(Daejeon=Yonhap News) Reporter Park Joo-young = The Korea Forest Service (KFS) announced that it attended the 13th Assembly of the Asia Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO) held at the DMC Tower in Sangam, Seoul, on the 29th, as a government representative, to discuss forest cooperation plans to address the climate crisis.
The Asia Forest Cooperation Organization is an international organization established in 2018 under the leadership of Korea to jointly respond to Asian forestry issues such as climate change and desertification.
The assembly was attended by representatives from 16 member countries, including the KFS, and officials from the AFoCO Secretariat, totaling over 70 people, who discussed specific forest cooperation strategies to address the climate crisis.
Prior to the assembly, KFS Director Kim In-ho and Bertrand Jado, Deputy Ambassador of France to Korea, held a launch ceremony for the "Asia Forest Fire Capacity Enhancement Project," a joint initiative between Korea, France, and the Asia Forest Cooperation Organization.
Through this project, Korea and France agreed to invest a total of 3.5 million euros (5.8 billion won) over five years to train forest fire response professionals in emerging Asian countries and to promote cooperation to strengthen international solidarity in the era of the climate crisis.
On the same day, the KFS signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Global Carbon Council (GCC), an international non-profit organization based in Qatar, which includes the approval of the methodology for the forest carbon offset system.
The forest carbon offset system is a domestic system that certifies the achievement of reducing greenhouse gases by utilizing the absorption function of forests, and this agreement is expected to establish a basis for the international recognition of carbon reduction achievements from the domestic forest carbon offset system.
KFS Director Kim In-ho said, "Through the Asia Forest Cooperation Organization, an international organization in the forestry sector established under the leadership of our country, we will respond to the era of global climate disasters and create various forest cooperation policies."
He added, "The agreement with the Global Carbon Council will be a stepping stone for the greenhouse gas reduction achievements of our forests to be accepted in the reliable international private carbon market."