EduAsiaNews, Shenzhen China – The Governments of Indonesia and South Korea reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation in the forestry sector during a bilateral meeting held on the sidelines of the APEC Forestry Ministers’ Meeting (FTMM) in Shenzhen, China, on Monday (July 27).
The meeting brought together Laksmi Wijayanti, Director General of Sustainable Forest Management at Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry, and Park Eun-sik, Commissioner of the Korea Forest Service. The two officials discussed opportunities to expand technical cooperation in sustainable forest management, community empowerment in and around forest areas, and capacity building to address the impacts of climate change.
During the meeting, Laksmi Wijayanti expressed Indonesia’s appreciation for the South Korean Government’s continued support for the development of Indonesia’s forestry sector. She noted that the longstanding partnership between the two countries has been highly productive and should continue to be strengthened to address the increasingly complex challenges of forest management.
“We share the same objective of preserving forests as vital ecosystems while ensuring that communities living in and around forest areas benefit from and prosper through sustainable forest management. Therefore, technical cooperation between Indonesia and South Korea has become increasingly important,” Laksmi said.
Meanwhile, Park Eun-sik, Commissioner of the Korea Forest Service, reaffirmed that Indonesia is a strategic partner for South Korea in the forestry sector. He highlighted that Indonesia is the only country where the Korea Forest Service has established an overseas Forest Service Center, reflecting the significance of the bilateral forestry partnership.
Park also shared South Korea’s experience in dealing with the impacts of climate change. Last year, the country experienced the largest forest fire in its history, which burned hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest and claimed dozens of lives. This was followed by severe landslides during the rainy season.
According to Park, these experiences demonstrate that forest management must go beyond environmental protection to safeguard communities and support local economies. He noted that Indonesia and South Korea share similar visions for sustainable forest management and can continue exchanging knowledge and best practices to strengthen the resilience of the forestry sector.
In her closing remarks, Laksmi emphasized that the success of forest conservation depends largely on meaningful community participation. She stressed the importance of developing incentive mechanisms that provide tangible benefits to local communities, ensuring that forests remain a sustainable source of livelihood.
“If communities do not benefit from the existence of forests, pressure on forest areas will continue. Therefore, conservation efforts must go hand in hand with improving community welfare,” she concluded.
The bilateral meeting reaffirmed the commitment of Indonesia and the Republic of Korea to further strengthen their partnership in sustainable forest management, forest fire prevention, climate change adaptation, and community empowerment as part of their shared efforts to build a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable forestry sector.
