Korea Federation for Environmental Movements Incheon’s Fundraising Day, ‘Saengtae Jupging’

Participants including EAAFP Secretariat are taking picture at the opening ceremony © Hea Su Lee / EAAFP Secretariat

On November 14, the EAAFP Secretariat attended the 2020 Fundraising Day hosted by Korea Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM) Incheon.

The main theme of the event was ‘Saengtae Jupging’ which is a mixed term of Saengtae (meaning ‘ecology’ in Korean) + Jup(da) (meaning ‘picking up” in Korean) + ging (from the word ‘jogging’). This eco-friendly campaign had the main purpose of pursuing both protecting our nature and maintaining a healthy lifestyle by volunteering to clean our local community and at the same time jogging around our neighborhood.

KFEM Incheon is a non-profit organization established in 1994, which aims to protect the environment with local citizens’ participation. Their activity focuses on the conservation of wetlands, migratory waterbirds, green belts, and wildlife as well as the environmental education of citizens. KFEM Incheon also has been an active member of the EAAFP Incheon-Gyeonggi Task Force.

“Looking back on 27 years of history, I believe we are in the time when the most diverse activities and active participation of citizens take place. We ask for your consistent interest in the efforts of KFEM along with today’s ‘Saengtae Jup-ging’ activities to conserve our environment,” said Mr. Daehyun Jin, a co-representative of KFEM Incheon.

The event was celebrated by Incheon citizens and various groups of institutions such as Incheon Metropolitan City, Korea Environment Corporation, Incheon Eco-friendly Living Support Center, and individuals working on environmental issues in Incheon.

Mr. Daehyun Jin, a co-representative of KFEM Incheon, is delivering a congratulatory remark © Hea Su Lee / EAAFP Secretariat

After the congratulatory remarks, the cleaning in a tracking course was followed. All participants were divided into several groups guided by the trained instructors who explained the ecology of the route along the tracking course.

The tracking course, which is called ‘Incheon Dullae-Gil Course no 6’, starts from Incheon Grand Park and ends at Sorae Ecology Park. It is along with small rivers and tidal flats of Incheon, passing through Jangsucheon, which has been revived as an ecological river, and Sorae Wetland Ecology Park, where the salt field that produced the nation’s largest sea salt in the past is located.

By removing trashes on the tracking course, EAAFP Secretariat was able to contribute to the efforts of the local community in preventing trash to flow into the sea which could damage marine animals.

The final destination of the 10km Jup-ging course was Sorae Ecology Park. All the participants and KFEM Incheon organizers celebrated the end of the event by taking group pictures. Some of the environmental activists held pickets which called for the designation of the Sorae tidal flat as a wetland protected area.

EAAFP Secretariat hopes more people get interested in the conservation of wetlands and migratory waterbirds in their local community by engaging in creative local activities.

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