In 1953, South Korea began a massive reforestation campaign after the Korean War. Decades later, the effort produced a stunning transformation, with more than 10 billion trees turning barren mountains into thriving forests

South Korea's mountains tell a remarkable story of environmental recovery. In the aftermath of the Korean War, huge stretches of the country's hills had been stripped of vegetation, leaving behind severely degraded landscapes. More than seven decades later, those same mountains are covered by forests, and the country's average volume of standing wood has increased more than 29 times since 1953.

The transformation did not happen simply because millions of seedlings were planted. It required government planning, village participation, changes in household energy use, forest protection and years of learning from failures.

A Landscape Almost Stripped Bare

When the fighting in the Korean War stopped in 1953, the hills of the south were badly degraded. Colonial-era exploitation, wartime destruction and heavy demand for fuelwood had stripped huge areas.


National assessments conducted during the 1950s and early 1960s found that more than 4 million hectares — close to 58% of the country's forest land — were classified as degraded or “bare mountain.”

The scale of the damage was striking enough to prompt a memorable observation from Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme, during a visit to the country:

“The mountains were deforested during the war like the moon. Now, they are lush.”

That dramatic change raises a bigger question: how did South Korea transform such heavily damaged hills into a country where forests now cover roughly 63% of the land?

The answer becomes clearer when looking beyond the number of trees planted.

Why the Number of Trees Isn't the Whole Story

A country can plant millions or even billions of trees without necessarily creating a healthy, mature forest. What matters is whether those trees survive, grow and accumulate biomass over time.

One significant measurement is growing stock, which refers to the volume of standing wood in a given area.

In 1953, South Korea had only about 5.7 cubic metres of growing stock per hectare. The land could technically remain classified as forest, but several regions contained very little standing timber.

There was also a practical reason forests continued to experience pressure. Traditional Korean homes used ondol, an underfloor heating system that historically depended heavily on biomass fuels. That demand for fuel placed additional pressure on already depleted woodland.

Early efforts to reverse the damage were far from perfect. During the 1950s, survival rates for newly planted trees were frequently below 50%.

In other words, South Korea first had to figure out how to make trees survive before it could achieve a nationwide forest recovery.

The Turning Point Came in the 1960s and 1970s

The reforestation campaign gained momentum under President Park Chung-hee.

In 1967, the country's Forest Bureau was reorganized into the Korea Forest Service. Six years later, in 1973, the government introduced the First Ten-Year Forest Rehabilitation Plan, connecting the forestry campaign with the Saemaul, or New Village, Movement.

This method moved much of the work beyond central government offices and into local communities.

Villages provided workers, helped protect forests and operated nurseries to grow seedlings. During the first rehabilitation plan, village nurseries generated 34.8% of approximately 2.7 billion seedlings grown across the country.

The results were significant.

The initial plan ultimately spanned 1.08 million hectares and planted 2.96 billion trees. It achieved 108% of its area target and reached its goals in 1978, four years earlier than originally scheduled.

South Korea Had to Solve the Fuel Problem Too

Planting trees would have accomplished little if newly restored forests continued to be cut down for household fuel.

The government and local communities therefore worked on another part of the problem: finding alternatives to natural forest wood.

Villages established dedicated fuelwood plantations. Their total area grew from around 10,000 hectares in early 1973 to more than 75,000 hectares by 1977. At the same time, coal briquettes increasingly replaced firewood as a household heating source.

This combination was important.

Instead of asking people simply to stop using forest resources, South Korea reduced some of the demand that had been contributing to deforestation in the first place.

Across the broader reforestation campaign, over 10 billion trees were planted between the 1960s and the 1980s.

The Real Transformation Took Decades

The tree total is impressive, but the more revealing statistic is what happened to growing stock.

By 2020, South Korea's average growing stock had reached approximately 165 cubic metres per hectare. That was more than 29 times the 1953 figure of 5.7 cubic metres.

Forest coverage also changed dramatically.

Stocked forest cover represented around 35% of national land in 1955. Today, forests cover roughly 63% of South Korea.

That means the country's success cannot be described simply by counting seedlings. Trees planted decades ago survived, matured and accumulated substantial amounts of wood.

The restored forests also provide significant economic and environmental benefits. A 2013 assessment estimated the annual value of services including carbon storage, water-related benefits and reduced soil erosion at almost US$92 billion, equivalent to about 9% of GDP at the time.

What Made the Reforestation Effort Work?

South Korea's experience is particularly interesting because the campaign was not an instant success.

A 2026 study in Environmental Management, based on 9,619 archival records, discovered that the country's path to recovery involved considerable experimentation. The duration before 1973 included repeated attempts, failures and adjustments before more effective approaches were established.

By the late 1970s, tree survival rates that had frequently been below 50% in the 1950s had risen above 90%.

That improvement emphasizes an important part of the story: planting was only one component of the strategy.

Research, monitoring, enforcement, community involvement, post-planting care and changes in fuel use all helped determine whether seedlings would become established forests.

Andersen later summarized the distinctiveness of the achievement by citing:

“It’s hard to find comparisons with other places where you see the same determination and success.”

The lesson is therefore not simply that South Korea planted an extraordinary number of trees. It built a system capable of identifying why earlier attempts failed and changing course until the trees could survive.

A Forest Success Story With Another Chapter Ahead

South Korea's transformation from heavily degraded postwar mountains to a predominantly forested landscape is one of the clearest examples of how dramatically an environment can change within a human lifetime.

More than 10 billion trees were planted during the country's significant reforestation drive. But the most major achievement was ensuring that enough of those trees survived and matured to turn planting campaigns into functioning forests.

The average growing stock rose from just 5.7 cubic metres per hectare in 1953 to around 165 cubic metres per hectare by 2020. Forests currently cover around 63% of the country.

The achievement also carries a broader message for countries trying to restore degraded landscapes. Tree planting can start the process, but lasting recovery relies on protecting seedlings, involving communities, addressing the causes of deforestation and adapting methods when they fail.

As Andersen put it:

“The message is that you can bring nature back.”

South Korea's hills provide extraordinary evidence that it can happen. The challenge currently is ensuring that the forests rebuilt over the past seven decades remain healthy and resilient as the climate changes.

Source: SPACE DAILY

FAQs:

Q1. Why did South Korea need such a large reforestation campaign?
The Korean War, earlier exploitation and heavy fuelwood use had severely damaged many of the country's forests. Large areas of hillsides were left degraded and sparsely wooded.

Q2. When did South Korea's major reforestation effort begin?
The most successful phase accelerated during the 1960s and 1970s. The government introduced large-scale rehabilitation programs while involving communities in planting and forest protection.