Article ID: CBB619620827

From War Zone to Biosphere Reserve: The Korean DMZ as a Scientific Landscape (2020)

unapi

The Korean DMZ—at once a war zone, a historical landscape and a living laboratory—offers a compelling example of how scientific fieldwork can alter the definition of place. This article explores how scientists introduced new layers of meaning to the region, thereby contributing to shifts in perspective about the border area and to changes in land-use policies there. As early as the mid 1960s, scientists described the DMZ as a scientifically unique and valuable place and argued for setting it aside as a nature reserve; by the late 1990s, the vision of the DMZ as a scientific landscape gained currency both within Korea and internationally and has become central to discussions about the zone's future. This article draws from published and unpublished scientific reports whose authors directly argue for assigning official conservation status to all or part of the DMZ and its border regions; it aims to demonstrate the important role scientists have played in redefining the DMZ through highlighting its environmental and scientific value. The article places these developments within the larger environmental history of Korea, suggesting links between changing emphases in environmental activism and policy-making and evolving ideas about the value and purpose of the DMZ.

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Authors & Contributors
Browning, Judkin
Wilhelm, Chris
Straeten, Jonas van der
Hyun, Jaehwan
Ana Muñiz
Munira Khayyat
Concepts
Landscape; landscapes
Conservation movement
Science and war; science and the military
Ecology
Environmentalism
Borderlands
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
20th century
19th century
18th century
Places
United States
Korea
Lebanon
Ethiopia
Southern states (U.S.)
Virginia (U.S.)
Institutions
Everglades National Park
Cornell University, Laboratory of Ornithology
Simien Mountains National Park
Cornell Library of Natural Sounds
World Wildlife Fund
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
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