Enviro News Asia, Shenzhen — Indonesia and South Korea reaffirmed their commitment to expanding bilateral cooperation in sustainable forestry during a meeting held on the sidelines of the APEC Forestry Ministers’ Meeting (FTMM) in Shenzhen, China, on July 27.
The meeting brought together Indonesia’s Director General of Sustainable Forest Management at the Ministry of Forestry, Laksmi Wijayanti, and Commissioner of the Korea Forest Service, Park Eun-sik. The discussions focused on strengthening technical cooperation in sustainable forest management, empowering forest-dependent communities, and enhancing institutional capacity to address the impacts of climate change.
Indonesia expressed appreciation for South Korea’s continued support for the country’s forestry sector, emphasizing that the longstanding partnership should be further strengthened to address increasingly complex forest management challenges. Laksmi Wijayanti said both countries share a common objective of conserving forests while ensuring that communities living in and around forest areas benefit from sustainable economic opportunities.
South Korea reaffirmed Indonesia’s strategic importance as a forestry partner. Commissioner Park Eun-sik noted that Indonesia is the only country hosting a Korea Forest Service Center outside South Korea, reflecting the significance of bilateral cooperation between the two nations.
During the meeting, Park also shared South Korea’s recent experience in dealing with climate-related disasters. He explained that the country faced its largest recorded forest fire last year, which burned hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest and resulted in multiple fatalities, followed by severe landslides during the rainy season. According to Park, these events demonstrated that forest management must protect ecosystems while safeguarding communities and supporting local economies.
Indonesia stressed that effective forest conservation depends on improving community welfare. Laksmi highlighted the need for incentive mechanisms that provide tangible economic benefits to local communities, ensuring forests remain sustainable sources of livelihood while reducing pressure on forest ecosystems.
The bilateral meeting concluded with both countries reaffirming their commitment to expanding cooperation in sustainable forest management, forest fire prevention, climate change adaptation, and community empowerment as part of broader efforts to build a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable forestry sector. (*)
