Republic of Korea's largest international event since the coronavirus has concluded- The 15th World Forestry Congress's closing ceremony was held on the 6th.□ The five-day congress concluded with the closing ceremony, which was held on May 5th at COEX. World Forestry Congress, hosted by FAO and held every six years, is the largest and most influential forest sector gathering to share worldwide forest-related and environmental problems, like climate change, biodiversity loss and desertification, and devise solutions through forests. □ The closing ceremony started with the announcement of outcomes across the five days, followed by comments from forest sector representatives. Korea Forest Service Minister Choi Byeong-am's closing declaration concluded the ceremony following closing remarks from Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw of the UNCCD, Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo of FAO, and Her Royal Highness Princess Basma Bint Ali of Jordan. The Seoul Forest Declaration, prepared by the host country, the Republic of Korea, was announced among the major outcomes. The Declaration highlighted that future sustainable forest management responsibilities should be integrated among various agencies and stakeholders. Additionally, the need to build new partnerships, like AFFIRM Mechanism, SAFE initiative, and REDD+, and establish financing for sustainable forest management was announced. ※ AFFIRM: Assuring the Future of Forests with Integrated Risk Management mechanism※ SAFE: Sustaining an Abundance of Forest Ecosystems initiative※ REDD CBP: REDD+* Capability Building Platform* REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus) is a mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in developing countries, considered important under the UNFCCC. □ In the Ministerial Forum on Sustainable Wood, the 'Ministerial Call on Sustainable Wood' was announced. The declaration says solutions for using wood sustainably should be built into sustainable forest management, with each country agreeing to contribute to achieving NDCs (nationally determined contributions) by 2030.□ Meanwhile, the 15th World Forestry Congress was recorded as the largest world forestry congress ever held despite the coronavirus's worldwide spread. Around 10,000 participants from 141 countries participated, a record high, which far exceeded 7,000, the 13th congress's total. This congress was held online and offline for the first time considering the global coronavirus pandemic. The Secretariat provided online streaming services for overseas participants unable to attend in person due to the spread of the coronavirus. □ The congress was attended by forest officials from all over the world, such as delegates from each country, including around 50 high-level officials and leaders of international organizations, academia, and civic society organizations. These officials covered various programs, such as plenary sessions, special events, sub-theme sessions, side events, networking events, exhibitions, and poster sessions. In particular, Korea shared its excellent forestry policies with the world and strengthened its position as a forest-advanced country that leads global forest issues through special events, including the fire management forum and PFI roundtable, which were held under its leadership. □ Minister Choi Byeong-am of the Korea Forest Service expressed his will by saying, 'Korea will take the lead in implementation for making a sustainable green future that was discussed in the congress and in building close partnerships with forest officials around the world after the XV World Forestry Congress. The minister also expressed his sincere thanks to all participants from countries around the world for sharing his insights and wisdom at the congress.'

On May 3, the Korea Forest Service held the ‘Ministerial Forum on Forest Finance’ as a special event at the 15th World Forestry Forum held in COEX, in Seoul. o Second Vice Minister Ahn Do-geol of Economy and Finance, Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo of FAO, Executive Director Yannick Glemarec of GCF, Director-General Frank Rijsberman of GGGI, Minister Rosalie Matondo of Forest Economy of the Republic of Congo, Minister Lee James White of Gabon and other heads of international organizations and delegates from each country joined this forum.※ The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is an international financial organization focused on responding to climate change and CO₂reduction. It is headquartered in Songdo, Incheon City, Republic of Korea, where it first opened in December 2013.※ Launched in Seoul in June 2010, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is an international organization committed to strengthening developing countries green growth strategies. o The forum gave information about finance and resource policies related to countries’ climates and environments and explored opportunities and challenges and explored opportunities and challenges in utilizing more resources to prevent deforestation.□ In the opening remarks, Minister Choi Byeong-am of the Korea Forest Service urged attention to secure transparency for resource-support implementation create an effective support system, and expand forest finance through various channels and highlighted forests’ roles as carbon sinks in responding to climate crisis. o The Minister also highlighted the will to expand financial support and increase attention to developed countries’ forests, including ‘The Glasgow Declaration’ and ‘Global Forest Finance Pledge (GFFP)’ announced at COP26, held in the UK last November.※ The Global Forest Finance Pledge (GFFP) is a pledge for twelve countries, including the UK, the US, Germany, Norway, France, and the Republic of Korea, to provide around 12 billion dollars to ODA for the conservation and restoration of tropical forests from 2021 and 2025.□ The forum started with opening remarks by Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo of FAO. The DDG said that the world loses 10 million hectares of forest each year and urged attention to forestry as part of national financial policy. The DDG mentioned that Korea has been playing a special role as a hub for innovation and sustainable investment, expressing thanks to it.□ The Second Vice Minister Ahn Do-geol of Economy and Finance highlighted the importance of nature-based solutions, including forests, in responding to climate change through a congratulatory remark. o The Second Vice Minister said that Korea’s ODA budget was increased to 4 trillion for this year and that, in particular, climate finance policies are being implemented through the GCF and GGGI.□ Meanwhile, the Korea Forest Service announced that it would expand the scale of support of GFFP from the initial pledge of 60 million dollars to 100 millions dollars after the XV World Forestry Congress. o To meet this end, it plans to develop new ODA projects for forest conservation and forest restoration worldwide, as well as to expand previous projects qualitatively and quantitatively.□ Minister Choi Byeong-am of the Korea Forest Service said, ‘I hope that the ‘Ministerial Forum on Forest Finance’ of the XV World Forestry Congress will serve as an opportunity to reaffirm and put into action the will to achieve various forest-related targets that have been discussed.‘ The Minister added, ‘I hope that the effort to pursue and reflect the will in financial policies will be supported by each country.’

The 6th Wangari Maathai Award Winner!- Awarded to a special person who has contributed to the sustainability of our planet through forests On May 5th, the Korea Forest Service (Minister Choi Byeong-am) held the Wangari Maathai Award Ceremony at the XV World Forest Congress as a special event.Deputy Minister Nam Tae-hun of the Korea Forest Service (KFS) and Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General of FAO and Chair of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, awarded the winner. Park Eun-sik, the Director-General of the International Affairs Bureau of the Korea Forest Service, hosted the event.The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), an innovative voluntary interagency partnership on forests on forests, was established in April 2001 in response to an invitation issued in the resolution by the Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC).After the tribute video to Wangari Maathai, Deputy Minister Maria Patek for Forestry and Sustainability of the Austria on behalf of the Wangari Maathai Award jury announced the selection criteria and its process. Innovative efforts for conservation, the spirit of Wangari Maathai, and awareness-raising activities in the local community are important selection criteria.Nam Tae-hun, Deputy Minister of the Korea Forest Service, gave a congratulatory address to the winner and announced the winner of the 2022 Wangari Maathai Forest Champion Award. Afterwards, Ms. Maria Helena Semedo and he jointly awarded the award.The winner of CPF’s 2022 Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award is Ms. Cecile Ndjebet of Cameroon, Founder and President of the African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests (REFACOF), an advocacy platform focusing on African women’s tenure rights in land and forest reforms.She actively contributes to the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of all types of forests has, and at various levels, starting from the grassroots level, through sub-regions of Cameroon and other countries wherein her network operates.The sixth Wangari Maathai Award was given this year. Wangari Maathai, for whom this award was named, was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2004, in recognition of her contributions to sustainable development, democracy, and peace.· She is a Kenyan who worked with women in Africa for nearly 30 years to lead the Green Belt movement by planting around 30 million trees.The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) first launched the award in 2012 to commemorate Wangari Maathai.The award is for outstanding individuals who have helped to conserve, restore, and manage forests sustainably; it has raised awareness of the importance of forests in supporting communities, rural livelihoods, women, and the environment. After presenting the Wangari Maathai Award, 'The forest champions’ view - a special panel of Wangari Maathai award winners' followed. The previous Wangari Maathai Award winners shared their experiences of forest conservation.Nam Tae-hun, Deputy Minister of the Korea Forest Service, said, 'It is especially meaningful to award the 6th Wangari Maathai Award in Korea, which is one of the most successful countries in forest restoration. And I hope that the contribution to sustainability of our planet through forests will spread widely by sharing the experiences and challenges of not only the winner of today but also previous winners.'

Promote a Cutting-Edge Forest Fire Response System at the XV World Forestry Congress-Korea Forest Service shows the ICT-based forest fires control system.Korea Forest Service Minister Choi Byeong-am will promote the cutting-edge forest fire response system at the XV World Forestry Congress at the world's most influential COEX forestry gathering in Seoul from May 2 to 6, targeting participants worldwide.The Congress is among the first international gatherings after the COVID-19 pandemic, within the backdrop of technical cooperation and resource sharing for disaster countermeasures and asking for international support to promote human health and safety.Also, with the Congress' momentum, the Korea Forest Service plans on building an international cooperation system and sharing forest fire extinguishment strategies. As part of a huge wildfire countermeasure, the Congress will introduce smart wildfire prevention and extinguishment systems based on the Republic of Korea's state-of-the-art ICT, targeting the Congress participants from 146 countries.Korea's forest disaster countermeasure system applies smart techniques, utilizing cutting-edge ICT, and smart technology.The Forest Fire Disaster Safety Communication Device is a GPS-based device processing wildfire reports, providing locations of evacuation sites, and informing the public via progress reports. Anyone can install the Smart Forest Disaster App and access the 3D Forest Fire Prevention System and 10 other types of ICT-based Forest Fire Monitoring Systems providing information about the landscapes and distribution of forests in the Republic of Korea.ICT-based Forest fire monitoring System: forest fire forecast, mountain trail management, CCTV image transmission, forest fire control, prediction of forest fire, firefighting strategy map, helicopter image transmission, drone image transmission, ground image transmission, helicopter tracking system, and so on.The Forest Fire Headquarters uses cutting-edge ICT technology and the Forest Fire Monitoring System to set a rapid forest fire extinguishing plan and place firefighting resources most efficiently.Also, the Central Forest Fire Control Office devised the forest disaster integrated management system utilizing information about forests and big data technology. The system provides access to the live situation of forest fires and smart forest disaster support and promotes Korea's fire prevention methods and safe fire management to the world.The Korea Forest Service has introduced an integrated command system, utilizing 47 firefighting helicopters to support aerial firefighting to the local government and related organizations. The KFS has also introduced a large-scale firefighting strategy, including fire extinguishing technology, nighttime firefighting, and deployment of aerial firefighting agents.Firefighting helicopters (188 total): KFS (47), local governments (72), related organizations (69)Moreover, the KFS has introduced the aerial command system utilizing firefighting helicopters and drones for navigating steep mountains and extinguishing embers. Firefighting and thermal graphical drones; smart, wearable fire-extinguishing robots; and smart helmets were also introduced.A seminar on aviation safety and response strategies of extinguishing large-scale wildfires in the air held as a side event on May 3rd includes discussion on the Direction of Development of fire-fighting helicopters in extinguishing fires in the air and addressing night wildfires. Also, as a special event on May 4th, Fire management forum is held to cover international discussion on wildfire management issues. Director Sang Seop Lim of Forest Health Protection Division said, “we will share Korea’s system to respond to wildfires applied with cutting-edge ICT and build an international cooperative mechanism with countries around the world including jointly responding to wildfire issues after the 15th World Forestry Congress.”