| Visitors, especially students, fill the venue of the World Forestry Congress at COEX in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul |
By Baek Byung-yeul
SK Forest, Dunamu, Nepa and other Korean companies and state-run agencies are promoting efforts to improve their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance and green technologies at the ongoing World Forestry Congress (WFC), according to officials from the companies and public agencies, Tuesday.
They have installed promotional booths at COEX in southern Seoul, where the WFC event is taking place. They said the event, which provides a platform to discuss ways to build a green, healthy and resilient future with forests, has been a great opportunity to meet their future customers.
| An employee of local safety equipment maker Cijun introduces the company's disaster safety equipment during the World Forestry Congress at COEX in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul |
“As a safety equipment maker for natural disasters such as wildland fires, we've decided to join the event to promote our technologies and products. Our equipment was also used by firefighters who worked to fight the wildfires in Uljin in March,” a spokesman of Cijun, a local safety equipment maker, said at the company's booth.
| SK Forest's promotional booth is seen at COEX in Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul |
SK Forest, SK Group's forestry business arm, set up a promotional booth in the middle of the venue to let visitors experience the group's efforts to create forests and reduce carbon emissions.
“We decorated the entire exhibition hall with displays so that visitors can experience how our group has been trying to solve environmental problems and protect forests as if they were there,” an official at the company's booth said.
| A student is briefed by employees of fintech company Dunamu on how the company contributes to reducing carbon emissions, during the World Forestry Congress at COEX in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul |
Dunamu, operator of the crypto exchange Upbit, also set up a booth at the event. “We joined this event to show our efforts to improve our environmental impact. When visitors plant virtual trees in our Second Block metaverse platform, our company is planting real trees in wildfire-hit regions in Korea in cooperation with the Korea Forest Service,” a Dunamu spokesman said.
| People visit Korea Aerospace Industries' booth during the World Forestry Congress at COEX in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul |
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) showcased its domestically developed Surion helicopter at the event. “The KUH-1FS Surion helicopter is the only helicopter in Korea that can extinguish forest fires at night. It was dispatched to fire-hit regions recently such as Uljin,” a company spokesman elaborated.
KAI also plans to establish an air control system for helicopters to carry out air control missions in the future such as prevention of insect pests in forests.
The outdoor clothing maker Nepa is also running a promotional booth, where it exhibits clothes made of eco-friendly materials.
| People visit Konkuk University's booth during the World Forestry Congress at COEX in Seoul, Tuesday. The Korea-based school took part in the event to promote its professional training project for social economy in the field of forestry and landscape architecture. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul |
Not only companies and public agencies, but also universities offering majors related to forestry took part in the event to let more students and visitors know about their academic programs.
Konkuk University was the only Korean school joining the WFC event. In cooperation with the Korea Forest Service and the Korea Forestry Promotion Institute, the Seoul-based school is operating a professional training project for social economy in the field of forestry and landscape architecture.
“Our school provides educational programs for undergraduate and graduate students to work in areas such as landscape community design, social economy in the forestry sector and restoration of forest ecology,” said Lee Ga-ram, a researcher at the Lab of Forestry Sociology of Konkuk University.
Overseas universities such as Yale University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences also joined the event. “Our school provides an educational program on forestry and we decided to join the Seoul event to promote our school programs to more students in Korea,” an official from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences said.