Establishing an international milestone for SFM






Since Rio Declaration in 1992, recognizing the importance of economic, social and environmental benefits from forests, and the seriousness of deforestation and forest degradation, the international society continued to discuss how to strengthen the International Arrangement for forests (IAF) with a view to contribution to internationally agreed goals but found difficulty in arranging Legally Binding Instrument(LBI) with objection from forest-based economy countries. The Sixth UN Forum of Forests (UNFF) was held in the Headquarters of UN during Feb 13-24 and the international foundation for systematic forest management has been established for Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) at the global level.






In the Sixth UNFF, members agreed to implement SFM and IAF shall be strengthened. However, there were some difficulties in facilitating fund resources considering the conditions of countries whose livelihoods depend on forests and in taking proper measures for SFM implementation so they came to a conclusion that they shall make efforts to reinforce and implement SFM, following the internationally agreed guidelines for voluntary implementation.





The main agreements were reached : firstly, the four global objectives on forests are to reverse the loss of forest cover, to enhance forest-based benefits, to increase the area of protected forests and sustainably managed forests, and to expand official development assistance; Secondly, Multi year Plan of Works(MYPOW) and Voluntary Instrument will be adapted in the Seventh UNFF (April 2007), considering the extraordinary nature of each country; Lastly, members have agreed to reconsider all possible ways to strengthen implementation of SFM, including LBI, and to review SFM implementation.






Korea Forest Service is making efforts to implement SFM and abiding by the internationally agreed arrangements. Domestically KFS will improve governance and relevant forest legal system, develop domestic forest policy under the voluntary instrument that will be made in the Seventh UNFF and strengthen public education regarding forest conservation. Furthermore, KFS will contribute to international environmental conservation by making efforts to transfer our successful reforestation technique internationally as well.








International Cooperation Division

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