shorebird Monitoring Program, on the anticipated impacts of the Four Rivers project and the 2010 Birds Korea Blueprint), two education books (one for Changwon City, the other for the Nakdong Eco-centre in Busan) and contributed to a range of other publications. These include Invisible Connections in 2008 and an IUCN-commissioned report on tidal-flats and waterbirds in 2012 (in both cases contributing text and translating English text into Korean).

  4. We have supported domestic and overseas media with best information on a wide range of issues, including on the spread of H5N1, reclamation at Saemangeum and other sites, oil pollution, threats to biodiversity posed by the Four Rivers project and the need to conserve the DMZ.