The Korea Forest Service on Friday celebrated East Timor’s National Day of Sandalwood and Forestry by planting sandalwood, the Southeast Asian country’s national tree, with local officials.

Sandalwood, prized for its distinctive fragrance, is used for perfumes, incense, cosmetics, medicines, and furniture. The tree holds considerable cultural, economic, and historical importance for the Timorese people.

Unlike other regions, sandalwood is widely distributed up to 1,300 meters above sea level in East Timor.

To restore the area's sandalwood, which was over-exploited during the European occupation, the species was chosen as a national symbol in 2015.

The East Timor government later designated Jan. 13 as the national day of sandalwood and forestry in 2018, since then accelerating forest conservation efforts by hosting an annual nationwide sandalwood tree planting campaign.

Marking the seventh anniversary of the national forestry day, this year’s tree-planting event took place in the Manatuto Municipality in East Timor, also the project area for the Asia-Pacific Forest Cooperation Organization’s forest restoration initiatives.

Several officials of both countries, including Korea Forest Service Minister Nam Sung-hyun, Prime Minister of East Timor Xanana Gusmao and Asian Forest Cooperation Organization Executive Director Park Chong-ho joined the event.

“We hope the trees being planted across East Timor will create a thriving forest, offering a foundation for economic, social, and cultural prosperity of local people,” said Nam.

The history of the Korea-East Timor partnership dates back to 2017 when the Southeast Asian country became the third member to join the Korea-backed AFoCO.

Under the organization, East Timor invested about $1 million to restore degraded land, promote wider planting of sandalwood, and build a more sustainable and diversified economy to boost local communities, from 2022 to 2026.

The two countries’ bilateral relationship on forestry was finally realized when the KFS reached out to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of East Timor last April to visit Seoul and sign an agreement for forest cooperation. After subsequent discussions and meetings, a feasibility study on official development assistance projects for the country was conducted in December.

A day before the national Sandalwood and Forestry Day, the two countries met to discuss future collaborative projects.

"In response to the climate crisis, we will put efforts to succeed in a national-scale forest restoration project by adopting Korea's know-how in the greening campaign," Gusmao was quoted as saying during the meeting

“Restoring forests to cope with the climate crisis is a national task, and I will succeed in the project by learning Korea has succeeded in greening the country.”

Korea’s Nam stressed that Korea, successfully achieving a win-win situation for both economic growth and environmental restoration, now serves as a role model for numerous developing countries pursuing sustainable development and long-term forestry investments.

“As a reliable partner, we promise that East Timor can also follow the path of success that Korea has walked,” Nam added.

By Mun So-jeong and Lee Kwon-hyung

(munsojeong@heraldcorp.com) (kwonhl@heraldcorp.com)