Will the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin in Jeju Gain Legal Protection?... UN Environmental Organization Expresses Strong Support

Green Cross Korea Issues Official Statement
Supporting the Designation of an Ecological Corporation
for Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins in Jeju

Green Cross Korea, an international environmental NGO with comprehensive status granted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), has officially announced its support for Jeju Special Self-Governing Province's initiative to designate an ecological corporation for the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin.

On the 22nd of last month, the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin Geumdeung returned to the sea of Jeju

Green Cross Korea (led by An Jungup) stated in a declaration on July 7, "The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins inhabiting the coastal waters of Jeju are a globally valuable marine ecological asset," and assessed that "the proposed amendment to the Jeju Special Act will serve as an institutional turning point for dolphin protection and the sustainable preservation of the marine ecosystem."

The statement continued, "The establishment of a region-based ecological corporation is internationally significant not only for the conservation of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, which has been designated as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but also as an implementation model for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, 'Life Below Water.'"

Green Cross Korea particularly emphasized, "Dolphin protection is not merely a matter of ecological conservation, but a symbol of a future in which humanity and nature coexist," and added, "Since this bill, which grants legal personhood to a part of the natural world, will be the first of its kind in Korea, we hope that the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the National Assembly will make decisions that align with international standards."

Green Cross Korea is the Korean branch of Green Cross International, an international environmental organization founded in 1993 by the late former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. It operates as an international environmental advisory body under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and UNESCO, and carries out various projects to realize sustainability in the fields of environment, peace, and safety.