United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Forest in Korea was in its worst state in the early 1950's. Due to the Korean War, the growing stock per ha at that time was 5.6㎡ which is merely 9% of current growing stock. However, Korea recognized the importance of forest rehabilitation and the general public made efforts on nationwide forest greening. Korea succeeded in completely restoring the forest cover and the international community has acclaimed the successful forest rehabilitation. Mr. Lester Brown, the president of the Earth Policy Institute, quoted in his book Plan B 4.0 that "Republic of Korea is a reforestation model for the world. We can reforest the earth."

The forest cover 2/3 of Korea's landmass and these areas is divided into 5 million lot units. Each lot unit is classified into 14 types (protection forest, conservation forest, etc) to balance conservation and use of forest land. The classification impose different levels of activity restrictions, land price, and method of land development, therefore it is important to confirm the forest land restriction classification before purchasing or using the forest land.

Before this policy was implemented, the information on the forest land restriction classification was on paper map. The manual preparation of paper maps has lower accuracy and precision which caused problems of private property infringement, civil appeal, disputes and uncertainty.

Moreover, when the information on forest land restriction classification was provided only on paper maps, many had to undergo the inconveniences of visiting or making telephone calls to the government agencies to confirm the information. As a result, government officials in charge of forest land management had to spend most of his/her working hours to deal with such public inquiries.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
As an eco-industrial nation, Korea needs to introduce industrial facilities in an environmentally-sound way under a well established plan. Therefore related information should be provided in detail to the stakeholders involved. In this regard, Korea Forest Service launched the "Forest Land Information System" which is a website open to the public that provides online services related to forest land restriction classification including revisions or changes in each lot unit. The system reduced public inconvenience of the stakeholders and work load of public officials by providing easy to understand information on restricted activities and methods of forest land use on each restriction classification. The results of a public poll on the Forest Land Information System show that 87.4% of the users are satisfied. The number of users continues to increase as well from 8,725 users in February 2009 to 27,275 users in November 2009. The total number of users reached 171,707 at the end of November 2009. Tangible and intangible social costs, such as time and transportation expenses, that may arise when stakeholders or individuals visit the government agencies have considerably reduced. When such cost was converted into an economic value based on the monthly average income and expenses per household (2008), it reached around USD 6 million. ［｛(average hourly wage USD 10 × round trip travel 3 hours) + travel cost USD 3｝ × 171,707 cases］ The public officials are also able to easily monitor and check the changes to the restriction area and topographical information online, therefore the number of official trips to the field sites has reduced as well.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The Forest Land Information System was created under strong will power of the head of the organization (Mr. Chung Kwang-soo, Ph. D., Minister of Korea Forest Service) based on policy recommendations for transparent provision of information and reduction of public officials' workload with regards to forest land restriction classification. The Feasibility Study on Forest Land Classification was undertaken from 2006 through 2008. The study was undertaken by public officials of Korea Forest Service and local governments. Mr. Chung Kwang-soo focused on establishing more accurate data on the forest land restriction classification. As a result, the Forest Land Information System was established to provide relevant information to the public in a transparent way. The Land Use Restriction Act, 2003 stipulates transparent provision of restriction information. Among government organizations, Korea Forest Service is the first to establish public online system (Forest Land Information System) that provides access to the forest land restriction classification and other supporting functions. In addition to the leadership and will of the Minister of Korea Forest Service, a society of forestry officials from local governments (Forest Policy Association) supported the establishment of Forest Land Information System taking into account the internal and external aspects. The Association contributed in the development process by playing a mediating role between the general public and the government to improve and adjust irrational restriction classification. Its members are still involved in the implementation of this system as monitoring agents that give feedback and propose suggestions for further improvement.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
In December 2005, Korea Forest Service established the "Framework Plan on Forest GIS" (Information and Statistics Div., KFS) in collaboration with IT experts, forestry officials, and the general public. Moreover, budget was appropriated for the development of Forest Land Information System. The System was further polished and developed by establishing "Second Phase Framework Plan on Forest GIS"(Korea Forest Research Institute) in December 2008 and "EA Base Informatization Strategic Plan" (Information and Statistics Div., KFS) in November 2009. In order to provide transparent forest land information, the first priority was to build accurate data. In order to do so, a 3-year preparation work was undertaken, including establishment of foundation data base by an expert organization, repeated verification by government officials, and review by the general public. Next step taken was publicity and awareness raising campaign. The effectiveness and easy access was highlighted through media releases. The Korea Forest Service experts have made presentations in international symposiums like the International Symposium on Remote Sensing(October 2009), Korean Society of Remote Sensing(March 2009), Korean Forest Society (February, August 2009), National GIS Conference(September 2009) to introduce the system on the international level and among the experts.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The forest land restriction classification on paper map was digitized and then this digital data was provided on the internet after they were carefully reviewed by the local governments and landowners. Stage 1 (2006): Paper map of the forest land restriction classification (scale of 1:25,000 with 793 map sheets) was re-developed into a digital map to scale of 1:5,000 with 22,902 map sheets. Stage 2 (2007): The public officials of respective local governments are the most familiar with the local condition, therefore they have undertaken the review process up to third review to examine the accuracy of the digital map and make necessary revision. Stage 3 (2008): The digital map of forest land restriction classification was publicly notified on 232 websites of local governments and publicized through various public media. Public comments and feedback were collected for further correction. The program development of Forest Land Information System was implemented at this stage. Service implementation and extension stage began in 2009. The Forest Land Information System provides the changing forest land restriction classification information on real-time basis to offer transparent forestry administration.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Some of the challenges include the quantity of work and effective scheduling of development process since the work has to be done on the national level. The implementation plan was established based on scrupulous analysis on potential threat factors in the development process and standardization of database. A large proportion of the budget was mobilized at the initial stage to enable simultaneous project implementation nationwide. Efforts were made to minimize administrative hiatus that may arise by reviewing and modifying the data at each development stage. Another challenge was adaptation of public official to the new system. To overcome this challenge, annual education and training programs on the propriety of informatization and efficient transition in the working environment were provided to each local government offices during the system development. Training programs are still offered upon request of the users.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Budget of 5 million USD was appropriated from 2006 to 2008 for development of digital map, purchase of hardware and software, website administration, publicity and promotion cost. Open bidding was undertaken for impartial selection of a qualified contractor for system development. Cooperation among Korea Forest Service, local governments, contractor, and the public promoted well organized program development process. In January 2009, the System Maintenance Team was organized to perform monitoring, real-time base data update, and settlement of user inquiries and complaints. Public officials, system developers, information technology officers, and users are convened to hold regular sessions of system maintenance meetings (3 times a year) where comments and feedback are collected for further improvement of the Forest Land Information System.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
On the financial aspect, annual budget will be appropriated based on the results of annual operation of the Forest Land Information System. On the social aspect, it is important to draw out continued interest from the general public through informative publicity on the Forest Land Information System taking advantage of various forms of mass media. On the institutional aspect, the revisions to forest land restriction classification are updated to the system on real-time basis to ensure higher reliability. The significance of forest management is becoming an important agenda in the international community as forests are the only carbon sink acknowledged by the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). In this regard, the Forest Land Information System contributes to the conservation of forest carbon sink by providing accurate data that may help reduce deforestation caused by lack of information. The work model and program modules applied to this system may be applied to similar systems of other land management authorities in Korea and abroad. They are expected to support environmentally sound land-use and systematic urban planning, and ensure reliable and transparent land management.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The Forest Land Information System is highly evaluated as it provides transparent and real-time data on forest land restriction classification according to each lot unit, and supports more efficient administrative work related to forest land management. It also renewed public view on forest administration and public officials. Concerned individuals had to either visit public offices or make a phone call to check on forest land restriction classification in the past, therefore many regarded forest administration as inconvenient and not easy to access. However, this on-line service provides easy access to forest land information, while providing load off the public officials in charge which enable more productive and service-oriented public administration. Convenient and easy access by the general public is the key success factor of this system. Other influential factors would be the innovative idea of replacing the traditional paper map to digital map, and pursuing active publicity and training programs to establish common understanding between public officials and the general public. Moreover, management of forest land information and related procedure was processed separately by each local authority in the past, however the Forest Land Information System has enabled integrated management through standard procedures.


Institution Name:		Korea Forest Service
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		Chong Soo Lee
Title:		Deputy Director
Telephone/ Fax:		82-42-481-4145
Institution's / Project's Website:		82-42-481-4641
E-mail:		leecs@korea.kr
Address:		139 Sunsa-ro, Seo-gu
Postal Code:		302-701
City:		Daejeon
State/Province:
Country:

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information