Artificial island to be built for endangered species

An artificial island will be built in Incheon to better protect endangered birds, officials said Sunday.

The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority said it would construct an 8,900-square-meter-large artificial island in the wetland preservation district in Songdo, Incheon, by late 2018 as part of its efforts to protect internationally endangered bird species. About 5.8 billion won ($5.13 million) will be injected.

The wetland in Songdo has served as a habitat and resting place for birds, especially for spoonbills -- of which only around 2,700 exist. Of them, about 300 lay eggs in the Songdo wetland, officials said.

In July last year, the Switzerland-based Ramsar headquarters designated the 6-square-kilometer-large wetland in Songdo as the 19th Ramsar wetland in Korea -- such a designation is made only if the area is worth preserving for saving the endangered species.

Construction will kick off in August 2017, officials added.

(rene@heraldcorp.com)