GS Caltex Plants Blue Carbon in Buan Tidal Flats, a Ramsar Wetland

Company Anniversary Celebration with Employees and Families
Volunteer Activity Planting Halophytes in Buan Mudflat, Jeonbuk

GS Caltex employees and their families are participating in a volunteer activity to plant Salicornia (halophyte) to preserve the mudflats around the Ramsar wetland area of Julpo Ecological Park in Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do. Photo by GS Caltex

GS Caltex is taking the lead in a tidal flat ecosystem preservation campaign and carbon reduction volunteer activities that raise awareness of the precious value of tidal flats by linking its key focus on Green Transformation and social contribution.

GS Caltex announced on the 16th that it has been conducting the 'One Pyeong Life Tidal Flat Donation: Good Albakgi' campaign to preserve the tidal flat ecosystem since the 1st of last month. The campaign consists of activities to prevent indiscriminate development of privately owned tidal flats by having individuals purchase one pyeong of tidal flat and register ownership shares for lifetime possession, as well as volunteer activities to plant halophytes in the tidal flats. GS Caltex signed an agreement related to promoting social contribution activities to preserve the tidal flat ecosystem and enhance the carbon storage capacity of tidal flats at World Vision, a social welfare organization located in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, with key stakeholders including Lee Sang-hoon, Head of PR at GS Caltex, Kwon Ik-hyun, Governor of Buan County, Jeollabuk-do, and Han Sang-ho, Head of Sharing Division at World Vision.

In this campaign, 345 GS Caltex employees and their families are participating and are in the process of registering ownership shares for the one pyeong of tidal flat each purchased. Additionally, to commemorate the company’s founding, on the 12th, employees and their families visited Buan County, Jeollabuk-do, and participated in a Blue Carbon volunteer activity planting 10,000 halophytes (Suaeda maritima) in the Ramsar wetlands area of Julpo Ecological Park to increase the carbon storage capacity and carbon absorption rate of the tidal flats.

As one of the world’s top five countries with tidal flats and rich tidal flat resources, South Korea’s tidal flats, which measured 3,204㎢ in 1987, have decreased by 722㎢ over 30 years, an area equivalent to the size of Singapore’s land area. As a result, migratory birds that travel thousands of square kilometers are losing resting places, and the populations of marine species inhabiting the tidal flats are rapidly declining.

Tidal flats serve as nurseries for many marine creatures, and if these habitats disappear, not only will the species living in the tidal flats vanish, but many other marine organisms will also be adversely affected. Furthermore, this phenomenon impacts humans who obtain various products from tidal flats environmentally, making it necessary to protect, nurture, and raise awareness of the valuable tidal flats.

Since last year, GS Caltex has been continuously implementing employee behavior donation campaigns such as the step donation campaign to practice carbon reduction in daily life. The "One Pyeong Life Tidal Flat Donation: Good Albakgi" campaign is the first social contribution activity in Korea that combines volunteer work with tidal flat ownership registration, integrating a National Trust movement for nature conservation into employees’ carbon reduction efforts to protect the planet.

A GS Caltex employee family participating in the 'One Pyeong Life Tidal Flat Donation: Good Albakgi' campaign expressed, "We felt proud to participate in activities that protect the Earth by planting halophytes that increase the carbon storage rate of tidal flats, and through this campaign, we realized how important tidal flats are."

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