Korea Forest Service vows to join global reforestration efforts at COP28

South Korea’s forest agency said Tuesday that it attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in the United Arab Emirates, to discuss various ways to ramp up global cooperation on reforestation and carbon reduction.

An annual multilateral decision-making forum on climate change marking its 28th edition, this year’s COP28 forum was held in Dubai from Nov. 30 through Tuesday under the theme of “Unite. Act. Deliver.”

During the event, the Korea Forest Service shared with participating countries its successful reforestation cases and wildfire response systems, laying the groundwork for a forest-related global alliance.

It also demonstrated a strong commitment to unified global climate efforts by joining the Mangrove Alliance for Climate and announcing its expanded role and support for the Forests and Climate Leaders’ Partnership.

On the sidelines of the conference, the KFS co-hosted an event with Canada, Australia and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, under the theme of cooperation for wildfire management.

To tackle the proliferation of land degradation and desertification in developing countries, the KFS also inked a memorandum of understanding with Laos on a project dubbed "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus."

Further, it also discussed with the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency to support Korean companies' investment in global forest-related projects.

Additionally, the KFS hosted a bilateral high-level meeting with countries including Oman, Honduras and Colombia to expand the scope of the forest-related businesses to the regions of Central and South America as well as the Middle East.

Meanwhile, it sought ways to promote sustainable timber markets and agroforestry together with leaders from the International Tropical Timber Organization, the Center for International Forestry Research and the World Agroforestry Centre.

“The role of forest has become increasingly important when it comes to responding to climate change," said Park Eun-shik, head of the KFS' international affairs bureau.

"Based on our achievements from this COP28 forum, we aim to beef up international cooperation to better respond to global challenges including climate crisis, wildfires, and land degradation."

By Song Jung-hyun and Lee Kwon-hyung

(junghyun792@heraldcorp.com) (kwonhl@heraldcorp.com)