High-level officials from Korea and four Southeast Asian countries discussed ways to cooperate in the so-called REDD+ projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by preventing forest degradation and deforestation, officials said.

The Korea Forest Service opened a two-day meeting with senior officials from Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos on Jejudo Island on Thursday.

The focus of their discussion was on REDD+ activities and their positive effect on the mitigation of climate change, according to KFS officials.

The meeting was held at a time when global attention is soaring on how to protect tropical forests in developing countries, as nearly 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are generated from deforestation.

The officials said some developed countries including Norway, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are actively promoting REDD+ activities to protect tropical forests.

The Korean government is currently conducting a joint study and a pilot project with Indonesia for forest conservation and it plans to promote a cooperative project with Myanmar and Cambodia, where deforestation frequently takes place, the officials said.

In addition, the high-level officials’ meeting also served as an occasion for them to share the need to cooperate at the government level on the forest carbon emissions trading business.

“We have to brace for a difficult situation where we cannot meet the greenhouse gas reduction quota under the post-Kyoto climate governance. So we need to study a new system in which domestic firms can use overseas forest carbon credits to be secured through REDD+ activities,” said a KFS official.

By Lee Kwon-hyung (kwonhl@heraldcorp.com)