North Korea’s Reforestation Project Yields 1.2M Hectares of New Forests

(MENAFN) North Korea’s ambitious decade-long reforestation drive has resulted in the addition of approximately 1.2 million hectares of forest, according to a report by media on Thursday, which relied on NASA satellite data.

Initiated by leader Kim Jong Un with the goal to “greenify” the country, the campaign targeted the restoration of 1.68 million hectares of forest land but ultimately reached 72.7% of that objective, the report detailed.

A detailed examination utilizing NASA’s Earthdata Search web application found that over the past ten years, North Korea planted about 1,222,768 hectares of trees, including saplings on hillsides and grasslands.

However, the total reforested area missed the government’s original target by 459,232 hectares, achieving just 72.7% of the intended goal.

The data further revealed that the country’s total woodland expanded from 5.52 million hectares in 2015 to 6.1 million hectares in 2024, although this still remains 58,000 hectares shy of forest levels recorded in 2001.

From 2001 to 2015, North Korea experienced an annual loss of 0.8% in its forest cover. This pattern reversed starting in 2015, with forested areas increasing by 1.1% per year since.

This positive shift corresponds with the launch of North Korea’s 10-year reforestation program, which aimed to turn the mountains into “mountains of gold and treasure.”

Most of the forest growth occurred in the southwest, including around Pyongyang and the Hwanghae and Pyongan provinces. However, deforestation persists in the northern mountainous regions such as Jagang and Ryanggang, where logging and farming activities continue despite stringent forestry regulations.

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