Yuhan-Kimberly quantifies Mongolia reforestation results for first time

Yuhan-Kimberly has for the first time quantified the ecological restoration impact of its more than two-decade-long reforestation project in Mongolia using AI and satellite data. The analysis goes beyond counting trees planted to confirm, in measurable terms, whether the forest has absorbed carbon and recovered ecosystem functions.

The company announced Monday that it had produced ecological findings from the "Yuhan-Kimberly Forest in Mongolia" restoration project, which it has carried out in the Tujiin Nars region since 2003 in partnership with the Mongolian government, the organization Peace Forest and local residents.

The Tujiin Nars region had been experiencing rapid desertification following a large-scale wildfire. Yuhan-Kimberly has planted and tended more than 10 million trees there, restoring 3,250 hectares — an area equivalent to Songpa-gu in Seoul, or roughly 11 times the size of Yeouido.

The analysis was conducted in collaboration with climate-tech startup MetaEarth Lab. Previously, assessments had largely been limited to input-based indicators such as planted area and tree count, making it difficult to evaluate how the forest had affected the actual ecosystem. Through AI-based satellite data analysis, Yuhan-Kimberly tracked and measured changes in the forest over 21 years, from 2003 to 2024.

"This can be interpreted to mean that the restored site has established itself as an ecosystem capable of sustaining photosynthesis and growth on its own, beyond simply being a space where trees have increased," the company said. The sustained rise in productivity over the long term at a wildfire-damaged site in an environment as arid and harsh as Mongolia's, it added, can serve as evidence of the reforestation project's effectiveness.

Yuhan-Kimberly said it expects the findings to inform restoration strategies for wildfire-damaged forests, serving as baseline data for predicting how an ecosystem will change after degraded woodland is restored.

Building on the research, Yuhan-Kimberly and MetaEarth Lab are also preparing follow-on projects, including AI-based immersive content and an information platform. The plan is to use these to spread awareness of the value of forest restoration and the importance of forest conservation as public-interest content.

"We have been able to confirm how much carbon the Yuhan-Kimberly Forest — built up over many years in Mongolia's Tujiin Nars wildfire zone — has absorbed and what changes it has brought to the ecosystem," the head of Yuhan-Kimberly's open innovation team said. "We hope the findings will serve as baseline data for more reliably assessing the carbon absorption effects of future reforestation projects, and as an education tool for communicating the value of forest conservation."