4th International Forestry Seminar - Forest Pests and integrated Pest Management

03/16/2017

Ever since the economic crisis in the 1990s, forests in North Korea have been suffering extreme deforestation and degradation. In 2012, a strong campaign for reforestation was brought to life. Since 2014, the Hanns Seidel Foundation is conducting a project for the improvement of rural living conditions through healthy forests, with support from the European Union. Forest pests are one major problem for forests, especially when they are already in a poor condition. Treating pests with pesticides is problematic and in some cases not even possible due to financial reasons. Therefore, one goal of the foundation’s project is to find new organic methods to treat and control pests, such as the pine-tree lappet moth.

In March 2017, the Hanns Seidel Foundation, in cooperation with local partners from the Forest Research Management Institute (FMRI) and the Ministry for Land and Environment Protection (MoLEP), conducted an international seminar with 70 participants on “Forest Pests and Integrated Pest Management” in Pyongyang.

The chair of Forest Protection at the Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden), Prof. Dr. Michael Mueller, introduced participants to problems of forest pests and pest control during a two-day seminar. Coming from one of the oldest academies of forestry and located at one of the most traditional places for forest sciences in Tharandt, Germany, Prof. Dr. Müller also gave an introduction on methods of prognosis, monitoring, prevention and treatment of pests with reference to applied examples.

Before the seminar, Prof. Mueller visited the model afforestation site in Sangso-ri, South Pyongan Province, together with representatives of the Hanns Seidel Foundation. Afterwards another visit and lecture at the central tree nursery in Pyongyang was conducted.

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