My reflections from Korea. Final post

Reflections from Korea

I have had the privilege this September to attend the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Jeju Korea. IUCN (World Conservation Union) is the oldest, largest and most powerful conservation organization in the world with an observer status at the UN and with memberships cutting across governments, academia, NGOs and community conservation groups. The 2012 WCC held in the Korean island of Jeju was therefore an Olympics of sorts for the conservationists.

Delegates get ready for opening ceremony

 In my travel and stay in Korea I have learnt a few things which I think may be worth sharing with my fellow countrymen. First and the principal lesson (and my reason for going to Korea) is that we must take better care of our environment and there are tough toiches we must make as individuals, communities and nations. The WCC sessions bringing together the smartest scientists, policy makers and governments tackled myriad of issues relating to the most pressing problems in our universe today; energy demand, better livelihoods and food security for estimated 9 billion people by 2050. Various presidents, former and present Prime ministers, Ministers and CEOs gave their views on how we can build more resilient food production systems, increase forest cover and allocate funds from our business process to offset and mitigate for environmental degradation occasioned by our commerce activities.

Korea was also illuminating in how international conservation politics is played. For some it is a game with its own unique rules and they derive such joy playing the game. It is a running joke in conservation politics that many conservationists have ten different opinions on anything which if you multiply by nearly 5000 delegates give you an astounding diversity of opinions, not the least because they are expressed in nearly 182 different languages! Having said that, the IUCN elections for various posts is a study in lobbying silently and efficiently, knowing your target audiences and which motions are important to them and appealing both to their selfish and altruistic interests. At the of the congress, the members elect office bearers for the next 4 years and it is a big deal to win one of these posts. In this year’s congress, Mr Zhang Xinsheng of China was elected to lead the world’s largest environmental organization for the next four years.

The maxim that all politics is local was brought to bear in Jeju when villagers from a nearby Gangjeong Village, also known as the Village of Water mobilized to protest against building a proposed naval base in their village. Korea, like Kenya will not allow you to picket and demonstrate when the President is addressing the meeting. Although subsequently they were able to protest later, on the opening day, the police made sure that no one could demonstrate within 2 kilometers of the convention centre. The villagers had very organized backers and they managed to have the naval base put as motion to be discussed which is a big deal in international conservation politics. But the lesson clearly is that participation and consent from citizens is necessary when undertaking such projects. The counter argument is that Korean needs to protect herself from aggression and therefore the need for the base. That is a matter that Koreans will sort but a lesson well learnt is that that no matter how small we are we can get our voices heard if we are determined and organised enough.

One of the other lessons is that strong focused leadership is a necessary and most important ingredient in moving the country forward. I was fortunate to spend some hours with a genial Korea TV producer who broke it down for me how their country has moved from “having the same GDP with Ethiopia (and Kenya) in the 1970 to the present US$31700”. Mr. Choi Tae Do, who works for Arirang, the largest Asian English TV network, told me that at 48 years of age, he had lived through the transformation from a relatively poor country to its present status as OECD country and leadership was key to achieving. President Lee Myung-bak is at the forefront of pushing his green growth model to the wider international community. And the Korean experience is well worth learning for Kenya as we try to achieve Vision 2030

My experience in Korea was not not confined to the Jeju Convention Centre only. I had a chance to see the sites and talk to some Koreans. Unlike some people I know who come to Africa for two weeks and go back home declaring themselves as African experts, I cannot claim expertise in Korean culture, politics and dynamics but role of women in Korea is extraordinary. Drawing parallel to some of our communities, in Jeju, the island I was visiting a woman diver is a revered person. One of our guides a Miss Kim whose second name I can’t pronounce described their role “In Jeju it is better to be born a cow than a woman, A cow only works in the field but a woman works in the field and also dives in the ocean to look for food”. The Haenyo women divers are known to dive up to 20 meters without oxygen tanks. This is a culture that is changing but the Koreans have opened a school where the remaining women divers can pass their skills and knowledge to another generation who may only dive for fun not food. A French woman has recently become the first non-Korean woman diver to complete the training!

I also visited a proposed carbon free island named  GOPADO which is near the most southerly part of Korea. It turned out (at least for the day I visited) to have the highest carbon per capita. There are only 284 people living in the island and there are two diesel driven boats taking people there. However, there are plans to put a smart grid and all power used will be from renewable sources. The solar farm is already up and two huge wind generators already in place. In the next few months they will be using renewable energy with fossil fuel driven generators only as a backup. An amazing fact about this island is that it has a smart school, with 9 children and 5 teachers!

Miss Kim (Right) explains how the Carbon Free Island will work

Throughout my stay in Korea, I was impressed by how dedicated Koreans are to learning. As an exhibitor and perhaps a less intimidating one, I was inundated with many Korean college students wishing to know more where I came from but as I later discovered practicing their English skills on me. Not bad, considering that english is my third language but I can now see the determination and believe that may have driven a poor country to lift itself by the bootstraps and become a serious player globally. In Kenya, our colleges and universities are busy churning out graduate whose skills are suited for where we have been not where we wish to go. If we are to achieve Vision 2030 we need to completely re-orient our education system to one that encourages innovation and risk taking rather than “robotic regurgitators”. Have you ever wondered how for example an Apple Inc factory is China is able to hire 30,000 engineers to supervise a 700,000 workforce. It requires that we train people for the skills which can move the nation up and we must have the vision and drive to do it. I was glad to meet Kenya students from the Pusan National University who are studying there and hopefully they will bring the Korean experience and contribute their bit.

As always, it is fun to meet other Kenyans in a foreign trip. As our testament to how quickly we adapt to foreign situations, I was pleasantly surprised to meet some Kenyan delegate who came equiped with food, uji flour, tea leaves and everything you would need to survive on the cheap and save precious dollars for that building project in Ruai/Mlolongo. I can completely identify with the Mwenye-nchi as Korea is definitely not a cheap country. I had the impression that Seoul, being the home of Samsung and LG, that electronics are cheap but I was surprised to see Nairobi prices are actually better than in Seoul. How that happens is a matter Samsung may be able to tell unless of course the quality in the City in the Sun is dodgy 

Finally, my lessons from the congress and my walkabouts:

• That we can grow enough food for 9 billion people without inventing new technologies if only we ate less meat, used the resources more equitably and if the leaders talked the walk and walked the talk. To paraphrase Gandhi, our world today has enough for everyone’s needs but not enough for everyone’s greed.
• That it is possible to increase forest cover and still develop and that there is one more than one way of doing things and that no country has the monopoly of the right answers. Bhutan, a small kingdom has increased forest cover from 61 to 80% in 20 years (can you imagine that!)
• It is possible to have growth that is not only measured by GDP but also by Gross National Happiness. Bhutan demonstrates this too.
• Korea is a country on the fast lane but struggling to retain crucial traditional heritage.
• That young people in the whole wide world are becoming one tribe. The K-Pop music bands in Korea are like any other boy band in the world  and not any different from our own Sauti Sol, or Camp Mulla. The iPad generation will close cultural gaps faster than any other time in history. But on the downside, the kids dress all the same from Seoul to Istanbul to Nairobi.
• That Thika Road is a good road but not a superhighway and Nanyuki-Rumuruti Road is not a road but a dirt trail that is in the map for roads but shouldn’t be!
• That it is possible to dive 20 meters into the ocean without an oxygen tank as a way to make a living without having to undergo a PADI scuba diving course. 
• That Kenya Airways needs to style up and offer a proper service to its clients.
• That An nyoung ha seh yo is not a Kamba phrase for Anyany nyongo ni mseo but greetings in Korean language

 Till the next ......assignment.