Odaesan National Park was added to the Green List during the Pilot Phase in 2014.
Designated as the 11th national park in Korea in 1975, Odaesan National Park is divided by Baekdudaegan (Mountain range known as the backbone of Korea) into the Woljeongsa district and Sogeumgang district.
Odaesan is spread out across Gangneung-si, Hongcheon-gun, and Pyeongchang-gun in Gangwon-do(Province) over a total area of 303.929㎢, and based around the highest peak Birobong which stands at 1,536m above sea level.
There are a total of 3,788 animal and plant species living in Odaesan National Park. Odaesan has 1.040 plant species which include 30 native Korean species and for animals, there are 28 mammal species, 103 bird species, 13 amphibian species, 12 reptile species, 35 fish species, 1,976 insect species, 157 spider species, and 147 benthic macro invertebrate species.
Conservation
Good governance
Community benefits
I am very delighted that three Korea national parks including Odaesan, Seoraksan, and Jirisan have been relisted in the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas (IUCN Green List). In the decision of CBD COP 13(CBD COP XIII/2), the IUCN Green List was promoted as a voluntary standard for protected area management effectiveness. KNPS has participated in the IUCN Green List since 2012 and accumulated our experiences in listing Korea national parks to the IUCN Green List. Recently, there has been a lot of interest from Asian region about the IUCN Green List and KNPS is ready to share our experiences and knowledge with global communities. Managing protected areas effectively will be important in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. I believe that the IUCN Green List will play a crucial role in post-2020 period. KNPS will strengthen collaboration with IUCN in encouraging the effective management of protected areas through IUCN Green List.
Odaesan National Park was added to the Green List during the Pilot Phase in 2014.
Odaesan Mountain is located in the central and eastern part of Gangwon-do. The mountain was designated a national park in February 1975, including an area of 298.5㎢ centered on the highest peak, Birobong Peak (1,563m). Other peaks include Horyeongbong, Sangwangbong, Dongdaesan, and Durobong.
Odaesan has the largest natural forest of Korea, home to many wild animals and plants. The area of Birobong Peak is famous for its Nuncheunkbaek and Yew tree forests. The royal azelea and Geumgang Chorong from Durobong Peak to Sangwangbong Peak are famous and there are animals such as boars, musk deer, turtledoves and colorful woodpeckers living here.
Outcome of EAGL Vote on Site
Consensus
EAGL Summary
Odaesan National Park was designated as a national park in 1970 and has been actively managed to maintain its ecological integrity. In particular, the park is located at the core of the Baekdudaegan Ecological Corridor, a key ecological corridor of Korea. The reduction of commercial facilities and environment-friendly readjustment, which were created to improve mass tourist attractions in the past, are also actively underway. This park was already listed in the IUCN GL in 2014 after verifying systematic management. Currently, 84 employees are actively managing the ecological functions of the protected areas. Park rangers uploaded more than 100 reports and documents for GL. Through the review of the data, on-site interviews and conversations with stakeholders, we have confirmed that Odaesan National Park meets all 50 detailed criteria for GL. This park contains nearly 20% of the land owned by Buddhist temples, a traditional religion, and the main entrance of the park is also owned by the temple, with most visitors visiting the temple site. The temple is a religious sacred located in this area from 1,400 years ago and is a very important stakeholder for park management. With its unique protected area system, its relationship with temples is one of the key governance of sustainable management. There was frequent friction between religious activities and park protection activities in the early days of the designation of national parks, but the perception of them as partners in friendly relations is gradually improving. Through interviews with monks and stakeholders, they have confirmed that we are solving problems in the park through dialogue in case of conflict. For example, the park was actively participating in the protection of the park by reducing the commercial facilities of the park entrance, restoring some areas, and banning the pavement of the road linking the temple to the temple in the park. Maintaining continuous cooperative relations with temples is one of the key elements of ecological park management, as it includes large-area private land owned by temples. Efforts to maintain cooperative relations will continue.
Reviewer Summary
Committee should in future submit site visit plans to reviewer much earlier. In this case site visit plan was not reviewed prior to site visits by reviewer however site visit plans were approved post visit.