Forest Service Opens Additional Applications for Forestry Direct Payments

Provided by Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service will accept additional applications for forestry direct payments this year.

The Korea Forest Service announced on the 29th that it will accept additional applications for the ‘2022 Forestry and Forest Public Interest Direct Payment (hereinafter referred to as ‘forestry direct payment’)’ for one month starting from the 7th of next month.

The additional application period is for those who missed the initial application period (July 1 to August 1) or who registered as a forestry management entity by September 30 next month but missed the application deadline, allowing them to receive the direct payment benefits.

Eligible applicants are forestry workers and agricultural corporations who are actively managing forestry in forest areas where forestry management entity registration was completed between April 1, 2019, and September 30 of this year.

Applicants should fully understand the eligibility criteria for payment, qualifications for receipt, mandatory compliance requirements, and precautions, then complete the registration application form and submit the required documents to the town, township, or neighborhood office where the forest area is located.

The Korea Forest Service plans to finalize the list of recipients after verifying eligibility once the forestry direct payment applications close (in November), and then calculate the final payment amount through compliance inspections before disbursing the funds (in December).

However, recipients of the forestry direct payment must undergo inspections to verify compliance with mandatory requirements such as maintaining the shape and function of the forest area, completing education to enhance public interest functions, pesticide and soil (chemical fertilizer) testing, and sustainable forest resource management. Failure to comply with these mandatory requirements will result in a reduction of the payment.

For more detailed information regarding the forestry direct payment application, please refer to the Korea Forest Service website, local government websites, the forestry management entity support portal ‘Forestry-in’, and the project implementation guidelines.

Major Won, head of the Emergency Response Team for the Forestry Direct Payment at the Korea Forest Service, said, “To be eligible for the forestry direct payment, forestry management entity registration must be completed in advance,” and added, “Forestry workers who have not yet completed registration must do so by the 30th of next month and submit their additional applications within the period.”

Meanwhile, the forestry direct payment system is being implemented for the first time this year as a system that annually provides direct payments to qualified forestry workers as stipulated by the ‘Forestry Direct Payment Act’ to promote the public interest functions of forestry and forests and to compensate for the low income of forestry workers.

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