Park Chung-Hee

Park Chung-Hee (1917-1979) led the reforestation of South Korea after the Korean war. Normally politicians aren’t mentioned in honors lists for ecology, but here is a notable exception as South Korea is one of the world’s best models of national reforestation. Before his presidency, he was a military leader in the South Korean army, and was the second-highest ranking officer in the army. He first came to power after leading a military coup in 1961, which brought an end to the interim government of the Second Republic. He was assassinated in 1979.

Until the late 1950s, 58% of the mountains in the Republic of Korea were bald, while 11% of the land was barren like a desert. In 1961, the Park Chung Hee regime enacted forest-related laws and organized the administrative institutions one by one, while stabilizing the society. Among such laws and acts, the Forest Law in 1961 is the most important law which became the basis for the current forest law.

Also, specific measures to prohibit destruction of the forest were provided. In particular, by making the Village Forestry Cooperative a public corporation, it was possible to promote a high level of participation of residents of the farm villages in the reforestation project. Also, with the Erosion Control Act, denuded forest land was reclaimed. Furthermore, Slash-and-Burn Farming Regulation Act made it possible to get rid of all the slash-and-burn fields, while a “greenbelt” system was adopted to protect the forest around cities.

The project included reforestation of 1 million hectares (ha) using 2.1 billion trees in 10 years, tending care of 3.8 million ha, and erosion control work on 84,000 ha. The three basic directions of the plan were as follows.

1. National tree planting. Every citizen plants trees year round with the spirit of the Saemaul (New Village) Movement through villages, working places, homes, organizations, institutions, and schools. The government also made a 1-day national holiday to mobilize even elementary school students to participate in the tree planting.
2. Economic planting. The tree planting and preservation of the forest are to be directly linked to the increase in the nation’s income, while a new economic zone is to be established in the mountain area.
3. Fast tree planting. The 6.67 million ha of mountains are to be completely covered with trees resulting in the green revolution. In order to complete the forest reclamation early, many fast-growing trees are to be planted. The government introduced foreign tree species and developed new species as well. One of the species mentioned was chestnut trees.

Book: Successful Reforestation in South Korea by Lee Kyong-Joon (2013)

Websites:
1) Article on ForestsNews
2) Wikipedia Page