Jeju 7 Geo-parks boost chance for selection of New7Wonders

By Ko Chang- hoon

If Jeju Island is named as one of the New7Wonders of Nature in mid-November, it will confirm that the natural splendor of the Jeju 7 Global Geo-park is one of the most valuable and beautiful assets on earth.

The seven jewels of the environment-friendly geology parks are the pride of Jeju residents who will be able to share them with all the world’s citizens.

The World Association for Island Studies (WAIS) and the World Environment and Island Institute (WEII) invited a number of English teachers, foreign students and citizens to the Cheonjiyeun Waterfall ㅡ the Hanon Maar tour of Jeju 7 Global Geo-parks ㅡ on April 22 to give them the opportunity to see the wonder for themselves.

The main purpose of the trip was to support the official nomination of the Hanon Maar Zone as an area of outstanding natural heritage on the policy agenda of the 2012 World Conservation Congress (WCC).

Kim Boo-il, vice governor of Jeju Provincial Self-Governing Province, said it will be desirable that 2012 WCC accepts it as an example of the resilience of original form.

“It is the biggest Maar crater on the Korean peninsula. It has information on primitive life and secrets of ancient life and climate. Of course, it’s a critical time for us to share with world citizens the value of the Jeju 7 Geo-park sites as the New7Wonders of Nature,” Kim said.

With a good response from islanders and tourists, the tour will be recommended for development through village-initiated morning or afternoon tours.

In addition to this, the Peace Island Bultuk (meeting place of Jeju women divers) will hold tour programs for all-comers from July 28 to 31 at the Bultuk Festival in conjunction with a Global Marine Festival (July 21 - July 30, 2012) during the 2012 Yeosu Expo Korea (May 12 – Aug. 12, 2012) and WCC 2012 Jeju KOREA (Sept. 6 - 15, 2012).

Villagers will showcase the seven tour sites through unique cruises, hikes or guided walks, as bite-size introductions to each of them.

In celebration of the Jeju 7 Global Geo-parks, visitors will spend seven days enjoying seven different Geo-park tours. The villages are ready to guide visitors with characteristic story-telling at the different park sites.

In true Jeju tradition, every site has a beautiful indigenous mythology, such as the sad love story of Virgin Sanbang Deuk’s forbidden love with a Mt. Sanbang monk, where cliff-top water droplets symbolize their sadness.

Or, the ninety-nine rocks formation on Seongsan Illchulbong, which represent its fortress-like protection, hence its name, meaning “castle mount.” Or, at Cheonjiyeon Waterfall where the beauty of the scene hides the story of seven angels who came down from heaven to bathe in the sparkling waters there.

The Jeju 7 Global Geo-parks allow tourists to witness the interaction of nature, geography and human culture, which are the seven jewels of Jeju Island. According to Geoffrey Lipman, this new kind of “travelism,” which combines travel and tourism, can become a positive value-driven agent of change that benefits both locals and tourists, while raising awareness of the environment.

These everyday situations will lead citizens to encounter the splendor of nature through the harmonization of the environment and tourism. The Jeju 7 Global Geo-parks can become integral with the New7Wonders of Nature project. We feel that islands sing songs of beauty from their wonders of nature to their glory of life and culture, which allows us to dream of our very own paradise as a world peace island beyond our horizons through travelism.

The writer is a professor of Jeju National University