The urgent need to diversify forest products accident insurance items in South Korea

South Korea

Published Oct 13, 2021

Tridge summary

(Muan = Yonhap News) Reporter Jo Geun-young = The National Assembly Legislative Investigation Office is drawing attention by taking a position that it is necessary to introduce forest product accident insurance. Currently, 60 items are applied to agricultural products, whereas only 7 items are covered by forest product disaster insurance. Seo Sam-seok (Yeongam, Muan, and Sinan), a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock Food, Marine and Fisheries Committee, pointed out at the National Forest Service audit on the 12th, "It is urgent to introduce forest product disaster insurance so that foresters can stably conduct forestry." According to the 'Necessity of Introduction and Expansion of Forest Product Disaster Insurance' submitted by the Korea Forest Service, the importance of conservation and maintenance of public functions such as carbon absorption is increasing, but forest products (trees) are in a blind spot in responding to disasters. In the event of damage, it was confirmed that there was no compensation system other than government-supported forest restoration. Currently, forest product accident insurance and crop accident insurance are separated according to Article 5 of the Agricultural Accident Insurance Act, but forest products are included in the crop accident insurance.

Original content

As of this year, only seven forest products included in the crop accident insurance are astringent persimmon, chestnuts, jujubes, bokbunja, shiitake mushrooms, omija, and walnuts. On the other hand, 60 items for agricultural products and 27 items for aquaculture are in contrast. In the case of forest trees, which account for the majority of forest products, the production period is long (30 years or more), and in the event of disasters such as forest fires and landslides, property damage to forest owners and foresters can occur greatly, so safety devices such as disaster insurance are required. . Rep. Seo Sam-seok emphasized the urgency of the introduction, saying, "Natural disasters such as wildfires, landslides, pests, and other natural disasters ...

Source: Yna