A Study on the Revitalization of Forest Management by Improving the Implementation Rate of FOREST Projects

Purpose: Driven by the society’s demand arising from global climate change, privately owned forests in South Korea, which make up two thirds of the total forested area of the country, have been playing a pivotal role as sites of forest resource development and major carbon sink. Forest management plans serve as the basic plans for managing privately owned forests. Therefore, it is necessary to compare and check whether the forest manage-ment plans are well-prepared and whether the forestry projects based on the approved plans have been efficiently implemented and managed. This study was conducted to analyze forest owners’ views and demands through surveys, albeit at a regional level, with a view to providing basic data for establishing measures for improving future forestry policy. Such a policy framework for efficient private forest management should be based on efficient preparation of forest man-agement plans and their evaluation through correct methods. Method: Therefore, this study proposes measures for promoting private forest management by conducting survey-based analysis of private forest management plan preparation and the ratio of forestry project implemen-tation with respect to the approval status. Results: To enable a proper prediction of future forest changes and ensure sustainable forest management through the proposed measures, a reliable evaluation of the general issues related to forest project implementa-tion was performed from the perspective of forest owners. Conclusion: The significance of this study lies in proposing measures to promote private forest management, and it is expected to offer opportunities to private forest owners to manage their private forests more efficiently.