Former forest minister debunks activists’ perception in tree conservation
By Ko Dong-hwan
Timber harvesting is essential for growing Korea’s self-sufficiency in timber, which the nation has been closely importing, in line with the previous Korea Forest Service (KFS) minister, who’s important of environmentalists for his or her opposition to logging and advocating for whole preservation.
Park Chong-ho, who served the nationwide forest watchdog’s high job from 2019 to 2021, mentioned that if the timber are left unharvested, the nation’s reliance on timber imports throughout varied industries will persist. Aged timber that haven’t been reduce down can even finally lose their carbon-reducing perform and stop more healthy forest habitats from enhancing biodiversity, he added.
In line with the KFS, Korea started importing timber in 1965. The quantity of imports shortly elevated, reaching the primary $1 billion annual import mark in 1979. In the identical 12 months, exports totaled $590 million.
Whereas Korea’s highest annual timber exports reached $610 million in 1990, imports first exceeded $2 billion in 1993. The import quantity then surpassed $3 billion in 2014, $4 billion in 2016, and $5 billion in 2017. Final 12 months, the nation imported $5 billion value of timber and exported $180 million. As of January, Vietnam, Indonesia, and China had been the main exporters of timber to Korea.
“The most important quantity of uncooked materials Korea has been importing is petroleum. The second is timber,” Park mentioned throughout an interview with The Korea Occasions earlier this month.
“In 2019, the nation’s timber self-sufficiency fee was solely 16 p.c, which means it imported 84 p.c of the timber it used that 12 months. Given the in depth use of timber in merchandise akin to paper, bathroom paper, furnishings, development supplies and even billiard balls, timber is an indispensable useful resource for Korea and lots of different nations.”
Korea ranks among the many highest on the planet when it comes to timber import quantity, particularly for stable wooden and plywood.
Out of a most necessary contribution payment of $3.79 million charged by the Worldwide Tropical Timber Group (ITTO) to its member states based mostly on their annual tropical timber imports, Korea was billed over $234,000 in 2021. This quantity was the fourth-highest among the many group’s member states. Among the many 39 nations within the ITTO’s consuming group (distinct from the 37 producing nations), Korea ranked behind solely China ($1.14 million), Japan ($532,000), and america ($286,000).
“These within the nation’s timber trade have lengthy been arguing why the federal government isn’t extra actively harnessing the nation’s personal forests to provide home markets in want of timber,” mentioned Park. Korea’s timber demand has been between 30 million cubic meters and 35 million cubic meters annually.
“We should devour timber responsibly, self-supplying what we will and importing what we can’t. We should develop home timber manufacturing in that matter.”
Conserving timber?
To handle forests successfully, timber ought to be repeatedly reduce down moderately than uprooted, permitting woodland to regenerate in a more healthy situation, Park mentioned.
Regardless of what some consider, thick forestation hampers biodiversity, he added, as a result of it blocks daylight which is a supply of life.
“In 1980, harvesting of aged forests within the northwestern U.S. threatened the noticed owl species. In response, authorities and scientists advocated for a harvest ban, which the federal government carried out. Surprisingly, about 20 years later, the owl inhabitants elevated in areas the place timber had been reduce down moderately than left standing,” Park mentioned.
“To preserve forests, we now go away 10 p.c of every space untouched throughout harvesting. This preserved portion will function a pure habitat.”
The KFS has designated 50 p.c of the nation’s forests as artificially managed, the place timber could be reduce down and replanted. Except the forests are bulldozed for agriculture or left barren, the danger of landslides in these areas is near zero, in line with Park.
“Out of over 2,100 harvested areas within the nation which might be 5 hectares or bigger, solely lower than 30 had been discovered to have unstable terrain with some dangers,” Park mentioned.
“In comparison with pure forests, synthetic forests produce as much as 5 occasions extra timber. New Zealand, with its 300,000-hectare synthetic Monterey pine forests, exports the world’s largest quantity of pine.”