Jeju Gotjawal Provincial Park, slated to open next year, is offering a glimpse into its ecological repository in a bid to drum up domestic and international interest and garner support for its preservation.

The Jeju Free International City Development Center said Tuesday the unfinished park would be open to the public for nine days from Sept. 7-15 while the IUCN World Conservation Congress is being held.

It is inviting environmental leaders participating in the world’s largest environmental gathering to visit the area, it added.

A motion, recognizing the ecological value of gotjawal and calling for its preservation, has been submitted to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world’s largest environmental network which holds the congress every four years.

Gotjawal, which refers to a forest founded on terrain formed by lava flows, covers 109.87 square kilometers, about 6 percent of Jeju Island. It is a source of underground water and home to a wide variety of plants and animals. For example, the Gotjawal area includes some of the Jeju Lava Tubes, which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Dong Baek Dong San (Camelia Forest) wetland, which is on the Ramsar Wetland list. In addition, Gotjawal provides a habitat for 36 species of endangered plants and birds.

JDC, together with the Jeju provincial government and the Gotjawal Trust of Jeju, are spending 6.5 billion won ($5.8 million) to turn some 1.5 square kilometers of the gotjawal area in Seogwipo into a provincial park, with information centers and forest trails.

According to JDC officials, forest trails are already complete and the first phase of the park development project is expected to be finished this December.

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