South Korea's forest ecosystem restoration initiative named in official COP17 decision document, cementing the country's status as a key contributor to global biodiversity
South Korea has received international recognition as a key contributor to halting global forest degradation and achieving worldwide biodiversity targets by 2030.
The Korea Forest Service announced Monday that South Korea's efforts to advance forest biodiversity through the Forest Ecosystem Restoration Initiative (FERI) were cited in the official decision document of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17), held in Yerevan, Armenia, from Oct. 19 to 30.
FERI was proposed by the Korea Forest Service at the 12th Conference of the Parties (COP12), held in Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon Province, in 2014.
Since then, FERI has supported forest restoration planning, technology cooperation and capacity building in developing countries. Over the past decade, it has helped restore a total of 925 hectares of forest across 12 countries, including Colombia, Peru, Chile, Guatemala and Cambodia, playing a significant role in advancing goals under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Lee Hyeon-ju, acting director of international forest cooperation at the Korea Forest Service, said the decision document "solidifies South Korea's standing as a model country contributing to biodiversity enhancement through forest restoration." Lee added that the Korea Forest Service would continue to expand South Korea's international forest cooperation and work toward achieving the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets by 2030.
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
