Korean Forest Restoration Technology Plants 'Green Hope' in Mongolian Desert

Korea Forest Service Successfully Creates 'Urban Forest' in Desertification Area of Mongolia
Mongolian President Shows Commitment to Expanding Tree Planting in Desertified Regions
Continuing to Plant Green Hope in Mongolia with Korean-Style Forest Management Model

K-Agriculture Calligraphy Logo. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Korean-style forest restoration technology has sprouted the seeds of 'green hope' in the Mongolian desert.

The Korea Forest Service announced on the 14th that by successfully creating forests and urban forests in desertified areas of Mongolia, the possibility of successful tree planting throughout the region has increased.

Previously, the Korea Forest Service formed the 'Korea-Mongolia Greenbelt Project Group' in 2007 and carried out the first phase of desertification prevention afforestation (2007?2016) and the second phase of transferring afforestation sites and creating urban forests (2017?2021).

As a result, a forest covering 3,046 hectares was afforested in the desertified areas of Mongolia, and a 40-hectare urban forest was created in the capital, Ulaanbaatar.

This is recognized as a successful case of spreading green hope to Mongolia by overcoming local conditions that make tree planting difficult, such as cold and dry weather and damage from grazing livestock, through Korean-style forest restoration technology.

In particular, at the 75th United Nations General Assembly held last September, Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh declared a '1 billion tree planting' initiative in Mongolia based on the successful greening of desertified areas achieved through Korean-style forest restoration technology, suggesting the possibility of expanding forest greening areas in Mongolia in the future.

Additionally, locally, the Korea-Mongolia Greenbelt afforestation project is widely recognized as a representative model of international cooperation for desertification prevention, providing practical benefits such as job creation and environmental improvement to the Mongolian government and people, according to the Korea Forest Service.

For example, at an official event last March, the Mongolian Minister of Environment and Tourism emphasized, “Korea is an important cooperative partner contributing to Mongolia’s desertification prevention and land pollution control through the Korea-Mongolia Greenbelt Project,” expressing hope for continued cooperation with the Korea Forest Service and related agencies.

Accordingly, based on the afforestation achievements made in Mongolia, the Korea Forest Service plans to continue the third phase of Korea-Mongolia forest cooperation for five years from next year (2022?2026) to expand the Korean-style forest management model.

The third phase will focus on enhancing disaster response capabilities related to forests such as wildfires (restoration of wildfire-damaged areas), expanding forest restoration infrastructure such as seed orchards and nurseries (strengthening Mongolia’s own afforestation capacity), and developing programs to increase residents’ income such as agroforestry and ecotourism (improving local residents’ income).

Choi Byung-am, head of the Korea Forest Service, said, “In creating the Korea-Mongolia Greenbelt, the Korea Forest Service achieved successful greening results through trial and error in processes such as selecting tree species suitable for Mongolia’s climate conditions different from Korea’s, installing wells and irrigation facilities, and erecting fences to prevent grazing livestock,” adding, “Through this, Korea is recognized as a country promoting official development assistance projects that have helped Mongolia and is establishing itself as an important partner in the forestry sector.” He emphasized the significance of the Korea-Mongolia Greenbelt project.

He continued, “Especially, the project is significant in that it gave the Mongolian people hope and a lesson that ‘tree planting’ is possible even in desert areas,” and said, “The Korea Forest Service will successfully carry out the upcoming third phase of Korea-Mongolia forest cooperation to lay the foundation for K-forest restoration technology to spread worldwide.”

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