200-Day Countdown Event for the World Forestry Congress, a forum on “Messages From Forests” will be held on 9 November 2020. Overview - When : 13:00~17:30, 9 November 2020 (Korea standard time)- Where: Coex, Seoul- How to participate : WFC 2021 YouTube streaming - Hosted by: Korea Forest ServiceBackgroundThe international community is witnessing more and more extended, intense, larger-scale natural disasters such as forest fires induced by climate change, landslides, and desertification. What is worse is rapid deforestation and forest degradation. If this trend of man-made forest destruction continues, humanity may have to live to live under constant threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid these challenges, new light is being shed on the solutions that forests hold in their hands to the threats facing us and thus reforestation is becoming ever more important. Against this backdrop, the Korea Forest Service is going to hold a special event to discuss the roles and future of forests on a date marking the 200 day countdown to the XV World Forestry Congress, with the view to garner greater attention and interest from the international community in the coming Congress to be held in Seoul next year.The program is attached below.For more information, please visit the WFC 2021 website https://wfc2021korea.org/

At the 25th session of FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO) held virtually in mid October, it was addressed that the Republic of Korea saw the increase rate of 196 percent in the per-hectare growing stock which is the largestgrowthin the Asia-Pacific region between 1990 and 2015. The result comes from the flagship report in the region named “Forest Futures-Sustainable Pathway for Forests, Landscapes and People in the Asia-pacific region” launched at the 4thAsia-Pacific Forestry Week in June 2019.On October 12, Director General of the International Affairs Bureau of the Korea Forest Service KO Ki-yeon took part in a side event held back-to-back with COFO 25 as a part of the 7thWorld Forest Week with the theme on forest future in the Asai-pacific region based on the report. Mr. KO delivered a presentation on the main results of Korea’s efforts in forest management and reforestation. Korea has been highly recognized in the world as a country that produced best outcomes in forest reforestation and management.

The XV World Forestry Congress (XV WFC) 2021 will be held in the South Korean capital, Seoul, with the theme of ‘Building a Green, Healthy and Resilient Future with Forests.’ A range of forest-related challenges facing the humanity are subsumed under the overarching theme, including deforestation and forest degradation, climate change, and sustainable growth, and they will be addressed at sub-theme sessions and forums. Opportunities and areas of opportunity will also be discussed as sub-themes, including the management and sharing of forest information and trans-border cooperation in forestry. Importantly, the Congress will shed a light on relationships between forests and human health to reflect a growing interest in health amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.The coming international event is expected to set the stage for Korea to present its advanced integrated wildfire control consisting of four steps ? forest management, wildfire prevention and containment, fire fighting, and fire rehabilitation and restoration. The host country will also share its experience and know-how in information-technology-enabled investigation and monitoring of forests, and the creation of urban forests.The WFC Secretariat is currently receiving abstracts of research papers, video presentations, and side-event proposals on the XV WFC official website and in August, will accept online early-bird registrations and unveil a detailed program of the Congress.

We are one year ahead the 15th World Forestry Congress 2021 which will be hosted in Seoul for May 24~28, 2021. Pre-congress program will be also arranged May 21-23, 2021.It is expected to be attended by 10,000 participants from around 160 countries including governments, international organizations, academia, NGOs, businesses, etc The programme encompasses the plenary session, subthemes sessions, high-level segment, side events, field trips, exhibitions, etc. The main theme is Forests for the future: navigating an era of change. For more information, please visit the website www.wfc2021korea.org which is to be open next week. Your comments are welcome to make the hosting of the 15th WFC successful.