By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Wetlands used to be considered as ``wastelands,'' and many of them have disappeared under the pretense of ``development.'' However, they are receiving different treatment these days, with their ecological importance emerging.

Upo Wetlands in Changnyeong County, South Gyeongsang Province, is Korea's representative wetland. The nation's largest wetland is especially gaining attention now, as a conference on the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, an international treaty for action and cooperation for the conservation of wetlands and their resources, will be held here late October.

In summer, cattails, reeds, irises, wild rice, hornworts, lotuses and much more vegetation cover the 2.3 square kilometers of the marshes surface, which stretches across three villages in Changnyeong, near the Nakdong River. The size of the wetland is similar to that of Yeouido in Seoul.

The wetlands were created 140 million years ― and on sedimentary rocks around Upo, footprints of dinosaurs which lived some 120 million years ago were discovered.

Upo Wetlands were made up of four smaller marshes ― Upo, Mokpo, Sajipo, and Jjokbeol. As Upo is the largest among them, the wetlands are together known as the Upo Wetlands.

The name comes from the shape of the lands ― a mountain between Upo and Mokpo marshes looks like a cow drinking water from Upo marsh, so the wetland was called ``Sobeol,'' with ``so'' meaning cow and ``beol'' meaning wide field. The name was changed into Upo, with the same meaning but written in Chinese, during Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945).

The wetland not only holds the natural beauty of primitive times, but is also of bio-ecological importance.

More than 480 species of plants, 62 species of birds, 28 of fish, 55 of aquatic insects, 12 of mammals, seven of reptiles, five of amphibians, and five of shelled animals inhabit Upo. The wetlands are also a stopover for migratory birds, which fly between East Asia and Australia, and were designated an ``ecological conservation area'' in 1997 and ``protected wetlands'' in 1998 in accordance with the Ramsar Convention. It was also designated as a ``wetlands preservation area'' in 1999 and has been systematically managed since. The 10th Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands will be held there from Oct 28 through Nov. 4.

The rich habitat for wild life, however, faces environmental problems. Ambrosia artemisiifolia, a foreign plant, is spreading fast in the wetlands and disturbing the ecosystem there, after its seeds were mixed in earth used in reinforcement work of nearby banks and farming waterways. Wastewater from nearby Topyeong stream flowing into the wetlands is also feared to cause pollution.

Using the conference as momentum, the meeting preparation committee and local authorities are promoting various wetlands conservation projects, including restoration of the ibis, an extinct bird species in Korea, in Upo as China will donate the birds to Korea during the meeting period.

``Through the conference, we'll make efforts to make Upo Wetlands reborn as a worldwide attraction for eco tourism,'' Kim Tae-ho, governor of South Gyeongsang Province, said.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr