-
Excellencies ASEAN and ROK Ministers,
-
Excellency Dr. Le Luong Minh, ASEAN Secretary
General,
- Excellencies, Ladies
and Gentlemen, Distinguished Guests!
Today I
am pleased and honored to be invited to deliver keynote remarks at the 2014
ASEAN-ROK Special Ministerial Meeting on Forestry (SMMF), and I wish to express
my gratitude to H.E. Mr. Shin Won Sop for inviting me to this meeting.
Certainly, forestry
sector plays a critical role in the normalization global temperature and
environment on the earth. Overall, forestry is an indispensable part of the
nature which is dynamically interacting with society and human beings. Thus,
the tie between the two, forestry and people, is inseparable and can have deep
impact on the psychology, cultures and livelihoods of the people. However, it is
regrettable that our social and economic development has increasingly impacted the
balance and harmony of the nature, and between human beings and the nature,
particularly causing more and more losses of forestry resources and imposing
challenges for human beings such as the climate change phenomenon. Thus,
countries and regions in the world are required to particularly focus on the environment
and natural resources cooperation, especially forestry resources in order to
ensure existence of human beings and social and economic development.
In this spirit, I
would like to welcome the achievements stemming from the Agreement on ASEAN–ROK Forest
Cooperation (ARFC) and support the establishment of the Asian Forest Cooperation
Organization (AFoCO). This is the right step forward taken together to
respond to the spirit of the ASEAN-ROK Summit aiming at contributing and
addressing global challenges related to environmental protection and climate
change for the benefits of human beings in the region and the world as well as
for the present and future generations.
At the same time, I
am of the view that this meeting provides a good opportunity for ASEAN and ROK
to continue exchange views and review progresses on the ASEAN-ROK cooperation
in forestry sector. I would like to extend my admiration to the government and
people of the Republic of Korea for paying close attention on the management
and development of the forestry sector which leads to progress, and theirs
efforts on the cooperation in helping ASEAN.
-
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished
Guests!
Covering 50% of the
land area of ten States, the forests of the ASEAN are a key resource in the
region’s development and in global efforts to deal with climate change. These
forests provide food, fuel, fiber and other products to ASEAN’s 600 million
people including 80 million directly relying on non-timber forest products for
livelihood. Nonetheless, ASEAN’s forests are threatened by deforestation and
degradation— due to conversion to agriculture, logging, mining and
unsustainable harvesting. This is directly related our capacity to reduce
carbon emissions while the world recognizes that our region has an enormous
potential in mitigating the impact of climate change.
Acknowledging the importance
of these issues, the ASEAN leaders have introduced various initiatives and
implemented many programs aimed to reduce deforestation and forest degradation
and to conserve and manage forests with sustainability. For instance, ASEAN has
endorsed and implemented programs of the ASEAN Multi-sectoral Framework on
Climate Change: Agriculture and Forest through sustainable, efficient and
effective use of land, forest, water and aquatic resources by minimizing the
risks and impacts that significantly contribute to coping with the climate
change. Besides that, ASEAN regularly holds ASEAN Senior Official Meeting on
Forestry and ASEAN Ministers Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry to review the progress and
chart future directions for forestry related issues.
Based on the above
efforts, please allow me to highlight a number of practical measures with the
aim to enhance cooperation among member countries and to contribute to addressing
issues in the forestry sector as follows:
First. Working together to
strengthen sustainable forest management, especially addressing the issues of
deforestation and forest degradation, forest research and development,
strengthening of forest carbon stock, and the support of forest-related
initiatives.
Second. Enhancing efforts
to work together to rehabilitate the degraded forest land, to stop ongoing
trend of desertification, and to strengthen the governance of better land use
management.
Third. Promoting
reforestation, including mangroves forests, through the preparation of proper
plans.
Fourth. Promoting sustainable
management of non-timber forest products, including strengthening the
enforcement of law on forestry and the governance of each countries,
particularly preventing and combating businesses that do not comply with
prevailing laws, rules and regulations.
Fifth. Encouraging sustainable
trade on forest products and non-timber forest products and the protection of
people’s livelihood depending on forest by-products and of minority
communities.
Sixth. Promoting the
public awareness and the establishment of human resource development institutes
for capacity-building on forestry experts and for the cooperation in researches
to address current and future issues in forestry sector.
Seventh. Requesting countries
in Asia to support the establishment of Asian Forest Cooperation
Organization (AFoCO).
I hope that this
meeting will further broaden our understanding on our cooperation in order to
set future directions on forestry protection in our region as well as provide
effective mechanism for cooperation aiming at ensuring regional prosperity and
welfare of our peoples, and further contributing to the efforts in addressing
universal challenges concerning environmental protection and climate change.
Finally,
I wish Excellencies, Ladies, Gentlemen, and distinguished guests good health and
success in all your endeavors and wish this meeting achieving fruitful results
as expected.
Thank you!
