Forest Service, Korea-Peru 'Climate Crisis Response' Forest Cooperation Kicks Off

Director Choi Byung-am of the Korea Forest Service (left) and Levin Evelyn Rojas Melendez, Director of the Peruvian Forest Service, are taking a commemorative photo after signing the agreement. Photo by Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] South Korea and Peru are set to intensify forest cooperation in response to the climate crisis.

The Korea Forest Service (KFS) recently announced on the 22nd that Choi Byung-am, the head of KFS, visited Lima, Peru, and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for bilateral cooperation in the forestry sector with Levin Evelin Rojas Mel?ndez, the head of the Peruvian Forest Service.

The bilateral forest cooperation agreement with Peru is significant as it marks the expansion of KFS's forest diplomacy into South America.

Peru becomes the thirty-seventh country to establish bilateral forest cooperation with South Korea. Based on the MOU, KFS plans to collaborate in Peru on forest management and restoration, climate change-related research and development in the forestry sector, prevention and monitoring of forest disasters such as floods and wildfires, and seed deposit initiatives.

Earlier, on November 3 last year, KFS signed an MOU with the Honduras Forest Service in Glasgow, UK, during the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), officially launching forest diplomacy with Central American countries.

Subsequently, bilateral cooperation agreements were also established with El Salvador and Guatemala in northern Central America.

Choi Byung-am, head of KFS, stated, “Peru is the second country with which South Korea has signed a climate change cooperation agreement. The forest services of both countries will continue to cooperate to maximize the role of forests in responding to the climate crisis.”