Changwon Initiative seeks common standards, increased funds


Korea Forest Service Minister Lee Don-koo on Wednesday vowed to consolidate global deforestation efforts as the world’s only legally binding conference hosted by the government agency continued in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.

The state agency chairs the conference of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification through Oct. 21, marking the country’s first leadership role in global deforestation efforts.

“Korea is ahead of others in turning wasteful land into productive land. We have an important role to play in the world’s fight against desertification at conferences and partnership arrangements,” Lee said.

Through next year, KFS plans to share its decades-long experience in fighting desertification with UNCCD’s 194 member nations based on action plans drawn out from discussion here, to be dubbed the Changwon Initiative.

Korea is regarded as having successfully achieved both economic growth and forestation since the 1960s. The agency plans to take its expertise to the conference before policymakers, researchers and corporate executives for a constructive discussion.

“Our role is to make sure that the agreements and resolutions from the 12-day discussion in Changwon will be executed for the next few years,” KFS said.

“Changwon Initiative, to be finalized at the conference, is likely to reflect what Korea had put forward as the chair country,” the agency added.

The UNCCD, an U.N. affiliate based in Germany, is the world’s first and only legally binding convention program to address desertification.

Changwon Initiative will include a series of action plans the KFS will carry out in partnership with the UNCCD and United Nations Environment Program in Asia.

“In order to successfully execute what is to come out of the 12-day forum, we need additional state support and infrastructure. There needs to be more public awareness about the issue and support from the citizens,” KFS said.

A business forum is also taking place on the sidelines of UNCCD COP 10.

Titled “The Sustainable Land Management Business Forum,” the private sector group is comprised of executives from about 100 companies willing to take the initiative. Global names including Unilever, Nestle, Cargil, LG International, Yuhan Kimberly, and Pigeon Corp. participated in the two-day discussion about possible for-profit private investments Monday and Tuesday.

One aim of the Changwon Initiative is to come up with agreed standards for measuring the loss of soil nutrients. The lack of agreed standards has hampered global efforts to tackle the problem as investors and donors have struggled to track the impact of their funding. Scientists hope to understand the effects of desertification and soil degradation on poverty and child malnutrition.

A common standard will help governments and scientists better monitor desertification and devise solutions to the problem.

“Donors must have a clear idea of how big the problem is and must be confident that we can measure progress in overcoming the problem,” William Dar, director-general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in Andhra Pradesh, India, was quoted as saying.

KFS says the gathering of scientists and policymakers from 194 nations is probably the world’s best chance to set a concrete goal.

“Right now, there is no numerical target on combating of desertification. Copenhagen Accord aims the average temperature to stay below 2 degrees and Convention on Biological Diversity has what is called ‘The Alliance for Zero Extinction,’ we have nothing like that,” KFS said.

According to the agency, 37 percent of the land in Asia faces the threat of desertification.

A total of 1.3 billion hectares of land in China and Mongolia alone is desert. The region is losing about 480,000 hectares of land annually, an area 2.6 times that of Jeju Island.

Luc Gnacadja, executive secretary of the UNCCD, is adamant that this expansion must be halted.

“Not a single country is safe from this serious land degradation and desertification process,” he said at a recent public speech.

“We need to bring private sector leaders and policymakers together and make investments in renewable use of the land.”

He said Korea is the right place to host the conference due to its forest rehabilitation know-how.

The country has been participating in forestation projects in China and Mongolia since 2001. KFS dispatched forestation experts, monitored soil degradation and partially financed projects in western China, Inner Mongolia and central Myanmar.

It is also concerned about deforestation in North Korea.

“It is also a serious problem for North Korea too. North Korea has about 2.84 million hectares of waste land as of 2008 after it let over 32 percent of its forests be misused,” Minister Lee said.

The agency has called North Korea to participate in the UNCCD forum but the North refused to join at the last minute, it said.

Korea still has one of smallest per-capita forest areas among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member nations. Forest areas accounted for 1.3 square kilometers per 1,000 people of 2008, marking the seventh-lowest level among the group of 34 countries. The KFS attributes the country’s low per-capita forest area to the dense population in its territory, two thirds of which is mountainous. The percentage of forest area to total territory reached 64.3 percent as of 2008, the fourth highest figure among OECD nations.

By Cynthia J. Kim (cynthiak@heraldcorp.com)