Gwangju Buk-gu Actively Initiates Carbon Neutrality Practices Starting from Villages

Buk-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City is actively engaging in carbon neutrality practices at the village level in response to the increasingly serious climate change crisis.

According to Buk-gu on the 16th, the '2023 Carbon Neutral Green Village Creation Project with Residents,' which has been underway in six zones since April, has entered its main phase and is bearing fruit.

The Carbon Neutral Green Village Creation Project is a new initiative launched this year as part of Buk-gu's 8th term public pledge. It represents a major innovation of the Beautiful Village Creation Project, which Buk-gu was the first in the nation to introduce and has been implementing for the past 22 years. The project shifts the theme to green village creation to lay the foundation for grassroots carbon neutrality.

The core of this project is the discovery and implementation of carbon-neutral village agendas led by federated communities consisting of seven or more village communities united within each Buk-gu living zone.

The living zones are divided into six areas with geographically adjacent and culturally similar characteristics: ▲Jungheung Zone ▲Munhwa Zone ▲Ochi Zone ▲Unam Zone ▲Yongbong Zone ▲Geon-guk Zone. A total of about 80 village communities from 28 neighborhoods participated in the project.

In each zone, diverse environmentally friendly programs reflecting the characteristics of the area were conducted, including ▲resolutions to practice carbon-neutral village agendas ▲children’s village environmental tours ▲tree planting activities with village children ▲mobile resource recycling education experience centers ▲food waste reduction campaigns ▲soap making and sharing using waste cooking oil ▲various environmental cleanup campaigns.

Additionally, Buk-gu held the 'Our Village Carbon Neutral Design School' to raise awareness of the importance of green growth and supported the production of customized environmental campaign songs for each zone. The 'Environmental Activist Training Course' was also conducted, producing about 40 village environment leaders. Based on this, a 'Visiting Children’s Environmental Experience Education' program was established, with participation from about 1,300 local elementary school students, receiving great response from residents.

A Buk-gu official stated, "Carbon neutrality is a growth strategy to solve the climate crisis and enhance the sustainability of our society. For our children to enjoy a healthy future, individual carbon neutrality practices must be supported. We ask for residents’ great interest and participation in the Buk-gu Green Village Creation Project."