In the wake of recent natural disasters, several forestry organizations in South Korea are clamouring for insurance that protects tree owners.
The Forestry Cooperative in Korea and Korea Forest Service have said that there is currently no agricultural disaster insurance policy available for tree owners in the country to protect them from natural disasters such as wildfires, landslides, and pest infestations that may seriously damage their trees.
In 2016, 1.37 million trees had to be cut down because of the pine wood nematode infestation. However, the tree owners were not compensated for their losses.
The Forestry Cooperative believes that it is within their legal rights to push for tree insurance due to the 2011 agricultural and fishery disaster insurance reform bill.
For the next three years, the two organizations will work together to establish an insurance sector that will serve forest owners, with insurance schemes that will cover seven tree types, including pine and cypress trees.
On the other hand, several government agencies have expressed scepticism regarding the proposal. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that it believes tree insurance is not an urgent need since trees are not quite vulnerable to natural disasters.
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