Korea's Plan for 2011 International Year of Forests Declared by UN

1. Purposes ○ Promote public awareness of sustainable forest management and forest roles

in responding climate change and addressing global environmental issues ○ Publicize Korea's great success of forest rehabilitation projects and

disseminate information on Korea's forests accounting for 64% of the total land

2. Directions ○ Improve public awareness of forest roles as carbon sinks in responding

climate change and addressing global environmental issues ○ Publicize the designation of the International Year of Forests and encourage

general people and foresters to take part in a wide range of events for celebrating 2011 International Year of Forests

○ Design detailed plans for 2011 International Year of Forests and host relevant events including a commemorative ceremony, symposiums, workshops, etc.

3. Future Plans

[2009 plan]q Preparatory works for the establishment of Asian Forest Cooperation

Organization (AFoCO) ○ Host a workshop in late 2009 with a view to elaborating on draft convention

of the AFoCO and establish milestones for the establishment of the AFoCO

- Organize an event or conference to provide a platform to share their own views of ASEAN member states and forest experts from international organizations

[2010 plan]q Setting up detailed plans and a facilitating team for the International Year

of Forests

○ Detailed plans for 2011 International Year of Forests will be set up. ○ Settled plans will be implemented by the facilitating team consisting of

considerable experts from home and abroad

q Holding the twenty third IUFRO conference (International Union of Forest Research Organization)

○ The 23rd conference of IUFRO, an non- governmental network of 15,000 forest scientists and 687 forest research institutes from 111 countries will be held in Korea

○ Venue : COEX in Seoul during Aug 22~28, 2010

q Hosting an international symposium or seminar ○ Hold an international symposium for the World Day to Combat

Desertification - The symposium aims to commemorate the World Day to Combat

Desertification and to publicize the hosting of the 10th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Korea, 2011.

- The symposium will be participated by forest or desertification experts and government officials from home and abroad.

○ Hold an international symposium on forest management and climate change - Forest experts from home and abroad and Korean government officials will

be invited to participate and propose discussion agenda. q Hold events for the 65th Arbor Day and for the 9th Forest Day ○ An arbor day campaign will be performed nationwide so that all nationals can

plant and tend their own trees in line with the environmental moto of Green Growth and Climate Change Mitigation

○ Forest Day events have been conducted every year since October 18 was designated as Forest Day in 2002 with the aim of providing the people with more opportunities for firsthand experiences of forests

[2011 Plan]q Holding a commemorative ceremony for UN International Year of Forests ○ The ceremony will be a big congratulatory event to be participated by

children, juveniles, foresters, considerable experts and officials from home and abroad.

○ The ceremony will include congratulatory speeches, commemorative planting, rewards on men of merits for forestry industry, photo exhibition, etc.

q Hold the first Conference of Parties to the AFoCO ○ The Conference will be hosted in Korea and participated by 10 ASEAN

member states and Korea ○ The Conference will address operational issues of the AFoCO, forest issues in

Asian region, forest roles in responding climate change and other forestry issues.

q Hold an international symposium or seminar ○ Hold an international symposium for the World Day to Combat

Desertification, possibly in June, 2011 - The symposium will aim to commemorate the World Day to Combat

Desertification(June 17) designated by the United Nations, and to identify current trends of technology development and policy implementation for combating desertification

○ Hold an international symposium on forest management and climate change - Forest experts from home and abroad and Korean government officials will

be invited to participate and propose discussion agenda.q Host the 10th Conference of Parties to the UNCCD ○ Korea is scheduled to host the 10th Conference with a view to spread out the

seriousness of desertification, yellow dust and forest degradation in Asia to the international society, and to establish a mutual-assistance system to combat desertification.

○ The Conference will be held in Changwon, Gyeongnam Province in late 2011 and participated by government officials from nearly 193 countries, representatives of international organizations, inter-governmental organizations, and NGOs, and observers.

q Hold events for the 66th Arbor Day and the Forest Day ○ The Arbor Day event will be organized on April 5 in commemoration of the

UN International Year of Forests, and the whole nation will be invited to join the event which will contribute to promoting sustainable forest

management and responding climate change. ○ The Forest Day event will be conducted on October 18 designated as Forest

Day with the aim of providing the people with more opportunities of firsthand forestry experiences.

q Commemorative events by themes and by regions ○ Various forest events will be organized and conducted by regions, including

hiking contests, forest literature exhibitions and eco-tours to Baekdu Daegan Mountains.

○ Nationwide campaigns will be launched for raising the public awareness of forests, for instance, by creating a commemorative park for the International Year of Forests.