Administrator Shin Won-sup of the Korea Forest Service (KFS).

The Korea Forest Service (KFS) is hitting the accelerator to expand overseas plantations to secure a long-term timber supply.

Figures released by the KFS showed that Korea has managed to plant 399,068 ha in 14 countries, which is 475 times more than the size of Yeouido, Seoul, since 1993 when the nation launched an overseas plantation project. In particular, 16 Korean companies afforested 41,531 ha in eight countries last year, a 63.6 percent jump in four years over 25,456 ha in 2011. Given the geological advantages, Asia accounted for 83 percent of all overseas plantations. In particular, Indonesia takes up a 72 percent share or 288,000 ha. 

Such public organizations as the KFS, as well as civic bodies like the Future Forest, are also proactively participating in overseas plantation projects. They have afforested 18,895 ha overseas since 1998. The Korea Forestry Promotion Institute (KOFPI) under the umbrella of the KFS implemented a 1,000 ha biomass forest project in Semarang, Indonesia, in 2013, setting a successful overseas plantation example, and afforested 670 ha in Paraguay for timber production. 

Countries involved in of Korea’s overseas plantation system have been diversified, and now include places in Southeast Asia to South America, the Middle East and Africa. A case in point is Paraguay. The KFS began to plant trees in Paraguay in 2013. The number of trees the KFS planted through October 2015 stood at 371,000 eucalyptuses in a 520 ha forest area. 

Kim Kyung-soo, director in charge of overseas forest resources development at the KFS said, “Paraguay is an optimal environment for growing trees due to fertile soil and abundant rainfall.” Korea aims at securing 20,000 ha of forest, 24 times more than the size of Yeouido, which is capable of producing 6 million sq. of timber, by 2046, he added. 

Starting this year, the KFS began to expand overseas plantation countries in Iran, Ethiopia other Middle Eastern and African countries. 

Overseas plantations are designed to secure timber and prevent desertification. KFS Administrator Shin Won-sup said, “Starting with the KODECO project in Indonesia in 1968, the KFS has provided support to 34 companies which have entered 14 foreign countries, including Indonesia, Vietnam and New Zealand.” 

Based on bilateral relations Korea has signed with 30 countries, he said Korea plans to expand the overseas afforestation area by 1 million ha by 2050. 

Choi Young-tae, a director in charge of international cooperation at the KFS, said, “Korea will be able to procure 50 percent of the nation’s timber demand from overseas plantations by 2050.” 

The KFS has signed MOUs with major countries since August 2006, allowing Korean companies to invest in overseas afforest projects there. The KFS has strengthened cooperation in the forest sector with Indonesia by reaching such agreements as an MOU on forest investment and CDM cooperation. 

The KFS’s efforts have paid off by securing a 500,000 ha afforestation area in the Southeast Asian country. In particular, Korea’s signing an MOU on a biomass forest with Indonesia has led to the securing of a 200,000 ha area for afforestation. 

The KFS’s signing of an MOU with Cambodia has led to forest investments to secure 200,000 ha. 

In 2014, the KFS signed an MOU on forest investment and climate change with Myanmar to secure some afforestation area in the country. 

The nation’s timber demand is on a constant rise. Korea saw timber demand increase from 27.7 million sq. meters in 2000 to 30.59 million sq. meters in 2015. Its timber self-sufficiency rate stands at a mere 16 percent, however. 

Last year, Korea imported 25.68 million sq. meters of timber from abroad, but produced 491,000 sq. meters domestically, meaning Korea depends on foreign countries for 84 percent of its timber demand. 

“It is attributable to a rise in timber demand riding on economic growth and following the effectuation of the renewable portfolio standard (RPS),” a KFS official said. Power companies are required to increase the RPS rate from 2 percent of power generation to 10 percent in 2022, he added. 

KFS Administrator Shin Won-sup said, “Of late, countries, recognizing the roles of forest designed to cope with climate change, enforce diverse regulations on felling of natural forests and timber export to nurture their forest industry.” 

Korea, which is too dependent on timber imports, is in a more unfavorable situation, and it is more important to secure a stable supply of timber resources, he said.

A forest of eucalyptus trees on Kalimantan Island in Indonesia. (Photos: KFS)