Korea and France Sign Letter of Intent on Forest Fire Cooperation

The Korea Forest Service announced on April 3 that PARK Eunsik, Minister of the Korea Forest Service, and Philippe Bertoux, Ambassador of France to the Republic of Korea, signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) on Korea-France Forest Fire Cooperation during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the Republic of Korea, held in conjunction with the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The agreement is intended to strengthen joint efforts to address the growing global crisis of large-scale forest fires.

This cooperation was launched to help protect the safety, economy, and well-being of people in both countries as well as across Asia, as large-scale forest fires become increasingly frequent around the world due to climate change.

The Letter of Intent outlines key areas of cooperation, including forest fire management and restoration of fire-affected areas; forest and forest fire monitoring using forest satellite technology; development of an information and communications technology (ICT) platform for forest fire response; and implementation of international capacity-building initiatives across Asia.

In particular, the two countries plan to actively share forest fire prevention and response systems incorporating advanced science and technology, including forest satellite and ICT applications, in order to enhance their respective technical capabilities. Building on this cooperation, they also aim to work together to strengthen forest disaster response capacity across Asia.

PARK Eunsik, Minister of the Korea Forest Service, said, “As forest fires become larger and more severe amid the climate crisis, there is an urgent need for strong global solidarity that goes beyond the response capacity of any single country. Through cooperation with France, with which Korea shares a long history of diplomatic relations, we will elevate not only bilateral cooperation but also forest fire disaster response capacity across Asia to a new level.”