The Korean peninsula has many particular regional advantages, and one of those is—Mudflat. Mudflat is a wide, flat wetland by the sea where the tide flows in and out. Most mudflats in Korea are distributed along the west and south coastline of the peninsula about more than 4000km. They have several merits for the environment and ecosystem. They can absorb carbon in the atmosphere and purify the water, and also play a role in the habitat of migratory birds.

In 2021, Unesco inscribed four mudflats in Korea as World Natural Heritage sites. Jongseong Kim, a professor of Earth and Environmental Science at Seoul National University, evaluated the worth of mudflats as above ten billion dollars annually because of their ecological and economical values.  

However, mudflats in South Korea have been demolished with exponential speed as consequences of  reclamation and urban development. In other words, now you can rarely find them in some regions 

that have numerous populations to live in. Specifically, the area of mudflats in Gyeonggi-do—the capital region— has decreased from 1180 square kilometers to 167 square kilometers in only 30 years!

Against this dangerous situation, some local communities realized the significance of mudflats and have started to protect them by several purification activities such as collecting garbage in the ocean. By participation of most citizens in those towns, they could collect trash over 30 tons.

To revive and preserve the mudflat ecosystem, Nakdong River estuary mudflat restoration project was initiated. In this project, the removal of accumulated sediments and pollutants on the mudflats could help restore the ecosystem in the mudflat, and finally could provide a significant habitat for diverse species.

Those precedented efforts have shown the possibilities of revival and protection of mudflat. It is urgent to be attentive to the mudflats problems from the government and the local communities.