The International Women’s Peace Group (IWPG) Mokpo Branch, led by Branch Manager Kim Seon-a, carried out a marine environmental cleanup around the coastal area of Samhakdo Island in Mokpo on August 9, together with the Mokpo Branch of the Green Korea National Association, Rotary International, and the Mokpo Branch of the Korea Spinal Cord Injury Association.

More than 50 people, including members of the four participating organizations and children, took part in the activity. Participants collected household waste and marine debris that had been left along the coastline, working together to create a cleaner and healthier coastal environment.

The activity also brought together people of different generations and backgrounds, providing an opportunity to reflect on the importance of protecting the environment for future generations and the value of working together as a community.

Protecting the Ocean Means Protecting Peace

As climate change, including rising sea temperatures, continues to affect marine ecosystems, environmental protection has become a challenge that requires cooperation from the international community.

IWPG regards the coexistence of people and nature as a foundation for sustainable peace. Peace is not limited to relationships between people; it can also begin with protecting the environment in which we live and safeguarding the lives of future generations.

In this sense, the cleanup was more than simply collecting litter along the coast. It gave community members an opportunity to recognize the connection between environmental protection and peace and to put that understanding into practice.

“Protecting the Lives and Peace of Future Generations”

Kim Seon-a, Branch Manager of IWPG Mokpo, said, “Protecting the environment means protecting the lives and peace of future generations. We will continue to work with our local community to put the value of peace, where people and nature coexist, into practice in our daily lives.”

As they worked together along the coastline, participants also experienced how environmental protection can create a greater impact when it becomes a shared effort within the community rather than an individual responsibility.

The IWPG Mokpo Branch and the Mokpo Branch of the Green Korea National Association have continued to care for and clean the local coastline through regular marine environmental cleanup activities, regardless of the season or weather.

By bringing local organizations and community members together through environmental activities, they are expanding the meaning of peace in everyday life to include nature and the well-being of future generations.

The organizations plan to continue cooperating with various community groups to carry out environmental protection activities, including marine cleanup efforts, and to promote the value of peace through the coexistence of people and nature throughout the local community.