SEOUL – June 17, 2020 – The offline event for “Re-greening Ethiopia” Book launch was held on June 17 at Grand Hyatt Seoul in Seoul, the Republic of Korea (ROK), hosted by the Korea Forest Service (KFS).
Previously known as The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, June 17 is designated by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as Desertification and Drought Day (D&DD) to raise public awareness of international commitments to combat desertification. The commemoration of this day is to enhance problem-solving, strong community involvement and co-operation at all levels to achieve land degradation neutrality.
As a celebration of D&DD in 2020, the KFS collaborated with Ethiopia’s Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Commission (EFCCC) to publish the booklet, “Re-greening Ethiopia”, which compiles the reforestation efforts in Ethiopia. This one-day event gathered key figures of the ROK and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’s forestry cooperation projects and authors of the booklet. By promoting the launch of the booklet “Re-greening Ethiopia” and commemorating D&DD, the Korean government highlighted the importance of conservation of forestry and reforestation works to combat desertification.
Hoping to consolidate the long-term partnership between the ROK and Ethiopia, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) also conveyed congratulatory Remarks.
“As key founding members of GGGI, Korea and Ethiopia are leading the global efforts to make green growth happen,” shared Hyoeun Jenny Kim, GGGI Deputy Director-General and Head of Green Growth Planning and Implementation Division. “Restoring degraded land and forest and building resilient agriculture are key steps to be taken in re-boosting the economy from the challenges of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.”
As a key stakeholder of P4G forestry cooperation projects between the ROK and Ethiopia, GGGI also shared the briefing on the recent progress and state of its project “Climate Resilient Watersheds Programs”. The programs have been implemented on 13,000 ha of degraded lands in selected watersheds in Ethiopia to deal with different elements of climate actions from institutional arrangements to green investments. GGGI emphasized that the prospect of its programs will be more promising especially for the post COVID-19 green recovery plans in respect of bringing more green jobs, capacity building of local enterprises and benefits sharing from on-the-ground activities.