Biodiversity

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Sixty-five million years ago, as believed by general agreement, a cosmic dance soared across the heavens as one or more meteorites slammed into the Earth. As a result, the atmosphere was cloaked in darkness, the climate was vastly changed, and scores of species, including the dinosaurs, were wiped completely from existence. This pivotal event marked the end of the Mesozoic Era and ushered in the Cenozoic Era, the Age of Mammals. This great loss of species due to that meteoritical impact is perhaps the largest in Earth's history; however, the current rate of extinction being produced by humankind is on its way to surpassing that prehistoric catastrophe.

Biodiversity, or Biological Diversity, refers to the entire scope of living things: the Earth; the ecosystems within the Earth; the species within the ecosystems; even the genes within the species. A beautiful array of beings comprising the entirety and complexity of life. The more species present in an ecosystem, as defined by carrying capacity, not only add to an ecosystem's wonder, but also enhance its Natural capabilities. More species means greater Biodiversity, which then means higher productivity and better resilience against ecological stresses, such as drought. A well functioning ecosystem purifies water, cultivates soil, and creates fresh air. Therefore, we need such well functioning ecosystems to sustain our existence. Frightfully, however, less and less species are remaining as we continue our austere encroachment upon the Natural world. It is hypothesized that the present rate of extinction is upwards to a thousand times quicker than before humankind made its appearance on Earth. Visually, this translates into the eradication of two species every hour.

Concerns over Biodiversity in South Korea are no different than anywhere else in the world. However, given the fact that the Korean landscape is dominated by mountains, concerns here may lean toward the Biodiversity of the country's mountainous regions.

Globally, Biodiversity of mountains is a primary ecological issue. Mountains are the homes of vast amounts of endemic species, which, therefore, increases the importance of mountain conservation. The most common way to create protection of a mountain is to designate the site as a National Park. Unfortunately, however, even the christening of a mountain as a National Park does not always ensure its protection.

There are twenty National Parks in South Korea, fifteen of which are mountain parks. From Seorak Mountain Park in the north down to Halla Mountain Park in the south, the ecosystems and Biodiversity of Korea's mountains are in great decline. Government mismanagement along with a huge influx of park visitors are the leading reasons for the deterioration.

In Jiri Mountain, the highest mountain on the mainland, on one trail at least, there are stairs most of the way up to over a thousand metres. The Jiri Mountain stairs are dug into the earth and are held in shape by short wooden poles planted horizontally into the ground. Along the stairway there are clear signs of erosion and flooding as the ground has come loose, disturbing the vital composition of the soil.

Chiak Mountain has also had its course made into an untrue hike by the installation of stairs. Chiak's stairs, in contrast with Jiri's, are made of steel. Chiak is not extremely high but is very steep near its summit. Without the stairs a mountaineer would require climbing equipment to reach the summit of Biro at 1,288 metres (above sea level).

Mountains are rough terrain, rugged and not easily passable. The difficulty of true mountaineering almost ensures the protection of mountain Biodiversity, as less people are willing to enter the mountains to face the challenge of a hard hike. But when access to the mountain is made easy, everyone becomes a mountaineer, and Biodiversity suffers for it.

If you cannot reach the summit without the help of a steel stairway then do not try to ascend it. As a purist mountaineer, I must stick to the truism: "The heavens have no handrails."

  -excerpted from Reverence, chapter five, "Medley of Earth", by SJ Morrissey.

  Copyright SJ Morrissey, 2004. All rights reserved. Dangre Publishers, Seoul.

All materials copyrighted unless otherwise noted, 2005-2007