Cultural Heritage Administration and Vultures
Andean Condor from the Seoul National Zoo
One of the stories that I missed during my month-long absence from blogging is the potential development of having a new Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) site in the northern province of Gyeonggi-do. As a brief introduction, the Cultural Heritage Administration is responsible for the identification and preservation of eight types of culturally-important aspects to Korean culture.
National
Treasures
Heritage of a rare and significant value in terms of human culture and with an equivalent value to "Treasures" described below
Treasures
Tangible cultural heritage of important value, such as historic architecture, ancient books and documents, paintings, sculpture, handicraft, archeological materials and armory
Historic Sites
Places and facilities of great historic and academic values that are specially commemorable (eg: prehistoric sites, fortresses, ancient tombs, kiln sites, dolmens, temple sites and shell mounds)
Historic & Scenic
Sites
Sites of important historic and scenic values
Scenic Sites
Places of natural beauty with great historic, artistic or scenic values, which features distinctive uniqueness and rarity originated from their formation processes
Natural Monuments
Animals, plants, minerals, caves, geological features, biological products and special natural phenomena, carrying great historic, cultural, scientific, aesthetic or academic values, through which the history of a nation or the secrets to the creation of the earth can be identified or revealed
Important Intangible
Cultural Heritages
Intangible cultural heritage, such as drama, music, dance and craftsmanship, carrying great historic, artistic or academic values
Important Folklore
Materials
Clothing, implements and houses used for daily life and businesses, transportation and communications, entertainment and social life, and religious or annual events, that are highly valuable for the understanding of the transition in people's lifestyle and mores
Probably the most recognizable category from the list is National Treasures, which includes names such as Namdaemun, Bangasayusang (a gilt-bronze meditating Maitreya Buddha at the Seoul National Museum), and the Tripitaka Koreana (a collection of 13th century wood blocks containing the Buddhist sutras). However, as you've probably gathered based on the title and image used at the top of this entry, one of the upcoming additions to the CHA register may end up being a Natural Monument.
On 4 April the JoongAng Daily published a story in their 'politics' section titled 'Migratory vultures find haven in disputed habitat'. The article offers a brief description of the situation outside Paju, located just south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where vultures regularly congregate during the winter. Increasing development and tourism are interfering with the vulture's habitat and creating a conflict between those who want to create a protected zone for the birds and those in favor of continuing the region's growth. The connection to the CHA appears in the final paragraph, which concludes the article with:
“Since we think it is necessary to protect vultures, Paju, Gyeonggi and the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea jointly collected 700 million won ($612,500) at the end of last year and built a facility in Paju to take care of sick or injured vultures. It is in operation,” said Baek Chan-ho, an official at the Paju government.
Obviously a monetary donation isn't quite the same as designating the vulture's winter grounds as a protected area, but it may lead to other changes in the future. As an example, a part of Gyeonggi-do's Yeoncheon County was designated as Natural Monument 412 in 1999 due to its significance as a habitat for water spiders. (Here are some photos of the world's lone species of water spider, the diving bell spider Argyroneta aquatica, and its habitat.)
Since the JoongAng Daily deletes articles after they've been online for a while I've cut-and-paste it into an entry here for posterity.