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Transport corridors and their contribution to transboundary environmental degradation in Northeast Asia
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Background
The implementation of the transport corridors is unavoidable in TumenNet project area, because without it there will not be the development of trade relations between and among the Northeast Asian countries; without the development of trade relations between and among the countries, TumenNet project area in reality will be nothing but a castle in the air.

Much work has been already done in the research of the transport corridors, including cargo flow projections, port development plans, highway constructions, and a planned railway linking Eastern Mongolia with the Tumen River Area.

Meanwhile, international organizations have to show their concern over the interplay between development and environment in this region, in that the Northeast Asian countries are over-enthusiastic about the development of the transport corridors. Almost every country cherishes an ambitious implementation plan for the transport corridors, which will bring about far-reaching and extensive impacts upon the regional biodiversity and international waters. If the construction of the transport corridors is coupled with large-scale regional economic constructions, such as the railway in Mongolia, the transport corridors will totally change the natural environment in this region. This reminds us of the railways in Russian Far East and China 100 years ago, which aided by the ports, completely changed the natural conditions of the northeast Asian continent.

Both Russia and DPRK are longing for more cargo flows for their ports, and they hope to see smooth transport corridors linking their ports with the hinterland. This kind of expectations means the ever-increasing threat to the biodiversity of the ocean and along the coastal areas.

We must construct, so we have to face the threat to biodiversity and international waters.

2. Major Contents of This Report
It is one of the sector reports under this project. It is composed of eight parts, which describe the conditions and situations of the transport corridors, and their potential impacts upon biodiversity and international waters.

Part 1 is the explanation to the concept of the transport corridors. It holds that the transport corridors do not mean a single railway or a highway. They refer to an integration of various communication/transportation modes and organizations. They also denote vast areas through which passengers and cargoes go. In side these areas, the original biodiversity under natural conditions are exposed to many possibilities of being disrupted.

In order to demonstrate how human being affect biodiversity and international waters in this region, this part of the report narrates the emergence and evolution of TumenNet project area and highlights the environmental sensitive areas that have been and will be affected by TumenNet project.

Parts 2 through 7 describe how various modes of communication and transportation affect biodiversity and international water. They cover railways, highways, land border crossings, ports, airlines, planned pipelines in Russia, and planned Tumen River port in China.

The concrete contents cover the following: technical conditions, historical review of passenger and cargoes flows under these technical conditions, and the present status. The report lays emphasis on the future development projections, because the recent developments are not very remarkable, and their impacts upon biodiversity happened long ago. While people have a grand development goal and are working hard to realize it, its potential impacts have to be noticed before hand.

The introduction to communication/transportation in each of the parts is based on major sections. Not only does the technical issues require it, but biodiversity and international waters in different section and in the area surrounding the section are not the same. There are sub-chapters in each part to describe impacts upon biodiversity and international water.

We have collected some data about Chinese railways, including toxic and hazardous cargoes, but data about accidents are not available from the railway authorities, nor have out collaborators of this project from other countries submitted any data about hazardous cargo transports, so we have to make some hypotheses about hazardous cargoes, and make some analyses about impacts on biodiversity the international waters on the basis of these hypotheses.

Part 8 is a concluding chapter. It offers the authors' comments about the transport corridors from ecological point of view and about the impediments to the transport corridors. And it is concluded with the authors' proposals and suggestions.

The Annex contains a glossary of geographic names, technical terminologies, maps and one "proposed" matrix.

3. Relations Between This Report and Other Reports
The National Report provides this sector report with information about biodiversity and international water. The transport corridors are important factors that have impacts upon biodiversity and international waters in all the countries. Our analyses show that the impacts from the transport corridors are getting bigger and bigger.

In the eight parts, one study is on environment and biodiversity; and another is on impacts of human activities upon environment and biodiversity. Obviously, the transport corridors are conditions for urban and tourist development, but meanwhile, due to their impacts upon biodiversity and international, waters, the transport corridors can also restrain the development. For instance, the planned Tumen River port, the new large airport under construction in the Tumen River area (Hunchun), the expansions of the coastal sea ports, will have destruction impacts upon the birds of the wetland around the Tumen River estuary and upon the ecosystem along the sea coast. We also maintain that the construction of railway or highway in Mongolia will generate grave impacts upon biodiversity on the grassland.

4. Summary of Recommendations
4.1On the whole, TumenNet project area is a much-developed area thanks to the emergence of the transport corridors. The ecosystems, and the diversity of species and heritage formed by the regional biological flora and fauna, which were fostered by the primitive and pure natural environmental conditions have been much disturbed for a long time.

As for international waters, they were not affected until after the Second World War. The industrialization of northeast China and DPRK prompted the development of mining, chemical industry, metallurgical industry, etc. The pollution of the Tumen River was already very serious in 1970s. Since 1990s, Russia has opened its former military ports and its coastal trade ports, and the development of international commerce exacerbated the port water pollution.

The impacts upon biodiversity and international waters brought about by TumenNet project are still rather small compared with the above-mentioned two factors.

4.2 Russia started its biodiversity protection in its Far East at the beginning of last century (in 1916 it set up the Kedrovaya Pad Preserce), now its protected areas make up 42.5% of the total in SWP (South-West of Primorsky). Both China and Mongolia have started their local biodiversity protection by means of setting up nature reserves in the localities.

4.3 Compared with the current status of TumenNet project area, the large-scale constructions of the transport corridors in the countries will become the largest challenges to these protection measures.
Besides those nature reserves, the planned transport corridors will thread their ways through environmental sensitive areas such as the grassland in eastern Mongolia, the grassland and sand land in the west of northeast China, the mountainous areas of the Changbai Mountain, the wetland around the Tumen River estuary, the tundra region in Siberia, the valleys on the Korean Peninsula, the Peter the Great Bay ,etc. The realization of the transport corridors will ,therefore, exert another round of historical upon biodiversity no less than the round 100 years ago when railways were firstly built there.

4.4 As far as TDA and SAP are concerned, the significance of this report lies with the proposal of "green transport corridor" technology application so as to reduce TumenNet project area's impacts upon biodiversity and international waters. It tries to identify TumenNet's impacts upon biodiversity and international waters and highlights the ecological sensitive areas and nature reserves so that they do not escape from policymakers' attention with they are making plans for the transport corridors.

4.5 So this report makes the following summary of proposed actions
- The governments of the northeast Asian countries must finalize a common action program to protect the biodiversity and international waters and it is far from enough only to reach a consensus on paper.
- This action program must include projection of potential damages of the biodiversity and international waters and the corresponding counter measures.
- This action program must contain an environment monitoring system to monitor and evaluate the biodiversity and international waters. All the northeast Asian countries must participate in the system.
- We must establish an international environment information system, an environment evaluation index system, a system to coordinate actions and regulate joint measures (such as laws, bylaws, regulations, market prices of resource products, resource consumption profit transfers, compensation for the loss of biodibersity, etc.).
- We must develop the green transport corridor technology, including clean fuel, treatment of corridor garbage and toxic substances, abatement or reduction of noise, cargo safety, quiet operations, non-barm passage of nature reserves, railway electrification, container transportation, etc.
- Strategic environment evaluation must be done, including evaluations of the biodiversioty environment situation in northeast Asia, of the international waters and the relations between and among these waters, of east Mongolia (on their railway constructions), of northeast China, of Russian Far Eat (on their pipeline and port development), and of DPRK (though still a blank sheet).
- Some of the Sino-Russian border crossings with little trade should be closed.
- The number of the construction items for the transport corridors should be reduced to a minimum, and the remaining items must be implemented with maximum quality standards, so that they can meet the requirement for the protection of biodiversity and international waters.