DAEJEON — The Korea Forest Service is teaming up with government agencies, related institutions and local governments to mount a joint response to pine wilt disease.
The service said it held a meeting of the Council for Effective Surveillance and Control of Pine Wilt Disease on the 16th, bringing together local governments and related bodies including the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, the Korea Heritage Service, Korea Expressway Corporation and KEPCO.
Damage from pine wilt disease has recently affected about 1.77 million trees nationwide. In national park zones and areas designated as national heritage, timely surveillance and control have proved difficult because of access restrictions, administrative procedures such as permits and approvals, and limits on how work can be carried out.
Along major expressways and around utility poles, concerns over safety accidents during the removal of infected trees have also prompted calls for a joint response with local governments.
The Korea Forest Service plans to build a consultative body linking related institutions and local governments to push each organization to carry out surveillance and control under its own responsibility. It also plans to strengthen the cooperation framework by conducting joint control operations in damaged areas and reinforcing surveillance and protection tailored to each institution's management objectives.
Participants at the meeting focused on cooperation measures that can work in practice on the ground: surveillance and control carried out by each managing body along with stronger sharing of damage information; joint control operations in key areas such as large-scale damage sites and high-quality pine forests; improvements to constraints faced by each institution in responding to pine wilt disease in national parks, on expressways and elsewhere; and securing dedicated personnel and budgets for control work.
"Pine wilt disease spreads without regard for administrative boundaries or the jurisdictions of managing agencies, so close cooperation among the relevant institutions matters more than anything," said Lee Yong-kwon, director of forest disaster control at the Korea Forest Service.
