Forest tending is cutting down dead or inferior branches over the years to keep trees healthy as they grow. Forest tending projects facilitate tree growth, improve economic value of timber production, and increase social value and public benefits of forests, such as water storage enhancement, disaster prevention, biodiversity, job creation, etc. Forest tending is highly significant since trees in Korea aged less than 40 years old account for 71% of the total.
To enhance the economic and public value of the forests, the KFS changed its policy direction from 'planting' to 'tending.' Since 1998, it succesfully tended 4.1M ha of forests, increasing the national growing stock threefold compared to before 1998. The average annual increase rate is 7.5%.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Korea topped the list for 25 years in terms of increase rate of growing stock among 37 OECD member states and G20 members. The KFS is going to further promote forest tending to meet the demand of Korean citizens and maximize the function of forests.
Annual Economic Value of Forests in Korea
[Unit: Trillion KRW (Korean Won), Billion USD]
| Year | 1990 | 1995 | 2000 | 2003 | 2005 | 2008 | 2010 | 2014 | 2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estimate | KRW | 23.370 | 34.611 | 49.951 | 58.881 | 65.906 | 73.179 | 109.0 | 125.8 | 221.2 |
| USD | 19.47 | 28.84 | 41.63 | 49.07 | 54.92 | 60.98 | 93 | 107.3 | 188.7 | |