JEJU ― President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday sought to promote the concept of green growth to participants of a major environmental meeting in Jeju.

Speaking in front of thousands of environmental professionals, government policymakers and businessmen, he said that the country, which in 2008 set green growth as a new national development strategy, is taking efforts to a new level on the belief that “flourishing nature makes people happy.”

“The slogan of the WCC is Nature+, which shares a common denominator with green growth in that it aims to strike a balance between conservation of natural resources and their sensible utilization,” he said in his congratulatory remarks during the opening ceremony of the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Jeju. 

The Korean leader cited the four rivers restoration project as an example of such efforts.

“The (Korean) government has carried out the four rivers restoration project with a view to dealing with such disasters as floods and droughts caused by climate change,” he said.

“As a result, the management of water resources has been greatly improved, thereby playing a significant role in overcoming recurring floods and droughts.”

The project which entails dredging and damming of the country’s four large rivers is highly controversial domestically even as it nears completion, with some environmentalists calling for an outright reversion of the 22 trillion won project.

Lee also said that his government will take measures to conserve and restore the three main “pillars” of the country’s ecosystem.

The three areas are the Demilitarized Zone separating South and North Korea; Baekdudaegan, a mountain range that runs most of the length of the Korean Peninsula; and many islands and coastal areas in the waters surrounding the peninsula, he explained.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)