Local Action Champion: Mayor Park Won Soon

(Editor’s Note:  Local Action Champion is a series that profiles leaders and visionaries who have made a mark in achieving sustainability through local action). 

Mayor Park Won Soon pledged to improve the environment, the city’s fiscal health and social welfare when he took over as Mayor of Seoul in October last year. Mayor Park has kept true to his promise, most notably on the environmental front. 

In 10 months, Seoul residents watched as lavish and expensive project plans, of which “higher and bigger” was the motto, were abandoned in favor of a move towards renewable energies, introduction of urban green spaces, and an emphasis on urban home agriculture. Surveys indicate the quality of lives of Seoul residents have improved drastically due to these changes.

Mayor Park’s visionary environmental vision has reaped not only local benefits, but international recognition as well. In June this year, he was asked to lead the World Mayors Council on Climate Change, an ICLEI – led initiative joining mayors from around the world in multilateral efforts addressing climate change and related sustainability issues.

Initially Mayor Park was reluctant to take on the chairmanship, “Asia is not highly aware of that issue (climate change). But the Council wanted me to lead initiatives because of the projects I had initiated in Seoul”.  However his commitment to pioneering environmental benefits in Asia soon overcame his hesitations.

As the new chairman of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change, Park promises to make Seoul an exemplary model in protecting the environment. “I will show leadership by acting, rather than talking. For example, Seoul is now campaigning to reduce energy use by 2 million  tons of oil equivalent by 2014, the average amount that a nuclear power plant produces, while increasing renewable energy generation at the same time,” Park said.

Mayor Park is a local action champion and the World Mayors Council on Climate Change can expect a dedicated sustainability leader and a local action champion to further inspire climate action, one city at a time.