‘Practicality Over Formality’ Korea Forest Service Incorporates Citizens' Daily Lives into Forest Administration

Park Jong-ho, the Commissioner of the Korea Forest Service, is briefing on the major work plans of the Korea Forest Service for this year at the Government Complex Daejeon on the 12th. Photo by Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] “We will prioritize practicality over formality in forest administration to create tangible results that forestry workers and the public can feel in their daily lives.” On the 12th, Park Jong-ho, the Commissioner of the Korea Forest Service, said this while announcing the ‘2020 Korea Forest Service Work Plan’ at the Government Complex Daejeon.

First, the Korea Forest Service plans to focus on faithfully adhering to the basics of forestry this year and establishing a forest management system that coexists and prospers with local communities.

They aim to spread a win-win model of co-growth with local communities through the operation of leading forest management complexes and enhance efficiency in forest management by concentrating forest projects such as afforestation, forest tending, and forest roads in economic forests. Additionally, a full revision of the Forest Resources Act will be pursued to solidify the fundamentals of forest management.

In particular, to support forestry workers’ management, the Korea Forest Service is reviewing the forestry direct payment system, installment-type private forest purchase, and tax improvements in the forestry sector, and plans to significantly expand the pilot project for entrusted proxy management linked with city and county forest plans from 2 cases last year to 23 cases this year.

Among these, the forestry direct payment system is a project to promote the public functions of forests and preserve forestry household income, and the need for its introduction has been continuously raised in the forestry field. In the same context, Commissioner Park has shown a strong will to actively promote the introduction of the forestry direct payment system through communication with forestry workers since his inauguration.

Accordingly, the Korea Forest Service’s strategy is to faithfully establish a foundation for the introduction and settlement of this system in the forestry field by garnering national consensus and agreement on the forestry direct payment system and obtaining approval from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the National Assembly.

More emphasis will also be placed on promoting international forest cooperation. In this regard, the Korea Forest Service will launch a pilot project of the Peace Forest Initiative (PFI) in Ethiopia this year and strengthen connections with international events such as P4G (Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030) held in Seoul in June.

Infographic of the Korea Forest Service's Major Work Plans. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

The Peace Forest Initiative is a global policy announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korea Forest Service last September at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Conference of the Parties. It is a program that supports forest creation and restoration in border areas or multi-ethnic regions between neighboring countries.

The Ethiopia pilot project focuses on restoring forests in the southwestern region of Ethiopia and developing eco-friendly coffee farms. It aims to prevent forest drying caused by climate change and provide a basis for local residents to earn income from coffee without damaging the forest.

Additionally, through the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO), the Korea Forest Service plans to accelerate the New Southern and New Northern policies in the forestry sector and make thorough preparations for the ‘15th World Forestry Congress (WFC)’ to be held in Korea next year.

The Korea Forest Service will also focus its capabilities on increasing quality forest jobs and enhancing disaster response capabilities in line with the government’s major national tasks.

Job creation will be promoted through training forestry experts and fostering social economy enterprises. Based on this, the Korea Forest Service aims to increase the number of professional forestry workers from 16,351 last year to 18,000 this year, forestry-related specialized businesses from 10,805 to 11,345, and social economy enterprises from 173 to 250.

This year, new qualification systems such as ‘Forest Leisure Sports Instructor’ and ‘Wood Education Expert’ will also be introduced and operated. The specialization of jobs is interpreted as a strategy to expand stable and sustainable job opportunities in the forestry sector.

As a disaster prevention response measure, forest fire prevention forest roads (65 km) will be installed in the East Coast area, which has a high risk of large forest fires, and two super-large helicopters will be additionally deployed, one each in Gangneung and Wonju, to enable forest fire management tailored to regional characteristics.

Furthermore, the Korea Forest Service explained that it will conduct basic surveys of about 5,000 areas prone to landslides, implement erosion control projects around residential areas to prevent landslides, and operate a cause investigation team in case of landslides to support rapid restoration of damaged areas.

Commissioner Park Jong-ho said, “We will faithfully fulfill the basic duties of the Korea Forest Service and actively promote forest administration that prioritizes practicality over formality. Above all, we will strive to create results that forestry workers and the public can empathize with and feel as the fruits of forest administration.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.