Korea takes lead in sustainable forest management

The Korea Forest Service is ramping up its commitment to a green transition by consolidating efforts in the forest industry, now securing nearly 40 partnerships with foreign countries.

The nation's forest agency has been actively establishing bilateral agreements for forest cooperation, starting with Indonesia in 1987. A total of 39 countries are now maintaining such cooperative relationships with Korea, and the number is expected to grow.

The goals of the partnerships, at first, were to boost global supply and demand for lumber and help domestic firms gain a foothold in the overseas markets. While global climate change is no longer a future problem, the KFS and its partnering countries are expanding their sights on increasing the diversity of damaged ecosystems and tackling wildfires and the worldwide climate crisis.

With some 63 percent of its land covered in forest, which is more than double the global average of 30 percent, Korea has been a leading example for many developing nations in forest restoration, gaining international recognition for its sustainable forest management.

In the 1970s, Korea succeeded in replanting forests that had been destroyed during the Korean War, mainly buoyed by the nationwide tree-planting campaigns. However, the forest agency still recognizes and remembers the support the country received from other countries, Germany in particular, which also contributed to revitalizing the once-devastated woodlands.

At the time, German forestry specialists stayed in Korea, ranging from a few weeks to several years, in a bid to share specialized technologies and expertise in the management of forests.

The KFS believes now is the time to give back to the world, supporting developing countries to achieve sustainable growth.

The majority of KFS partners are also underdeveloped countries. Ramping up its green official development assistance efforts, the forest agency has invited foreign forest experts to Korea, introducing the optimal policies and technologies for forestry.

Adding to bilateral practices, the forest agency is revving up the diverse green ODA business with international organizations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the International Tropical Timber Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme.

In 2018, Korea also launched the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization, of which 17 Asian countries are currently working on projects to revitalize tropical forests, generate income for mountain communities and share technology for forest disaster control.

The relationships, though, are not limited to developing countries, the forest agency added. The KFS has been building strategic relationships with Australia and New Zealand for over 25 years, actively exchanging technology and human resources.

The Korea-Canada partnership also marked ten years of forest cooperation, carrying out joint research to promote timber construction techniques.

When massive wildfires burned across Canada in July, Korea also dispatched an emergency firefighting team of about 140 officers to the North American nation to support the firefighting efforts. One month later, upon their return, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau personally expressed his gratitude to the firefighters face-to-face.

In addition to Oceania and North American countries, the KFS is continuing its relationships with countries with advanced forestry solutions, such as Austria and Japan.

In April 2023, the KFS secured a new international partnership for forest cooperation with the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

Since its independence from Indonesia in 2002, the coffee industry has been considered one of the primary industries and chief export commodities of Timor Leste, due to the challenging soil conditions and a tropical climate providing the perfect foundation to grow coffee.

While about half of East Timor’s coffee production is purchased through fair trade coffee campaigns, YMCA Korea has also imported beans directly from local growers in the Southeast Asian country.

By Mun So-jeong and Lee Kwon-hyung

(munsojeong@heraldcorp.com) (kwonhl@heraldcorp.com)