Lotte Homeshopping to Create 13th Eco-Friendly Forest at Special School

Eco-friendly Green Space Created at Seoul Jeongmin School
Supporting Ecological Experience Activities for Children with Disabilities

On the 1st, Lotte Homeshopping announced on the 2nd that it held a groundbreaking ceremony for the 13th eco-friendly green space, "Sum;Pyeonhan Forest," at Seoul Jeongmin School, a special school for the physically disabled in Nowon-gu, Seoul.

Since 2021, Lotte Homeshopping has been carrying out the "Sum;Pyeonhan Forest" project to create green spaces in urban areas to reduce fine dust.

Lotte Homeshopping held the groundbreaking ceremony for the 13th eco-friendly green space for ecological education of children with disabilities, "Sum;Pyeonhan Forest," on the 1st at Seoul Jeongmin School, a special school for children with physical disabilities in Nowon-gu, Seoul. From the left: Imi-kyung, CEO of the Environmental Foundation; Oh Jae-jun, Principal of Seoul Jeongmin School; Lee Dong-gyu, Head of Communications Division at Lotte Homeshopping. Photo by Lotte Homeshopping

In the early stages of the project, Lotte Homeshopping focused on creating eco-friendly forests in downtown Seoul. From 2023, it has been providing nature-friendly resting places for children by creating school forests. This is the first time a school forest has been created for children with disabilities. Considering the characteristics of special education institutions where experiential activities are emphasized, after an on-site inspection last month, Seoul Jeongmin School, which needed an on-campus ecological park, was finally selected as the 13th forest. This month, an eco-friendly space including walking trails to assist disabled children with tree observation and experiential activities will be created at Seoul Jeongmin School.

Oh Jae-jun, principal of Seoul Jeongmin School, said, "We are pleased to gift a nature-friendly space to students who need emotional and psychological stability," adding, "We hope that students will feel a bond with nature in the school forest and that their physical and mental health will improve."

Meanwhile, in December 2020, Lotte Homeshopping signed a business agreement with the Ministry of Environment and the Environmental Foundation to protect vulnerable groups from fine dust and respond to the climate crisis. Since 2021, it has been focusing on creating eco-friendly school forests for children vulnerable to fine dust through the urban green space project "Sum;Pyeonhan Forest." So far, a total of about 28,000 trees, including trees such as cherry and Korean dogwood and shrubs such as Korean spice viburnum and azalea, have been planted over an area of 8,610㎥.

Lee Dong-gyu, head of communications at Lotte Homeshopping, said, "We plan to continue social contribution activities that provide more benefits to vulnerable groups in welfare blind spots in the future."