Minister Shin Won-sup of the Korea Forest Service.(Photo:KFS)

All stakeholders involved in fire management and related fields such as forestry; meteorology; ecosystem management; disaster and security management; and human health around the world will descend on PyeongChang, Gangwon-do to participate in the 6th International Wildland Fire Conference from Oct. 12-16. The following are excerpts of an interview between NewsWorld and Minister Shin Won-sup of the Korea Forest Service (KFS) in which he spoke of his service’s policies on afforestation and others. 

Question: Regulatory reform in the forest field is gaining momentum. Will you explain future plans on regulatory reform?

Answer: We at KFS are aggressively easing regulations on the forestry field to revitalize the national economy. 

As a representative case of regulatory relaxation, there is an issue regarding the disbandment of a regulation on the restricting of neighborhood redevelopment. Converting forest areas within 250 meters from already-permitted conversion districts and combining land development in excess of 30,000 square meters, including the existing allowable areas, is banned. We’re seeking to revise the Act on the Management of Forests since the regulation in question poses a limit on companies’ site location. 

Q: Will you touch on the transfer of Korean Standards for the efficient management of the lumber industry?

A: Korean Standards has so far been overseen by the Korean Agency for Technology Standards (KATS) under the umbrella of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE). KFS has handed over the management of Korean Industrial Standards in the lumber/paper field in accordance with a revision of the Action on the Korean Industrial Standards effective on July 29. Four hundred and thirty certifications for Korean Standards lumber, construction materials pulp and paper and 27 KS have been transferred to KFS. KFS’s management of Korean standards on the lumber/paper field is expected to integrate the management of duplicate (or similar) certifications, thus preventing confusion among companies and consumers, and developing Korean Standards tailored to meet the industry’s demands. 

Q: Suncheon Bay Ecological Park has been designated as the No. 1 national garden by the government. What policies does KFS implement to support the horticulture industry?

A: KFS is out to promote and invigorate the horticulture industry in accordance with an amendment on the Act on the Creation and Promotion of Arboretums and Gardens that went into effect on July 21. 

Prior to the effectuation of the revision, KFS established plans to spread and industirialize horticulture in July. Provincial gardens will be designated as national gardens, and the horticulture industry will be nurtured. As such, projects to develop gardens into tourist attractions will be put into action. The horticulture industry creates expertise manpower in such diverse areas as production and distribution of garden plants, garden design, and the creation and management of gardens. It boosts regional economies by developing provincial gardens into tourism resources. Suncheon Bay Ecological Park attracted 4.4 million and 3.51 million people in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Q: Will you tell us about policies the KFS has implemented to raise income of people in the forestry industry?

A: Medicinal plants with diverse species and unique medical efficacy have a huge potential of commercialization. In November 2014, KFS established a comprehensive plan to cultivate medicinal plants to commercialize them, which calls for the creation of 80 medicinal plant cultivation centers with more than 5 ha in size by 2018, among others. There are 1,253 kinds of medicinal plants, including genus hovenia and wood-cultivated ginseng, which are used as medicinal herbs, functional beverages and Oriental medicinal cosmetics. 

Forestry cooperatives’ distribution business will be reinforced, while direct transaction of medicinal plants between producers and consumers, particularly with large-scale distribution outlets and Oriental medicinal producers will be encouraged with the establishment of a nationwide collection regime centering around a forestry distribution center in Yeoju. 

The KFS is to open a wood-cultivated ginseng/wild medicinal plant educational and public relations center in Yeongju in September. Construction will get under way next June for a forestry medicinal plant resources research institute in Yeongju.

Q: What steps are in place to boost exports of forestry products?

A: With the acceleration of market-opening measures coupled with the global trend of trade liberalization, the KFS is taking preemptive steps to ramp up competitiveness of forestry product exports. We strive to designate areas to cultivate forestry products to stabilize the exporting of excellent forestry products, including picking Buyeo for fostering shiitake mushrooms in 2013, nuts in Cheongyang, Chungcheongnam-do, for cultivating nuts in 2014, and Cheongdo, Gyeongsangbuk-do, for fostering persimmons this year.

The KFS is stepping up production traceability of forestry product exports and support to gain Global GAP and Halal certifications to cope with importing countries’ reinforcing of food safety standards. It is not easy to explore foreign markets on an individual basis. The KFS provides support for having exporting committees comprising of producers of each item dispatch their own overseas market exploration delegation and conducting joint marketing activities. We also operate an export exploration consultation committee comprising of experts from relent government agencies and organizations to aggressively cope with grievances and difficulties forestry good exporters experience.  

Korea Forest Service will join forces with Gangwon-do to hold the 6th International Wildland Fire Conference to exchange views on wildland fire related international issues.

Q: Will you tell us about steps to ramp up the coverage of disaster insurance in the forestry field?

A: By area of the occurrence of disasters, afforestation business sites accounted for 32 percent of all disasters, followed by pipe wilt disease fighting sites with a 23 percent share and lumbering sites with a 21 percent share. Occupational health and safety insurance policyholders numbered 74,389 in 2013 and 85,672 in 2014. Forestry industry people with no worksites are not entitled to occupational health and safety insurance benefits, but they are allowed to be covered by forestry people’s disaster/accident insurances to compensate injuries they sustain while working for forestry-related jobs. 

Insurance against damage caused by natural disasters made its debut in Korea to cover bitter persimmons in 2006. Such insurance coverage against natural disaster damages has been expanded to cover nuts in 2007, jujubes in 2010, raspberries in 2011, and shiitake mushrooms in 2013.

In order to solve a lower national disaster damage subscription rate and less insured forestry products, first we will ramp up publicity on the need for the coverage of insurances, insurance policies, and benefits toward forestry producers and production organizations. Second, KFS strives to overhaul the insurance coverage system by diversifying own burden rates and expanding coverage benefits and reforming others. Third, an insurance against damages caused by natural disasters is to be expanded to add the five-flavor berry to the insurance coverage list in 2016, while a pilot program on the forestry natural disaster damage insurance will be to be conducted. KFS is seeking to expand the scope of forestry products covered by the forestry natural disaster damage insurance to items posting more than 30 billion won in annual production.

Q: Will you elaborate on the KFS’s policies to cope with climate change?

A: The KFS is soliciting cooperation in Korea and internationally to promote the efficient management of forests, which are the sole carbon sink to absorb greenhouse gas emissions. 

First of all, Korea has a forest carbon offsetting system in place to promote forests’ removal of greenhouse gas emissions. Among the details of the forest carbon offsetting system are transplanting trees (afforesting of trees newly or reforesting), managing forests in an ecological and efficient fashion, refraining from converting mountainous areas recklessly, utilizing of trees containing carbon as furniture and construction materials, and pushing of eco-friendly recycled wood wood pellet projects. 

The KFS submitted a pilot certified emission reduction (CER) project on afforestation and reforestation in Goseong, Gangwon-do as an A/R CDM project activity on May 2013. The project will enable South Korea to have a capability to implement CER projects on afforestation and reforestation in North Korea whose, forests remain hollow and desolated. 

We also seek to implement a pilot REDD project to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and foster conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. Korea established the ASEAN-ROK Forest Cooperation (AFoCo), a regional cooperation mechanism in the forest sector, with 10 ASEAN countries to cope with issues surrounding climate change and reforestation. 

Q: The 6th International Wildland Fire Conference (IWFC 2015) will take place in PyeongChang, Gangwon-do from Oct. 12 to Oct. 16. What benefits will the conference bring?

A: The IWFC was inaugurated in 1989. PyeongChang is the first Asian venue to host the IWFC 2015. 

The objectives of the IWFC 2015 are to strengthen international cooperation and exchange of information, knowledge, expertise and resources in fire management and its social, economic and environmental implications as wildfires caused by climate change, takes on significance. 

The Conference will also serve as an opportunity for Korea to publicize its wildfire policies and the nation’s advanced wildfire prevention systems and technologies, thus paving the way for exporting them abroad. 

It will provide a platform for the fire management industry, research organizations and fire specialists to display innovative technologies, products and methods for wildfire management, as well as interact with the conference participants.