'50th Anniversary of National Land Greening' The Public Value of Cultivated Forests is 259 Trillion Won

The value of the public benefits provided by forests is estimated to have reached 259 trillion won as of 2020. This translates to an annual benefit of 4.99 million won per capita.

A scenic view of the birch forest Dalmaji Forest Trail created in Inje-gun, Gangwon-do. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

According to the Korea Forest Research Institute on the 29th, South Korea has planted 12 billion trees since 1960 and nurtured them, resulting in the total tree volume (growing stock) of forests increasing 14 times compared to the 1960s. The value of the public benefits of forests has also been increasing annually based on these achievements.

In fact, the value of the public benefits of forests in 2020 was found to have increased by 38 trillion won (16.9%) compared to the 2018 evaluation amount (221 trillion won).

The public benefits of forests are calculated by evaluating 12 functions. The value by item (function) is ranked as follows: ▲Greenhouse gas absorption and storage function (97.6 trillion won, 37.8% of total) ▲Provision of forest landscape function (31.8 trillion won, 12.3%) ▲Forest recreation function (28.4 trillion won, 11.0%) ▲Prevention of soil erosion function (26.1 trillion won, 10.1%) ▲Forest water purification function (15.2 trillion won, 5.9%).

Additionally, well-managed forests increase value through functions such as water source conservation (12.1 trillion won, 4.7%), oxygen production (11.6 trillion won, 4.5%), biodiversity conservation (11.6 trillion won, 4.5%), prevention of soil collapse (11.5 trillion won, 4.4%), forest healing function (6.7 trillion won, 2.6%), air quality improvement (5.3 trillion won, 2.0%), and urban heat island mitigation (600 million won, 0.3%).

Most of these public benefit evaluation amounts have recently shown a clear upward trend due to increases in the amount of public benefit delivery and rising replacement costs or prices.

Graph of the share of evaluation amounts by public interest functions of forests. Provided by the National Institute of Forest Science

In particular, the forest recreation function saw an increase in evaluation value as the total national leisure cost rose by 3.8%, and the forest healing function increased as the proportion of the population participating in hiking activities rose by 20.2 percentage points.

However, the evaluation amounts for water source conservation, air quality improvement, and urban heat island mitigation functions decreased compared to 2018. The Korea Forest Research Institute attributes the decrease in the water source conservation function evaluation amount to differences in the applied methods.

Previously, the operation cost of multipurpose dams was applied as the replacement cost to evaluate the water source conservation function, but in the 2020 evaluation, water utility charges based on the water usage ratio of water resources were applied.

For the same reason, although the water source conservation function of forests increased by 3,000 tons compared to 2018, the evaluation amount actually decreased by 6.3 trillion won due to the drop in the applied unit price. The Korea Forest Research Institute further explains that if calculated using the method applied in 2018, the 2020 evaluation amount would have increased by 300 million won.

The evaluation amount for the air quality improvement function decreased because the concentration of pollutants in the air declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a reduction in the amount of pollutants absorbed by forests. This should not be simply interpreted as an actual decrease in the public benefit function.

Regarding the urban heat island mitigation function, the Korea Forest Research Institute explains that although the urban forest area per capita in residential areas increased from 10.2㎡ to 11.5㎡ between 2018 and 2020, enhancing the urban temperature mitigation function, the evaluation amount decreased due to a 26.3% drop in electricity market prices compared to 2018.

Provided by National Institute of Forest Science

There are also claims that to continuously enhance the public benefits of forests, the declining trend in forest area, which is the source of public benefits, must be mitigated.

Furthermore, to appropriately utilize the public benefits of forests by purpose, the Korea Forest Research Institute emphasizes that forest management by function, minimizing damage to forest resources caused by disasters such as forest fires, and sustainable forest management through economic forests must be prerequisites.

Baek Jae-su, Director of the Korea Forest Research Institute, said, “South Korea has successfully carried out national reforestation over the past 50 years, creating a lush forest environment and establishing the driving force (public benefits of forests) that enriches the lives of the people through forests. The Korea Forest Research Institute will re-evaluate the value of the public benefits of forests every five years as forest basic statistics are updated and will strengthen research to ensure that evaluations are conducted scientifically and correctly.”

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