South Korea Turns Island Residents into Marine Educators at Yeosu Expo

South Korea is training island residents as certified marine environment education instructors through a new partnership linked to the Yeosu World Island Expo. On October 13, KOEM, the state-run Korea Ocean Environment Corporation, signed an agreement with Chonnam National University’s Yeosu Campus to qualify local educators who can deliver ocean conservation teaching without leaving remote communities. The program, developed under KOEM’s Marine Environment Education Institute, will be supported by CNU’s Yeosu Campus, including curriculum structure and resources from the university’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, founded in May 1917. The article says South Korea has about 3,382 islands, mostly in South Jeolla, with Yeosu within an archipelago of 365 islands. It cites challenges such as depopulation, aging, climate disruption, and plastic pollution impacts on fisheries.