Korea, Vietnam expand the horizons of forest cooperation

Minister Nam Sung-hyun of Korea Forest Service (KFS) and Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan renewed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on forestry cooperation in the presence of the two leaders at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam on Friday, June 23.

Through the renewal of the memorandum of understanding, the two organizations will reflect new global issues such as climate crisis response and biodiversity, and expand forestry cooperation to include greenhouse gas reduction projects through deforestation prevention, seed conservation, and the use of satellite imagery.

"Through the renewal of the MOU, let's expand the horizons of forestry cooperation and usher in a forest renaissance in which the forests of Korea and Vietnam enrich the economies, environment, and society of both countries," said Nam Sung-hyun, head of the Korea Forest Service.

"With the renewal of the MOU, our forestry cooperation, which has been built on trust between our two countries, will be taken to the next level to address the climate crisis and biodiversity," said Le Minh Hoan, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Minister Nam held a tree planting event on June 22 with more than 100 people from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Hanoi Korean Association, and local residents of Ninh Binh Province at the Ninh Binh Mangrove forest creation place.

The Korea-Vietnam Mangrove Forest Creation Project is a 4.5 billion won (US$4.5 million) ODA project from 2020 to 2024 to restore mangrove forests, establish nurseries, and build capacity in Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh provinces in Vietnam's Red River Delta.

The project is a convergence ODA project in which the forestry and fisheries sectors of both countries collaborate, and was selected as an innovative case by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in September 2021 in recognition of the project's method of increasing residents' incomes by applying aquaculture technology to mangrove forests.

This is the ninth renewal of the MOU on forestry cooperation between Korea and Vietnam since it was first signed on July 20, 1999.

With the signing of the memorandum of understanding, the two countries will secure various image data from satellites and use the data to protect forest resources, including forest fire prevention, prevention of illegal logging, and pest management.

It will also effectively respond to climate change and prevent global warming by reducing greenhouse gases, thereby solving various problems such as biodiversity.

This is expected to take forestry cooperation between the two countries to the next level, making Vietnam one of the global pivotal countries.