'People'-Centered Forest Policy Leads to Sharp Decline in COVID Fatigue and Wildfire Damage

Korea Forest Service Leads Changes and Innovation in Forest Policies for Public Experience
Collaborates with Ministry of Health and Welfare to Provide Forest Healing for COVID-19 Response Personnel
Alleviating Fatigue of Quarantine Workers, Considering Expansion to Public-Private Sectors
Strengthening Inter-Ministerial Cooperation... Reducing Disaster Damage and Innovating Public Services

Participants in the forest experience are engaging in related programs with the help of a forest interpreter in nature. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] This year, the Korea Forest Service focused on leading changes and innovations that the public can feel, based on the achievements of government innovation, in promoting forest policies. The emphasis was placed on restoring publicness through public participation and trust.

Above all, efforts were made to realize a "people-centered forest policy." For the same reason, the scale of economic forests was expanded and loan support for forestry workers was increased to encourage their participation in forest management, as they play a key role in forestry.

Additionally, expanding urban forest policies such as increasing urban forests so that city residents can equally enjoy the benefits of forests in their living areas, and establishing new comprehensive measures for wildfire prevention and landslide prevention by incorporating advanced technologies to enhance the natural disaster response system, were highlighted as major achievements this year.

The Korea Forest Service conducted a "Forest Care Program" for medical staff through inter-agency collaboration during the spread of COVID-19 this year. Through this project, the Korea Forest Service received the Prime Minister's Award (Silver Prize) at the "2020 Government Innovation Best Practices Integrated Competition" last month. Photo by Korea Forest Service

◆‘Forest Healing’ through Inter-Ministerial Cooperation... Overcoming COVID-19 Blues= The Korea Forest Service confirmed its influence in spreading the social value of forests based on inter-ministerial cooperation. A representative case was integrating healing activities through forests to restore the public's emotional well-being and enhance social vitality amid the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

For example, on May 1, the Korea Forest Service proposed a multi-ministerial cooperation project for disaster psychological recovery support in response to COVID-19, contributing to maximizing the benefits of forests for the public. The proposal was directed to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Korea Forest Service held working-level meetings with these agencies to agree on ways to alleviate the public fatigue caused by the COVID-19 aftermath.

In particular, the "Forest Healing Support for COVID-19 Response Personnel," conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, has attracted public attention as an ongoing project since July. This project focuses on supporting personnel from infectious disease-dedicated hospitals and screening clinics to rest with their families at forest facilities and participate in forest healing programs.

From July to September, 5,716 people, including workers from 74 infectious disease-dedicated hospitals and 599 screening clinics and their families, received comprehensive support such as meals, accommodation, and forest healing programs at 13 national forest education and healing facilities, providing them with time to soothe their minds and bodies away from the fatigue of daily life caused by COVID-19. This has led to evaluations that the Korea Forest Service plays a buffering role in relieving the fatigue of frontline workers during the COVID-19 era.

Most notably, the "Forest Care Program," jointly implemented by the Korea Forest Service and the Ministry of Health and Welfare around this time, received positive public opinion for being promoted through inter-governmental collaboration and for its role in reducing post-traumatic stress by providing rest and psychological healing support to medical staff and others needed at quarantine sites.

The Korea Forest Service is currently exploring ways to expand this inter-ministerial cooperation model into a public-private partnership model, extending forest healing targets beyond COVID-19 response personnel to include the general public such as COVID-19 recoverees, supporting their return to daily life.

The main keyword of the forest policies promoted by the Korea Forest Service this year is "policy innovation that the public can feel." Based on this, the Korea Forest Service has carried out a series of activities to expand public participation, including setting public design tasks, the Challenge·Korea project, and operating the 365 Public Evaluation Mentor Group. Photo by Korea Forest Service

◆Expanding the ‘Breadth and Depth of Participation’ from the Public’s Perspective= This year, the Korea Forest Service also emphasized public participation and demand-driven policy formulation in forest policies. The establishment and operation of the National Design Task is a representative example reflecting this.

The National Design Group is a kind of policy working group where the public participates in designing forest policies and public services. It was introduced in 2014 and has been operating since. The main role of the National Design Group is to develop and improve public services by having both forest policy providers (public officials) and users (the public) participate and consider forest service design methods.

In addition, the Korea Forest Service enhanced the breadth and depth of public participation in forest policies through projects such as the "Challenge Korea" project and the operation of the "365 National Evaluation Mentors."

"Challenge Korea" is a project that solves social problems through the collective intelligence of the public. From June to September, the Korea Forest Service received a total of 81 ideas on "preventing slash-and-burn wildfires" through a public idea contest, followed by a first preliminary screening (32 selected), a second screening (9 selected), and a final presentation to determine the final ideas.

This year's idea selection focuses on preventing causes of slash-and-burn wildfires in rural and mountain villages by incorporating new technologies such as big data analysis or ICT.

Also, the "365 National Evaluation Mentors," operated year-round to listen to and reflect the voices of the public, played a role in inducing public participation in the relatively less-attended forest policy field and expanding participation throughout the entire policy process.

The establishment of National Design Tasks, the promotion of the Challenge Korea project, and the operation of the 365 National Evaluation Mentors all share the common purpose of expanding public participation in overall forest policies by the Korea Forest Service.

Screen of the Korea Forest Service's 'Wildfire Situation Control System.' The Korea Forest Service is promoting the inclusion of strengthening natural disaster response capabilities, such as wildfires and landslides, in the main directions of forest policy. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

◆‘Innovation’ in Public Services in the Forestry Sector... Tangible to Everyone= The innovation in public services pursued by the Korea Forest Service is premised on the phrase "tangible to everyone." Safety from natural disasters in daily life and small conveniences felt in everyday life have become key recent keywords in forest policies.

Forest disasters, which have become more frequent due to climate change, have emerged as a public concern at this point. The reason why active government responses, including the Korea Forest Service, are spotlighted in unpredictable crisis situations such as wildfires and landslides is also related to this. Reflecting these surrounding conditions, the Korea Forest Service contributes to enhancing disaster response capabilities through cooperation with related agencies and strengthening public safety by incorporating advanced technologies.

In particular, disaster response through cooperation among related agencies shone during the Goseong wildfire this year. The significantly reduced damage scale of the Goseong wildfire in May compared to a similar wildfire around the same time last year aligns with the Korea Forest Service's disaster response policy innovation tasks.

Last year's Goseong wildfire caused 2 deaths and damage including 1,267 hectares of forest and 518 houses and 260 warehouses destroyed. The firefighting took 45 hours, which was relatively long. However, this year's Goseong wildfire damage was limited to 85 hectares of forest and 6 buildings destroyed, with firefighting time shortened to about 12 hours. No deaths occurred due to the wildfire, and the number of displaced persons dropped from 1,196 last year to 2 this year, showing a clear difference in external damage status.

Regardless of success or failure in wildfire prevention, the comparison between last year's and this year's Goseong wildfires carries its own significance. Behind this, the Korea Forest Service cites "strengthened inter-ministerial cooperation" as the biggest factor for the relatively smaller damage this year.

At that time, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (the disaster safety control agency) instructed local governments to send disaster text messages and helped residents evacuate proactively, while the Korea Forest Service took on the role of the main agency for wildfire suppression, establishing and leading aerial and firefighting strategies at the wildfire site. With assistance from the Fire Agency and military units, it minimized wildfire damage by suppressing fires around residential areas and managing backfires.

Also, currently, the operation of the "Smart Forest Disaster App" allows the public to check in real-time the wildfire occurrence locations, action guidelines, nearby evacuation facilities, and predicted wildfire spread routes, enabling support for public safety and minimizing damage. The improvement of public services applying new technologies focuses on preventing large-scale wildfire spread and secondary damage to the public caused by wildfires.

Furthermore, recognizing the urgent need to provide non-face-to-face services for the health and safety of forestry workers amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, since July, the Korea Forest Service has been providing online and mobile civil service issuance services for forestry workers in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (Government24 operation team) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

This was promoted as part of administrative innovation through inter-governmental cooperation, and the Korea Forest Service explained that it achieved cost reductions in administrative expenses such as system construction budgets (government) and postal logistics costs (civil applicants) through this.

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