제주평화연구원

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150"] Yong-Jae Lee
Invited Research Fellow of Jeju Research Institute /  Professor Emeritus of Chung-Ang University[/caption]

  The world’s oldest trade route connecting the East and the West is 'the silk road.' In effect, there are three kinds of trade routes crossing Eurasia: the Steppe Route in the north, the Silk Route in the center, and the Sea Route in the south. Generally, the silk road refers to the route located in the central part. The silk road was named after the fact that Richthofen, German geologist, found that silk was the main trade goods in this road. The road is also called 'the Oasis Road', as it leads to an oasis located in a dry desert area and spreads to the eastern and western part. Having water, an oasis has served as a haven for people living in a desert, but also as the center of trade, it has been flooded with civilization and the transportation has been well-developed.

  One of the typical oasis cities of the silk road is Turpan. Turpan has become the central city in the silk road, thanks to 'Karez,' also known as 'the Great Wall in the Underground.' Karez indicates an irrigation canal facility which supplies water melted from the Tien Shan mountains to oasis ares through underground canal. This is a man-made 5,000-kilometer-long underground canal, built by people from generation to generation for thousands of years, digging solely with basic tools. Where water is supplied, plants grow, small animals inhabit through the food chain, and human communities are created as farming is possible. If water supply is cut off, all life shall naturally die, and communities shall vanish. Karez that has transformed Turpan, 'Land of Fire,' into a fertile land shows a simple truth that 'water is life.'

  Recently, there are some signs of changes in this Karez. The Karez system has been adopted by Turpan and many cities in Central Asia for many centuries, but it's facing a serious challenge due to destruction of underground water caused by introduction of modern ways of 'water industry' and changes in natural environment, and shifts in social perception of local residents. Increases in settled population and tourists, and changes in agricultural method of mass production system have explosively risen 'the demand of water,' and a climate change and desertification in surrounding areas have dramatically decreased 'the supply of water' in a reservoir. In addition, as 'underground water pumping' projects carried out through modern mechanical equipment expanded, water level of surrounding underground water has sharply decreased. It causes drought and contamination of Karez and demotivates local residents to operate and maintain Karez by arousing anxiety about water resources. Strongly negative trends on social values (life, survival, sense of belonging, and cooperation, etc) and sustainability accumulated in Karez system for centuries are being shown.

  Jeju has the yongcheon (spring) system, similar to Karez system.  Yongcheon (spring) refers to 'saem' , and yongcheon-su (spring water) is called 'saem-mul' in a pure Korean word. Jeju people also call yongcheon-su 'san-mul.' Yongchen-su, flowing from where the surface of underground water meets the ground, had been used for major residential water and agricultural water before water supply facilities were distributed.

  Jeju yongcheon-su is a natural treasure created by Jeju's climate, geological features, and topography. Rainwater, collected to a certain amount, directly permeates through the ground to become an underground water, so it's hard to find ground-surface water in Jeju. Therefore, Jeju's streams are almost in a dry condition except a few in the southern part. Rainwater, permeating through the underground, finally flows out as clear spring water after going through filtration for decades. As of now, there are 911 springs in Jeju, including 841 springs, accounting for 92.3%, located in the lowland below 200 meters above sea level and the rest of them located in the mid-mountainous zone and upland. Except 637 springs that are still in good condition, there are 100 springs where amount of water is limited or depleted and 174 springs where surroundings are damaged or unlocated, but given the fact that a source of water supply is an underground water, spring water is still life-giving water of Jeju.

  Jeju residents has carefully managed springs to prevent livestock from entering or not to be polluted from surroundings by building stone walls.  Villages and local communities jointly using spring water protect its amount and quality of water voluntarily, so spring water system is perfectly sustainable 'water supply' system, and it can be used for a long time by adapting to available underground water level. As the use and conservation of spring water is closely related to local communities, it can also a sense of solidarity and belonging at local level.

  Water is a major public resource along with air. Public resources refer to goods and services everyone can commonly use such as defense, police, fire-fighting, parks, roads, etc. which can not be excluded from benefits of consumption even without paying. In other words, it refers to goods or services that have non-exclusion, and for this reason, they are subject to public management by the state.

  Public resources including water can have inefficiency in allocating resources. Individuals tend to act only for their own self-interest, so even though they are well aware that it can be detrimental to everyone, they often waste or damage public resources whose ownership is not clear. It is called 'the tragedy of the commons.' 'The Tragedy of Commons' is the title of an article in Science written by Garrett Hardin in 1968, and the theory is originated in the early 19th centuries by the British economist William Forster Lloyd who used the concept of social tragedy (inefficiency) resulted when only individual interest is maximized under an imbalance between individual and public interest. Hardin argues that appropriate levels of intervention and control by national governments are needed to prevent tragedy, and that fundamental shifts in perception on individual rights and freedom and 'mutually coercion, mutually agreed upon' allow humans freer and happier.

  Recently, there is a tendency to view water as private property. 'Commercialization of water' including the appearance of 'Jeju Samdasoo' is speeding up this tendency due to external changes such as drought and water pollution. Water obviously has economic value in itself, but obsession with the economic value sometimes destroys values of water as social and environmental resources. 'Commercialization of water' threatens the survival of the poor who cannot get enough water whenever they need it, and also there is a risk of excluding true value of water since its value only relies on economic side. Imbalance between economic and social value of water will result in division and conflicts among locals and communities and undermine sustainable development of local societies.

  According to the UN report, around 70 percent of world population shall face 'water stress' by 2025. Currently, 844 million people live without safe drinking water, of which 95 million people get their drinking water directly from rivers, lakes and other surface water sources instead of water supply facilities. Also, 260 million women spend more than 30 minutes drawing water from a well. What is worse, 2.3 billion people still live without any basic sanitary facilities. The challenge of water shortage is not only about basic human rights, but also peace and security issues.

  Safe drinking water and sanitation is one of the most basic living requirements that should be met for human beings to live. Goal 6 in 'UN 2030 Agenda' for Sustainable Development Goals specifies that it is needed to "ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all" and that neighboring countries should help achieve it. To address issues of increasing demand of water, stable water quality, and frequency and seriousness of drought and flood due to climate change, it's very important to efficiently use and manage water. Water is a matter of survival, and water shortage can threaten our security. It's an accountability of an individual, corporation, and the state to carefully manage water resources, fairly share it, and equally distribute to those who need it.

  As water shortage is becoming a global issue, international conflicts over water frequently occur. The perfect example of that is Mekong River penetrating Southeast Asia, Nile River passing through many countries in Africa, Ganges-Brahmaputra Rivers going through China and India, Indus River passing through India and Tibet, Tigris-Euphrates Rivers passing through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, and Colorado River across the southwestern part of the United States and Mexico, etc. It is said that these regions are not excluded from the possibility of war in the future. There are almost 10 ongoing disputed regions in South Korea including conflicts  over Namgang Dam, Gongsan Dam, Yongdam Dam, and water quality of reservoir between the Daegu city and the Gumi city.

  Water should be used as 'a tool for peace,' not as 'a weapon of war.' Water shortage can fuel international conflicts, induce a large amount of human and economic costs, and have an international influence caused by refugees. Water can be easily abused as weapons or targets in conflicts. We need to strengthen international efforts to make water a tool for life, security, and peace, not a source of uneasiness. If it is necessary, we need to provide our experience and means for peaceful use of water.

  As seen from changes and challenges of the Central Asia Karez System, Jeju’s yongcheon system can share valuable experiences and lessons with the world for efficient use and management of water. Both systems are very effective in addressing issues of increasing demand of water, stable water quality, and frequency and seriousness of drought and flood due to climate change. The future of Jeju Yongcheon system depends on the establishment of water supply management system. In particular, measures to respond to water shortage including drought caused by weather changes, plans to manage and increase ground water recharge, control of water-intake and maintenance of tube well based on actual amount of usage, and thorough management plans to deal with pollution source of underground water are essential elements in a sustainable water management system.

  We need to disclose economic values of water in a transparent way, return parts of earnings to local communities, and fairly distribute them to achieve social value of ‘Jeju water.’ There are also ways to provide incentives to residents who are actively involved in water management. It’s because the owner of ‘Jeju water’ is Jeju residents. Since water management requires cooperation of local communities, it gives residents strong motivation to social bond and work together. Such cooperation of communities can help enhance human life and it can be a source of positive social capital. Considering the fact that Karez made Turpan, ‘a land of abundance,’ and Turpan delivered human civilization through the silk road, ‘Jeju water’ makes Jeju, ‘an island of pristine nature,’ and Jeju delivers a wish for life and peace through the sea road.

 

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  Yong-Jae Lee is an Invited Research Fellow of Jeju Research Institute and a Professor Emeritus of Chung-Ang University. His areas of specialty include Industrial Engineering, Civil Engineering. Based on this, he previously was a president of the Korean Society of Transportation and served several times as an advisory committee of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korea. His most recent books include Connection of Time and Space, Transportation Story(2018), Highway Planning(2017).