The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, the Korea Forest Service, and UNICEF Korea launched the “Plant Our Planet” campaign, which links the metaverse and the real world.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (“MOFA”), the Korea Forest Service (“KFS”), and UNICEF Korea held a launching ceremony of the global reforestation campaign, "Plant Our Planet (POP),” on April 14th, in Paju. The POP campaign serves to reiterate the necessity of international solidarity in addressing climate change, a universal crisis. This campaign is unique as it combines the metaverse and the real world. Users are welcomed to the metaverse by the virtual characters of Foreign Minister Park Jin and Minister of the KFS Nam Sung-hyun, and they plant trees to participate in the campaign. Based on users’ participation, actual trees will be planted in the real world. Even before the official launch, this campaign gained the attention of many people around the world as more than five million visited the campaign site in the metaverse.

* MOFA, the KFS, and UNICEF Korea collaborated with the metaverse platform "PlayTogether” produced by a Korean company called “Haegin.” The metaverse for this campaign has been in test operation since March 30th and will be officially launched on April 27th.

More than 250 people participated in the launching ceremony, including Minister of the KFS Nam Sung-hyun, Ambassador and Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy of MOFA Lee Sang-hwa, Secretary General of UNICEF Korea Lee Ki-cheol, UNICEF Regional Ambassador for East Asia and Pacific Choi Siwon, diplomatic corps, press, Korean Green Rangers, and students from a Paju middle school. People from various countries and of all ages participated in the tree planting for reforestation, and expressed their will to actively contribute to tackling the climate crisis.

Minister of the KFS Nam Sung-hyun delivered welcoming remarks at the POP campaign’s launching ceremony, emphasizing the significant milestone of the 50th anniversary of the Republic of Korea’s national reforestation efforts. Minister Nam also highlighted the country’s success in reforestation, which is a major national brand, and voiced his hope that the POP campaign serves as a prime opportunity to expand international forest cooperation. In addition, Minister Nam urged everyone to join in the efforts to respond to the climate crisis by supporting sustainable forest management and contributing to a virtuous cycle of tree planting, forest tending, and timber utilization.

Ambassador and Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy of MOFA Lee Sang-hwa emphasized in his congratulatory message that the POP campaign is not simply for raising awareness on the importance of the response to the climate crisis, but is an action-based campaign that leads to planting trees in the real world. He expressed hopes that Korea, as an exemplary case for reforestation, would present a new model for managing forests with this campaign by connecting the virtual world with the real world.

Secretary General of UNICEF Korea Lee Ki-cheol stated that the climate crisis causes natural disasters, such as storms and floods, as well as food shortages, which negatively affect the growing children in particular. He looked forward to seeing the seedlings planted today grow beautifully to form dense forests around the globe.

The POP campaign is the fourth online campaign led by MOFA to strengthen international solidarity on global challenges facing the international society. This campaign is expected to create synergy to tackle the climate crisis as it not only combines the metaverse and the real world and but also engages people of all ages, genders, nationalities around the world. As a global pivotal state that seeks universal human values, the Korean government will continue to actively make its voice heard on regional and international issues.

Attachments : Photos   /END/