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GGGI inks MOU with the Korea Forest Services (KFS)

January 16, Seoul – Through signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the Korea Forest Service (KFS), the two organizations seek to boost cooperation on green growth, sustainable forest and landscape management.

Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Director-General of GGGI said that “The MOU we sign today is a start of our collaboration on a number of fronts. Cooperation in promoting green growth on the Korean Peninsula is of importance. We are exploring ways to achieve 100% renewable energy on the Korean Peninsula. The Republic of Korea is striving toward its ambitious targets for clean energy and to reduce fine dust emissions, while in North Korea, the focus is more on energy access, biomass use and reforestation.”

Mr. Chongho Park, Deputy Minister, KFS said that “We very much look forward to strengthening collaboration with GGGI. Our expertise and focus lie primarily in promoting cooperation and working in Asian countries and North Korea, especially in the area of forestry, including reforestation. One of our advantages is that we have built strong network and connections in Asia over the past decades.”

Both GGGI and KFS are committed to strengthening financial sustainability in all projects related to forest and landscape. These projects are expected to generate three returns: financial, social and natural capital returns.

The collaboration between the two organizations can result in leveraging of finance and investments from both the public and private sectors into sustainable bio-based enterprises.

GGGI and KFS bring different types of expertise. While KFS’ strength lies in policy, afforestation and reforestation efforts in Korea and developing countries, GGGI’s focus is on supporting farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to produce and sell sustainable bio-based products and develop blended financing structures to reduce risks and enhance returns of agroforestry, agriculture, bio-economy products. The flow of ecosystem services is maintained for the benefit of society and sectors at large. 

As part of GGGI’s initiative to support green growth on the Korean Peninsula, GGGI is now partnering with research institutes and private sector companies to launch a feasibility study on the 100% renewable energy potential on the Korean Peninsula including the sustainable use of biomass and reforestation. GGGI and KFS can achieve synergies by collaborating in areas such as reforestation in North Korea.

Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Director-General of GGGI said that “We are in contact with the North Korean authorities to make an offer and have received positive responses. We look forward to having further discussions with them on ways in which we could work together and explore avenues for cooperation.”