Incheon City and POSCO International Join Hands to Preserve Incheon's Flagship Species

At the 'Incheon City-POSCO International Mutual Cooperation Agreement Ceremony for Enhancing Biodiversity in the Incheon Area' held at Incheon City Hall on the 22nd, Park Deok-su, Deputy Mayor of Administration (left), and Han Seong-su, Head of Management Support Division at POSCO International, are posing for a commemorative photo. [Provided by Incheon City]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City and POSCO International have agreed to join forces to conserve flagship species representing the Incheon ecosystem.

On the 22nd, the city announced that it signed a business agreement with POSCO International to improve the habitat environment of living organisms and establish a foundation for sustainable development.

According to the agreement, the city will discover biodiversity conservation and enhancement projects and provide administrative support, while POSCO International will provide financial support.

As the first collaborative project, they plan to install auxiliary facilities at the Black-faced Spoonbill Ecological Learning Center and produce and install content within the Incheon flagship species promotion booth at Dongmak Station.

The Black-faced Spoonbill Ecological Learning Center was completed in 2020 at Namdong Retention Basin and is used as an ecological education center and birdwatching tourism hub. Also, the Incheon flagship species promotion booth is being installed in the Dongmak Station concourse, with completion targeted by the end of this year.

Additionally, the two organizations plan to discover and cooperate on various projects for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity in the Incheon area over the next three years.

The Incheon flagship species include five species: Black-faced Spoonbill, Golden Frog, Spotted Seal, White-clawed Fiddler Crab, and Large Fanwort, which were selected and announced by the city on the occasion of the 51st Earth Day last April.

Flagship species is a concept proposed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1993, referring to symbolic species that represent the local ecosystem and reflect ecological, geographical, social, and cultural characteristics of the region. The word 'gitdae' (flagpole) is a symbolic expression that gives the pioneering image of restoring the local ecosystem.

At the signing ceremony, Park Deoksu, Deputy Mayor of Incheon City, stated, "Preserving biodiversity is a key task in responding to climate change," and added, "Through this agreement, we will strive to realize Incheon as an ecological city where nature and people coexist."

Spotted Seal [Provided by Incheon City]

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