"The “Your Own Tree” Campaign is the KFS’ main event, run on full public participation for the last 20 years, which faced a crisis after in-person events were halted following COVID-19 outbreaks in 2020.
In a time of limitations for any events, the KFS cooperated with Dunamu, a fintech company, to reflect a new trend of planting trees in a virtual world to forestry policies.
The groundbreaking solution of utilizing the metaverse turned a crisis into an opportunity, where citizens of all ages could be informed about forestry policies, and the KFS could save on government budget spending."

The KFS plan to continuously implement the Metaverse-based “Your Own Tree” campaign in various ways, investing further efforts into informing the public of the importance of the forests so that more citizens have and plant more trees of their own.

The KFS planned projects, providing target spots to establish ‘Rejuvenation Forests’. A company, Dunamu, developed the underlying blockchain technology and formed donations for the cooperation projects. The Korea Forest Welfare Institute (FoWI) promoted the ‘Rejuvenation Forests’ project and operated donated funds, while also providing entry into forest welfare facilities. The National Forestry Cooperative Federation (NFCF) provided exchange services for seedling vouchers at 125 tree markets.

Both the KFS elevated their recognition and value through proactive collaboration. The Korean public participated indirectly in public interest events such as the ‘Rejuvenation Forests’, benefited from seedling vouchers, and were allowed usage of forestry welfare facilities. The National Forestry Cooperative Federation (NFCF) saw revitalized tree trade at markets that were negatively impacted by COVID-19 (11,000 Units sold, 120 million won in sales).

Quantitative Accomplishments:
Government spending was saved due to corporate donations from companies operating with ESG management goals, ‘Rejuvenation Forests’ were formed at areas damaged by forest fires, and seedling vouchers were distributed to participants.
-Total Participants: 50,000
-Corporate donations: 750 million won
-Size of Rejuvenation Forests: 17.4 ha (40,000 trees),
-Seedling vouchers: 15,000
-Qualitative Accomplishment: Additional content beyond planting trees were provided in the metaverse, including content that allowed users to indirectly experience the full process of forests being recovered following forest fires, leading to increased public awareness of forestry policies.

As the project was the first case of metaverse utilization in the forestry field, there were difficulties from the beginning, even at the planning phase in 2022. After the campaign was first active, reports on access issues and usage poured in. Limited participation by users in certain events led to a limited spread on the campaign’s core message.
Additions of visual aids on forestry policies, and true or false quizzes led to stronger educational impact in 2023 while inquiries were minimized with the operation of a separate customer service desk. In-platform missions were improved to require all content to be experienced and learned to achieve completion status, further improving the effectiveness of the campaign.

Policy decisions from leadership to assertively respond to unexpected variables, such as COVID-19.
In order to guide companies to share their technology and capital with the public, a system that guarantees freedom and mutual respect, not a series of rules and regulations, should be maintained.

A “Care For Our Forests” campaign, in connection with forest care experience events held all over Korea in November of each year, was implemented with an added element of caring for trees planted in the virtual world. Trees planted in the virtual world during the ‘Your Own Tree’ campaign were subject to forest care activities, including cutting, weeding, trimming, thinning, etc.

In order for government agencies to guide more companies to actively participate in joint projects, and form various and creative policies, it is better to guarantee corporate freedom and thus generate public interest and participation, rather than demand cooperation with regulations. The government serves as a bridge that connects businesses with the needs of the public.