North Korea Reforestation is urgently needed

DongA Daily reported seriousness of North Korea's forest deterioration. The size of North Korea’s forests in 2011 were 5.54 million ha, 32.4 percent decrease from 1990. FAO noted that the main cause of deforestation is Darakbat (land conversion) project which is one of food increase projects in North Korea. Other causes include logging and soil erosion. Experts from home and abroad say Korean government needs to start a reforestation project in North Korea as soon as possible as it takes a long time. Prof Victor Teplyakov of Seoul National U pointed out that it may take as long as 50 years to complete reforestation with reforesting the size of Seoul city (60,000 ha) annually.