Seoul City to Reduce Chemical Control and Increase Eco-Friendly Measures for Forest Pest Management

Minimize Pesticide Use in Forest Pest Control, Expand Eco-friendly and Physical Control Methods

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is actively moving away from pesticide-centered forest pest control and is maintaining ecosystem health through various eco-friendly and physical control methods.

On the 2nd, the city confirmed the effectiveness of various non-chemical control methods as part of eco-friendly pest control, including controlling the cherry tree longhorn beetle using mustard oil, removing egg masses to reduce pest occurrence, installing pheromone traps to prevent the breeding of the fall webworm, and setting sticky roll traps to capture caterpillars and oak wilt disease vectors. The city plans to continue experimenting with diverse eco-friendly and physical control methods.

To control the cherry tree longhorn beetle, which damages the king cherry trees in Yeouido, eco-friendly control using mustard oil was implemented for the first time this year, reducing pest occurrence by about 30% compared to last year. Additionally, pheromone traps were installed to suppress mating between male and female fall webworms to reduce their population density. Sticky roll traps were set up to capture caterpillars and the oak wilt disease vector (Platypus koryoensis), and various eco-friendly and physical control methods were implemented to reduce pesticide use, including pine tree shape control and thinning to improve immunity. Earlier this year, focused removal of egg masses reduced the emergence of adult fall webworms by 77%, and this winter, full efforts will be made again to remove pest egg masses.

Seoul plans to pilot manage Gil-dong Ecological Park and Seoul Changpo Garden as ‘pesticide-free eco-friendly control parks’ among urban parks to monitor pest control effectiveness. In these two parks, forest pests are controlled using only eco-friendly agents such as wood vinegar and plant extracts instead of pesticides. If the effectiveness is high, the program will be expanded to other urban parks. Additionally, the city supports the purchase of eco-friendly pest control products when autonomous districts manage pesticide-free eco-friendly control parks.

Previously, Seoul took proactive measures to protect honeybees by becoming the first in the nation to ban the use of ‘neonicotinoid pesticides’ and actively encouraging the use of alternative pesticides for other pesticides toxic to honeybees. Seoul was the first local government nationwide to prohibit the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are highly toxic to honeybees and cited as a cause of honeybee damage. The city also requested cooperation from pest control agencies and pesticide prescription companies (Type 1 Tree Hospitals) to use alternative pesticides as much as possible for other pesticides toxic to honeybees.

Seoul’s diverse pest control methods based on pest life cycles were selected as a model case by the ‘2022 Regional Forest Pest Monitoring and Control Headquarters’ and have maintained a ‘pine wilt disease clean area’ for six consecutive years since 2017. Yoo Young-bong, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Green City and Leisure Bureau, said, “Although there are difficulties due to the increase of sudden pests and various forest pests caused by climate change, we will minimize damage through thorough monitoring and timely control according to pest life cycles. We will reduce chemical control and actively strive to maintain the health of urban forests through various eco-friendly control methods.”

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