The National Forestry Cooperative Federation announced its "future innovation initiatives" on the 10th, including the introduction of a direct election system for the federation president.
In Mar., the National Forestry Cooperative Federation launched the "future innovation committee," composed of government, academia, and forestry organization experts, and, after five full meetings and 23 task force meetings to develop detailed tasks, produced the current innovation initiatives.
The future innovation initiatives contain 14 detailed innovation tasks across four fields to fulfill the purposes of the federation's establishment while strengthening its functions. In the "greater transparency in organizational management" field, the contents include introducing a direct election system for the federation president to center management on members, converting the federation president to a full-time position to strengthen accountable management, and establishing a fair election system for member cooperatives.
In the "revitalizing economic projects" field, which helps increase the income of forest owners and forestry workers, the federation plans to pursue detailed tasks such as building regional supply chains for unused forest biomass, revitalizing regional direct-trade markets for forest products, and shifting to a cooperative-centered system for forestry management guidance projects.
In the "support for member cooperatives by the federation and easing competition in forestry projects" field, the federation selected tasks such as expanding the delegation of forestry project management services and easing competition in forestry projects by restructuring the federation's business. In particular, the delegation of forestry project management services will be expanded in cooperation with the Korea Forest Service and local governments, aiming for win-win management with forestry corporations.
In the "strengthening social contribution" field, the federation finalized plans to ease the financial burden of forestry management by providing interest support for forestry workers and cooperative members, and to strengthen sharing activities in mountain villages based on the Forestry Cooperative Sharing Foundation.
Choi Chang-ho, president of the National Forestry Cooperative Federation, said, "We will move quickly so that these future innovation initiatives lead to a fundamental overhaul of the federation and stronger competitiveness."