Along with various natural disasters, wildfire damage is becoming serious on a global scale. In particular, Korea recently experienced its largest-ever wildfire damage. Can a forest be the solution to such climate-crisis problems, which can also be seen as an extension of the climate crisis? It is a good time to hear Tree Planet's forest-making story — creating "collective impact," a way in which various stakeholders cooperate to solve social problems as a common goal. This weekend, when many things are happening nationally, is also Arbor Day.
Tree Planet, which is "creating a way for everyone in the world to plant trees." From the early days of the business, Director Jeong Min-cheol wanted to make an environment-participation platform. And he developed a tree-planting game named Tree Planet. It drew much domestic and international attention with the ingenious item that when users plant trees in a virtual space, trees are actually planted in reality. But afterward, he closed the game business and decided to move closer to the essential business of making forests. While leading the business, Director Jeong Min-cheol built up understanding and expertise about trees.
[Tree Planet Director Jeong Min-cheol @ESG.ONL]
New and Fun: The Beginning of Tree Planet, Connecting Environmental Awareness to Action
Tree Planet was known in its early days for a tree-planting game. Through the game, it sought to improve people's awareness of donation and environmental issues. And it led people to the action of donating trees while playing the game. But various questions arose in the minds of Tree Planet's members, who were still in their twenties. Does a tree-planting game have to be fun? If so, are we a game-making team? After pondering the fun of the game and the organization's identity, the conclusion Tree Planet reached was that "Tree Planet cannot become mainstream in the game industry." The world knew Tree Planet as a social-contribution game company.
The "Sewol Ferry Memorial Forest," where ginkgo trees symbolizing peace and hope were planted © Tree Planet
In 2017, Tree Planet ended its game service and decided to pour more attention into the essential activity of tree-planting. New and fun methods were still needed. After deliberation, the Tree Planet team enabled donors to have an emotional communion with trees. A tree sends a letter to a user. The tree speaks to the user, saying, "Mom, Dad, it's cold here these days." One donor actually traveled to a remote area of Nepal, taking dozens of hours by plane and car, to meet their tree. A single tree I planted somewhere on Earth holds affection no less than sponsoring a child overseas. The "star forest," which contributed to raising Tree Planet's public recognition, is also a form of emotional communion between forests and people. After pursuing the first project together with fans of the group 2NE1, the forests created together with the Seoul city government alone reach some 100. Director Jeong Min-cheol said, "The star forest is rather a case we learned through fandom culture." Fans wanted to present their stars with the eternal gift of a forest. As such feelings gathered, star forests of K-pop idols like BTS are now created not only in Seoul but also in China, Indonesia, Brazil, and elsewhere. Tree Planet is a company that carries out communication connecting forests and people, and it learned that if there is sincerity in communication, it can become a "sufficiently deep heart."
Sincere Communication Connected to Tree-Planting, a Forest That Shares Our Society's Memory
[The "Sewol Ferry Memorial Forest," where ginkgo trees symbolizing peace and hope were planted © Tree Planet]
Tree Planet's communication connects even to the memory of our whole society. In 2017, Tree Planet created the Sewol Ferry Memorial Forest. It began with a proposal from "Sean Hepburn," son of the actress "Audrey Hepburn." Director Jeong Min-cheol said that when he first received contact, he doubted, "Is this for real?" "But because I felt sincerity in his words, I went to San Francisco in person." The Sean Hepburn that Director Jeong met was a film producer who understood Korean sentiment well, having filmed movies in Korea. Worried that when a big incident occurs in Korea, Koreans seem to forget it easily, he proposed creating a space that would not be forgotten, like New York's 9/11 memorial museum. At this point, Tree Planet had a shift in thinking: "the purpose of making a forest might not be solely the purpose of preserving the natural environment." In the end, this project was completed with the creation of the "Sewol Ferry Memorial Forest" located in Jindo, Jeollanam-do.
[The "Forest Remembering the Girls" © Tree Planet]
After that, Tree Planet created the "Forest Remembering the Girls" for the "Japanese-military 'comfort women' victims" at the Peace Park inside Seoul World Cup Stadium. Many young people and social enterprises who wanted to plant trees themselves in a park frequented by citizens took part. Director Jeong Min-cheol shared the impression that he felt the "value of healing" that a space called a forest holds, and conveyed the words of the guides at the forest-interpretation education space. Those who have long done forest interpretation say, "A forest education program is fine to have, but it's okay without one too." This is because when we enter a forest, we can naturally feel something on our own. Anyone who has experienced making a forest, or experienced nature's healing power, will absolutely empathize with these words.
The Key to Sustainable Business and Collaboration Is the "Company's Core Assets"
Tree Planet, which is continuing our society's sustainability together with various social organizations, does not explain the value of its work solely by the meaning of a social-contribution business. Tree Planet has collaborated with many government agencies and companies, and Director Jeong Min-cheol emphasized that projects connected to the technological assets a company or agency originally has were effective. This is because they can produce results that have a long-term good impact on the environment, rather than a one-off business. Among these, the "China Desertification-Prevention Forest" created together with the Hanwha Group is a representative case that maintains a continuous positive impact on the environment even now. With Hanwha, with which it formed a bond through advertising within the Tree Planet game, it collaborated through the eco-friendly technology of solar panels. In 2013, Tree Planet used Hanwha's solar panels as the energy source for a water pump to grow trees in the desertification area of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and 200,000 trees in that desert area came to receive water. Even to Director Jeong Min-cheol, who has experience creating many forests, the result of the collaboration with Hanwha was like a miracle. Creating a forest is a project whose results are hard to confirm in a short time. Because of this characteristic, companies too participate with patience over a long time, and they evaluate confirming the success of the project as all the more meaningful.
[A forest created together with Hanwha's solar panels © Tree Planet]
Tree Planet's initial vision of "planting 100 million trees" gradually changed with the passage of time. From the goal of once hitting the number 100 million, it sought to change it to having 100 million people plant trees. But in the end, it reached the conclusion that a change in our awareness toward trees, forests, and environmental change is important. What Tree Planet currently focuses on is high-tech innovation industries such as agriculture and forestry. Conveying the message about the value of the environment is of course important, but to carry out a sustainable business, one must do "what is needed now but no one is doing." Director Jeong Min-cheol conveyed, "ESG-related companies too, in the end, would do well to establish ESG policies in a direction that actively utilizes their own core assets, such as technology or assets, in order to make a sustainable business possible."
From Planting Trees to Providing Saplings: The Transformation of Tree Planet's Business
"Due to the climate crisis, wildfires cannot help but continue."
Director Jeong, who has accumulated countless experiences related to forests, expressed a heavy heart about the recent wildfire situation. Once a wildfire occurs, one is said to have to wait two to three years to enter that mountain and stream again to restore it. This is because the soil is acidified and has little organic nutrient. So the soil is turned over with an excavator, and the ash-turned dead trees are cut down. Sprouts sometimes grow from the cut trees. But Korea is fundamentally short on saplings. There is great difficulty in forest restoration. With the problem awareness that the production of quality saplings is insufficient, Tree Planet established an agricultural-company corporation called "Forest Ventures" in Icheon and is preparing sapling research and production. Forest Ventures, made up of people who majored in tree-related studies, plans to research good and new varieties broadly, produce more saplings, and develop a value chain that can supply them where they are needed.
["Forest Ventures," which converts natural capital into a climate-change solution © CREVISSE]
Tree Planet has so far focused on carbon-neutral forests for greenhouse-gas reduction and on disaster-recovery forests for restoring wildfire-damaged areas and biodiversity. Now Tree Planet has entered a "version 3.0" period, deeply pondering what tree should be planted where, and what variety can pass on what value to future generations. "In foreign countries such as Sweden, much research has been done from tree seeds to downstream industries," Director Jeong Min-cheol pointed out. Tree Planet says that going forward it will also do a business of developing and supplying saplings of trees that will create high added value, such as raw materials for pharmaceuticals or cosmetics.
The place the flames clawed through still seems full of an acrid smell. At this time, when everyone's feelings toward Arbor Day are special, we look forward to the swift recovery of the damaged areas. Tree Planet, broadening the scope of thought from the individual to society and narrowing it from the forest to the tree, is creating the awareness and action our society and environment need. We look forward to the future to which Tree Planet will contribute over the long term — sustainable forest restoration, the development and planting of good-quality saplings, and more.
By Editor L