Minister Park Chong-ho of the Korea Forest Service (KFS) shakes hands with Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde as he paid a courtesy visit to the presidential palace in Addis Ababa on Jan. 30. (Photo: KFS)

Korea Forest Service (KFS) is striving to spearhead reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+). KFS wants to expand and evolve it into a model of collaboration designed to respond to climate change.

KFS has been implementing REDD+ pilot projects to secure certified emission reduction through REDD+ activities in four Asian countries - Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos - to meet its national greenhouse gas reduction targets since 2012.

Making the most of the experiences attained in the course of the implementation of these REDD+ pilot projects, Korea is exploring ways of expanding and evolving REDD+ into a model of collaboration designed to respond to climate change under the Post-2020 Climate Change Regime that is to be launched in 2021.

In this regard, KFS hosted a meeting on progress towards REDD+ in Songdo ConvensiA in Incheon for three days from June 19. Some 60 officials for Asian countries and international organizations participated in the meeting.

Among those on hand at the event were government and forest administration officials from Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Mongolia as well as the Japanese Forestry Agency and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The event was part of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Week 2019 (APFW2019), held there last June 17-21.

APFW2019 was jointly hosted by KFS and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, APFW2019 promoted the theme “Forests for peace and well-being” and provided a venue to discuss and shared views on the most pressing challenges in the forestry sector.

The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) took an integral role by co-leading Stream 3 to explore the theme “Building a Resilient Environment”. The Stream featured 26 events, focused on the role of forestry in achieving global environmental goals.

Events covered forests’ contribution to addressing the challenges of climate change, including progress towards REDD+ in various regions, the importance of peatland forests, advances in forest monitoring, and the prospects for new avenues of forest finance to meet these challenges.

Climate change is said to be the greatest challenge faced by humanity. With increasing incidence and severity of climate change related disasters, resilience building has been the focus of global attention in recent decades.

Global conventions, frameworks, programs and targets have been set to guide national actions toward addressing this challenge.

The roles and contributions of forests have been recognized and central to many of these global initiatives.

KFS Minister Meets Ethiopian President for PFI, Conveys Invitation to P4G Summit 2020 in Seoul

Minister Park Chong-ho of the Korea Forest Service (KFS) paid a courtesy visit to the presidential palace of Ethiopia to meet H.E. President Sahle-Work Zewde.

Recognizing the long-standing cooperative ties between the two countries, the KFS congratulated on Ethiopia becoming the 1st project site for the Peace Forest Initiative (PFI) and kindly informed the intention of the Korean government to invite H.E. President Zewde to the Partnering Green Growth and the Global Goal 2030 (P4G) Summit 2020, which will be held this June in Seoul, Korea.

Minister Park also met Dr. Fekadu Beyene, Commissioner of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Commission (EFCCC) of Ethiopia. The KFS introduced the background and rationale of the first PFI pilot project to be implemented in Ethiopia while seeking for its active support and cooperation in the process.

Not only that, both parties explored various avenues to reinforce the cooperative relationship including co-arranging a side event or a special joint session at the P4G event.

Seoul to Host XV World Forestry Congress in 2021

Korea will host the XV World Forestry Congress (WFC) in Seoul in 2021. Seoul was awarded the right to host WFC 2021 during the 155th Session of the FAO Council in Rome in Rome on Dec. 9, 2016.

Held every six years and organized by a host country with support and co-sponsorship from FAO, the WFC is the most significant gathering of the global forestry community.

The Congress serves as a forum for governments, universities, civil society and the private sector to exchange views and experiences and to formulate recommendations for implementation at national, regional and global levels.