Korea Forest Service Receives UN Convention to Combat Desertification 'Partnership Award'

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service has received the ‘Partnership Award’ from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Im Sang-seop, Deputy Director of the Korea Forest Service (left), is receiving the 'Partnership Award' from Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD (right). Photo by Korea Forest Service

According to the Korea Forest Service on the 17th, the UNCCD is one of the UN agencies and is regarded as one of the three major UN environmental conventions along with the Climate Change Convention and the Biodiversity Convention.

The convention was signed in 1994, and currently, 197 countries worldwide are members of this convention.

The Korea Forest Service was recognized for its contributions to greening drylands and preventing land degradation worldwide through the Changwon Initiative and received the Partnership Award.

The Changwon Initiative began in 2011 at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (Gyeongnam·Changwon), hosted by South Korea, which led the initiative to support the implementation of the UNCCD strategy. The initiative focuses on pilot projects supporting science-based systems and partnership building related to land degradation neutrality.

Through this, the Korea Forest Service contributed to establishing and spreading the concept of land degradation neutrality related to the core mission of the UNCCD, thereby enhancing the status of the UNCCD.

'Partnership Award' plaque. Provided by Korea Forest Service

Key achievements include contributing to the inclusion of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in the 15th Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs 15) ‘Life on Land,’ adopted at the 2015 United Nations Development Summit, and the adoption of a decision at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (May 2022) recognizing the Changwon Initiative as a core partnership for LDN.

It is also evaluated as having achieved tangible improvements in land degradation through dryland greening pilot projects in developing countries.

Nam Sung-hyun, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, “The Changwon Initiative has played a role in preventing land degradation and raising Korea’s status in developing countries such as Africa over the past decade,” and added, “The Partnership Award is a result recognized by the UN for Korea’s support in combating desertification and land degradation.”

He also stated, “The Korea Forest Service will continue to devote itself to playing a leading role in green official development assistance (Green ODA).”

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