Proposing an International Day of Sustainable Wood
The Korea Forest Service (KFS) co-hosted a global webinar on 23 April with the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF).
The Korea Forest Service (KFS) announced that it co-hosted a global webinar on 23 April with the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) on wood production and utilization based on sustainable forest management.
During the webinar, the KFS emphasized the role of wood as a carbon sink, and highlighted that building a circular forest resource system, which goes beyond planting and tending trees to include harvesting at the right time, utilization, and replanting, is a key nature-based solution in the era of climate change. It also presented the “I LOVE WOOD” campaign aimed at raising public awareness of wood, and proposed the official designation of an “International Day of Sustainable Wood” to promote the value of wood globally.
This event was organized as a follow-up measure to the Ministerial Call on Sustainable Wood at the XV World Forestry Congress (WFC) held in Seoul in 2022. Participants from major forestry countries, including the Republic of Korea, Brazil, Canada, Austria, and Gabon, as well as representatives from major international organizations such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), discussed ways to strengthen policy cooperation.
The international community is currently facing shared challenges, including difficulties in building social consensus on wood use, institutional limitations, and insufficient investment. To address these challenges and explore measures for sustainable wood production and utilization, participants engaged in in-depth discussions on establishing governance and systems, improving public perception on timber harvesting, and strengthening international cooperation.
Based on the outcomes of the webinar, the KFS plans to continue the discussion on sustainable wood by co-hosting a side event with ITTO at the 21st session of the UNFF (UNFF21), to be held this May at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Minister PARK stated, “Wood production and utilization based on sustainable forest management is a key strategy to enhance the carbon sequestration capacity of forests and revitalize local communities. We hope that the discussions from this webinar will lead to tangible cooperation within the international community.”
Hur Sung-soo
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