The Korea Forest Service plans to spend about 1.82 trillion won (approx. US$1.63 billion) in 2013, up 1.2 percent from this year, with climate change mitigation measures taking the lion’s share of the planned budget in line with the nation’s green growth drive.

 

The proposed budget will undergo deliberations by the National Assembly before being finalized in December.

Policy measures for climate change mitigation and forest resource development, which aim to secure carbon credits and increase carbon sequestration sources, make up the biggest portion of the budget with 665.1 billion won (37 percent). The second-biggest spending of 518.7 billion won (28 percent) will involve forest resources protection to prevent forest disasters and promote forest biodiversity. Forest resource utilization measures, mainly to raise the income of the forest-dependent population, will make up 25 percent of the budget with 449.4 billion won, followed by 183.9 billion won (10 percent) for forest-related support for newly-built administrative towns around the country.

"The next year’s budget was designed to focus on realizing the vision of the Korea Forest Service, which is to make the nation a ‘forest powerhouse spearheading global green growth’,” Oh Ki-pyo, director general of the KFS Planning and Budgeting Division, said.