There
is a growing awareness of the importance of forest in
terms of climate change, biodiversity and combating desertification,
and a strong potential for coherence among countries on
that. An international forum was convened during the recent
Asia Pacific Forestry Week in Incheon, Korea, to reaffirm
the significance of forest and landscape restoration in
the Republic of Korea for the international recognition
and Inter-Korean forest cooperation.
The
Republic of Korea is to perpetual peace and prosperity
in uniting South and North Koreas. This policy goes hand
in hand with the future of the Korean Peninsula through
protection and utilization of forest and people-centered
integrated forest restoration.
The
International Forum for Integrated Forest Restoration
was held at Oakwood Premier Incheon Hotel on 18 June 2019.
APAFRI with the annual allocation from National Institute
of Forest Science (NIFos) provided support for five staff
members from APAFRI member institutions to participate
in this forum. They were from Forestry Research, Development
and Innovation Agency (FOERDIA), Indonesia; Kerala Forest
Research Institute (KFRI), India; Forest Products Research
and Development Institute (FPRDI), Philippines; National
Taiwan University, Taiwan; and Kasetsart University, Thailand.
The
forum began with the Opening Address by Chun BomKwon,
President of NIFoS and followed by the Welcoming Address
by Robert Nasi, Director General of Center for International
Forestry Research.
Chaired
by Son Yowhan, the session of successful story of forest
landscape restoration lined up three distinguished speakers.
Hwang Jaehong presented the various cases of forest restoration
on degraded land in Korea and associated challenges. In
1920s, there was a completely denuded forest in the Gyeongbuk
Province due to devastation by building up of temporary
housing, use of tree branches to cook, and cultivating
corns in slash-and-burn practice. Under the strong leadership
of the President, and other factors involving various
stakeholders, now the world can see the changes in the
panoramic view in that area. Besides the successful stories,
there are challenges. An outlook on environmental situation
showed that there’s an increase in natural disasters such
as forest fires, landslides and insect pests. Therefore
forest research should emphasize more on restoration instead
of rehabilitation.
Paola
Agostini in her key message highlighted that landscape
restoration is doable. She came out with some classic
examples such as in China (loess plateau production restoration),
Rwanda (restoration for food security), and Costa Rica
(reversed forest degradation). Landscape restoration in
specific fields like energy, mining, household energy,
and urban flooding control, could help in achieving the
goals. World Bank’s Forest Action Plan FY16-20 provides
the guidelines for the landscape approach. She also mentioned
that the economic values of forest restoration is every
one dollar of restoration will gain from 7 to 39 dollars
of benefits. The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to
bring 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested
land into restoration by 2020, and 350 million hectares
by 2030. So far there are 170.43 million hectares pledged
by various countries. The 30x30 Initiative is a country-led
initiative to restore 30 million hectares of degraded
and deforested lands for Europe, Caucasus and Central
Asia by 2030 in support of the Bonn Challenge.
The
last presenter, Bir C. Mandal talked about the challenges
and opportunities in DPR Korea forest restoration. Deforestation
endangers agriculture and food systems resulted from land
degradation, and worsening the impact of recurrent natural
disaster. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) estimated that the forest land in DPR Korea
had declined to 5.03 million hectares in 2015. Several
agroforestry projects have been implemented by FAO, international
NGOs and the government. However these efforts are not
adequate to address the long-term challenges in DPRK.
Before
closing, Lee JoonWoo chaired a panel discussion where
six panelists expressed their views on the topics.
