International Collaborative Symposium for Kyoto Mechanism and Overseas Forestation Held in Seoul The International Symposium for the Kyoto Mechanism and Overseas Forestation was held for two days from 19-20 October at the convention hall of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, aiming at seeking for alternative policy measures at a national level, such as forestation investment projects to secure carbon dioxide absorbing sources in the forest sector in addition to corporate environment-friendly investment strategies. In a bid to counter climate change, such as temperature increase, on a global scale, in 1992 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted, and as the Kyoto Protocol, formulated in 1997 for the implementation of the UNFCCC, officially came into effect on 16 February, 2005, 39 developed countries which are legally bounded to reduce greenhouse gases are obliged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions during the period of 2008 to 2012 by an average of 5.2% compared with the 1990 level. In particular, among the participants in the symposium were an estimated 50 foresters at home and abroad : Claudio Forner at the UNFCCC secretariat, Matis Cray at the Hamburk-based International Economic Institute, and Soda Ryo at Japanese forestry company Sumitomo, as well as Lee Boo-young, co-president of the Korea Forum on Forests for Sustainable Society, Kim Gwang-won, chair of the Agriculture, Forestry, Maritime Affairs & Fisheries committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Lee Don-gu, president of the Korean Forest Society, and Lee Jeon-je, dean of the Agro-Bioscience College of Seoul National University. On that day, the conference was launched by a range of keynote speeches titled "the 3rd Round of Comprehensive Government Measures to Counter Climate Change" by Park Jang-ho of the Office For Government Policy Coordination, "International Cooperation Policies for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol" by Park Heung-kyeong of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and "the Republic of Korea’s Forest Policy for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol" by Choi Byeong-am of the Korea Forest Service, to just name a few. Following the conference, on the 20th of October, tropical and subtropical countries held workshops where they had in-depth and open-end discussions on the Clean Development Mechanism(CDM)/Non-CDM forest projects. Translated by International Cooperation Division ☎ +82-42-481-4088 (Mr. Kim Se-hyun)