Case Example: South Korea

This case study by the World Resources Institute examines the large-scale forest landscape restoration in South Korea from the mid-1950s to the present, detailing the drivers, enabling conditions, and outcomes of the process.

• South Korea experienced severe forest depletion in the first half of the 20th century due to Japanese occupation (1910–1945), World War II (1939–1945), and the Korean War (1950–1953). By 1952, forest growing stocks had fallen to less than 50 percent of their pre-war levels.
• Between the mid-1950s and 2007, South Korea restored approximately 3 million hectares of forest, increasing forest cover from 35 percent to 64 percent of the total land area. Tree growing stocks increased from 9.6 m3/ha in 1960 to 125.6 m3/ha in 2010.
• The monetary value of ecosystem services provided by restored forests was estimated at over US$92 billion as of 2013, representing about 9 percent of the country's GDP. The highest valued benefits were water benefits (US$22.7 billion) and carbon sequestration and air purification (US$18.7 billion).

APA

-1, BUCKINGHAM, K., & HANSON, C. (n.d.). Case Example: South Korea. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_SouthKorea.pdf

Chicago

-1, KATHLEEN BUCKINGHAM, and CRAIG HANSON. Case Example: South Korea. World Resources Institute, n.d. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_SouthKorea.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=-1 |last2=BUCKINGHAM |first2=KATHLEEN |last3=HANSON |first3=CRAIG |title=Case Example: South Korea |publisher=World Resources Institute |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_SouthKorea.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{1ndcase, author = {-1 and BUCKINGHAM, KATHLEEN and HANSON, CRAIG}, title = {{Case Example: South Korea}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_SouthKorea.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }