International Community Unites for Yellow Sea Mudflat Conservation... Joint Declaration by UNESCO, Korea, and China

Strengthening Transboundary Cooperation

The international community is joining forces to protect the value of Korea's mudflats.

Muan Mudflat. Yonhap News Agency

On July 25, UNESCO, the Korea Tidal Flats World Heritage Listing Promotion Team, the World Coastal Forum (WCF), and the Yancheng Wetland Center from China jointly released a declaration at a seminar held at BEXCO, Busan, calling for cooperation to preserve the mudflats and coastal wetlands of the Yellow Sea (West Sea).

In 2021, the mudflats of Seocheon in South Chungcheong Province, Gochang in North Jeolla Province, Shinan, and Boseong-Suncheon in South Jeolla Province were inscribed as World Heritage Sites. With the addition this year of mudflats in Seosan, Yeosu, Goheung, and Muan, the second phase inscription was successfully completed. In China, the 'Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China' were listed as World Heritage Sites in 2019, and the second phase extension was officially recognized in 2024. In North Korea, the 'Coastal Wetlands of the West Sea of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,' encompassing the Sindo and Mundok areas, were included in the tentative list for future World Heritage inscription this year.

The joint declaration centers on the idea that “through communication and joint research, we should enhance the ecological value of the mudflats and coastal wetlands of the Yellow Sea to ensure their outstanding universal value (OUV) can be sustained.”

On the same day, a seminar titled “Journeys Across Borders: Conserving Yellow Sea Mudflats Through Transboundary Cooperation in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway” was also held.

Min Heo, Administrator of the National Heritage Administration, stated in a congratulatory address, “Protecting mudflats is not a challenge for any single nation, but a shared task that the international community must take responsibility for and address together through cooperation.”

He added, “I hope that this joint declaration will further advance international solidarity and cooperation for the preservation of the outstanding universal value of the mudflats.”

Lazare Eloundou Assomo, Director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, congratulated Korea on the extension of its mudflat inscriptions, saying, “This collaboration will help expand recognition of the value of the mudflats.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.