The XV World Forestry Congress (XV WFC) 2021 will be held in the South Korean capital, Seoul, with the theme of ‘Building a Green, Healthy and Resilient Future with Forests.’ A range of forest-related challenges facing the humanity are subsumed under the overarching theme, including deforestation and forest degradation, climate change, and sustainable growth, and they will be addressed at sub-theme sessions and forums. Opportunities and areas of opportunity will also be discussed as sub-themes, including the management and sharing of forest information and trans-border cooperation in forestry. Importantly, the Congress will shed a light on relationships between forests and human health to reflect a growing interest in health amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

The coming international event is expected to set the stage for Korea to present its advanced integrated wildfire control consisting of four steps ? forest management, wildfire prevention and containment, fire fighting, and fire rehabilitation and restoration. The host country will also share its experience and know-how in information-technology-enabled investigation and monitoring of forests, and the creation of urban forests.

The WFC Secretariat is currently receiving abstracts of research papers, video presentations, and side-event proposals on the XV WFC official website and in August, will accept online early-bird registrations and unveil a detailed program of the Congress.