Every year, March 21st is celebrated as World Forests Day in order to protect the forest reserves that occupy 31 percent of the world’s land area and to maintain the natural and ecological balance. Since 2015, Mongolia has focused on making the public and society understand and publicize the importance of many aspects of forests on this day. In 2021, the President of Mongolia, U. Khurelsukh, initiated the “Billion Trees” national program, and until 2030, citizens and enterprises aim to plant 130 million trees per year.
The 6th National Conference on “Policy, Science and Technology of Mongolia’s Forest Industry” organized on the occasion of this year’s World Forests Day under the theme “Forests and Health”, on March 20, 2023, highlighted the importance of the role of forest ecosystems in ensuring human and environmental security.
About 10% of Mongolia’s total territory, or 18.5 million hectares, is covered by forests. In recent years, due to the loss of ecological balance, forests have been degraded and the area affected by harmful insects has reached 297 thousand hectares, and it is estimated that 1.1 billion trees may be destroyed by harmful insects in the future. This could negate the planting of billion trees by 2030, so experts emphasize the importance of policies to reduce natural forest degradation and reforestation.
Last year, during COP27, the world leaders’ summit on climate change, Mongolia joined the Forest Partnership initiated by the European Union aimed at supporting sustainable forest management, including forest regeneration, appropriate use and protection, and the creation of forest-based economic sectors and sources of income.
