Korea Forest Service Receives Proposals for ‘Forest and Culture’ Exploration Sites to Introduce at World Forestry Congress

A work that won the Encouragement Award at the 2016 Forest Culture Art Contest, themed on the snowy landscape of Daegwallyeong (by Woo Je-yong). Provided by the Korea Forest Service.

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service announced on the 5th that it is seeking proposals from local governments nationwide for excellent forest and cultural sites that domestic and international attendees can visit during the World Forestry Congress scheduled for May next year.

The World Forestry Congress is a forum to discuss critical international forestry issues such as climate change, food security, and biodiversity, and to issue recommendations and declarations. It is scheduled to be held from May 24 to 28 next year at COEX in Seoul.

Hosted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO), this congress is held every six years. It is expected that over 10,000 participants from 160 countries, including government and international organization representatives, academics, and experts from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), will attend next year’s congress.

The congress was first held in 1926 in Rome, Italy, and has since been hosted in countries such as Finland (3rd congress, 1949), the United States (5th congress, 1960), Argentina (7th and 13th congresses, 1972 and 2009), Indonesia (8th congress, 1978), and Canada (12th congress, 2003), playing a role in fostering cooperation among participating countries.

The discovery of forest and cultural exploration sites is a key program conducted alongside the plenary sessions, high-level meetings, expert meetings, and side meetings of international organizations that make up the congress. It aims to provide attendees with the opportunity to visit sites in person, experience Korea’s forests, and explore the unique local culture.

The Korea Forest Service will collect proposals for excellent sites from metropolitan and basic local governments this month, conduct expert document and on-site evaluations, and announce the final selected sites around 100 days before the congress.

The previous host country, Canada, operated on-site visit programs linking national parks, exemplary forest management sites producing timber and maple syrup, and indigenous villages, which received positive responses from participants.

Since then, Canada has been developing its forests, which cover 40% of its territory, as important tourist resources, effectively creating local jobs through seasonal experience programs such as forest trail hiking, alpine skiing, dog sledding, and mountain film festivals.

Park Young-hwan, head of the Korea Forest Service’s World Forestry Congress Preparation Planning Team, said, “Discovering forest and cultural exploration sites is an opportunity to effectively promote Korea’s excellent mountains and forests, which have relatively low international recognition.” He added, “The Korea Forest Service will ensure that the congress and these exploration sites become renowned destinations that continuously attract international forestry and ecological tourists to the regions.”

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