Seoul-based AFoCO to open in Sept.

By Kim Tae-gyu

Korea and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries will open Asia’s first multinational organization geared toward nurturing forests and deterring desertification next month.

Korea Forest Service (KFS) Minister Lee Don-koo said that the 10 ASEAN countries are avidly supporting the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO) that will be based in Seoul.

``AFoCO, a multilateral regional organization, will be a permanent and legally-independent entity on a binding agreement among Asian countries,’’ Lee said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

``We will make efforts to provide forestation technology and facilitate human resources exchanges with the ASEAN countries faced with issues of forest destruction and land degradation. They are very supportive of the new outfit.’’

Top officials at the 10 ASEAN member states and Korea convened in Seoul Thursday to discuss the establishment of AFoCO whose leader will be picked later this year.

The ASEAN nations include the five founding members of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand as well as Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei, Laos and Vietnam.

ASEAN covers land amounting to around 4.5 million square kilometers, around 3 percent of the Earth’s total area, while the countries’ combined population is some 600 million people.

Many of its members originally boasted outstanding forests but they now suffer problems due to imprudent logging. Lee expected that Korea’s experience will be of help to deal with these issues.

``Korea is one of a few nations which has successfully achieved two seemingly conflicting goals of chalking up economic growth while making mountains and hills green,’’ the 65-year-old said.

``We will think of ways to share the experiences with members of AFoCO down the road.’’

The professor-turned-minister said that AFoCO plans to invite other Asian neighbors to the organization including North Korea.

``Once established in Seoul, the organization will extend its members to Central Asian and Northeast Asian countries during the next two years,’’ said Lee, who took charge of the KFS early last year.

``If North Korea wants to partake in the initiative, it will be welcomed.’’

Lee picked three major targets for AFoCO ― enhancing regional cooperation in the field of forestry, promoting the conservation and utilization of forests and pooling the expertise and technology that Korea has built in the field of forestry.

AFoCO is part of Korea’s campaign to find win-win solutions with ASEAN countries with regards to forests.

Asia’s fourth-largest economy has signed a contract with the Philippines under which the latter will provide the former with 200,000 hectares for forest plantations.

Any revenue from the land will be shared by the two countries.

Korea has signed similar agreements with Indonesia and Myanmar and has developed around 250,000 hectares of land.

``The KFS has set its sights not only on securing wood resources and improving the biodiversity of Korean forests, which are viewed as important environment assets for the future but also on transferring its research and afforestation technology to other Asian countries for mutual environmental and economic benefits,’’ Lee said.