50 outstanding village heads recognized as wildfire-prevention culture spreads through rural communities
The Korea Forest Service held a ceremony Thursday to recognize villages and community leaders whose residents have voluntarily worked to prevent wildfires caused by open burning.
The agency announced it hosted the plaque presentation ceremony for outstanding "no open-burning wildfire" green villages at the Oncheon 2-ri community center in Suanbo-myeon, Chungju, North Chungcheong Province.
The "no open-burning wildfire green village" campaign has been running since 2014 to curb the practice of burning rice paddies, field ridges, agricultural byproducts and household waste, and to encourage residents to eliminate open burning on their own. This year, more than 23,000 villages joined the campaign, from which 300 outstanding villages and 50 representative village heads were selected for their contributions to wildfire prevention.
The villages and heads selected this year have been instrumental in building community consensus against open burning and leading residents to adopt wildfire-prevention practices in their daily lives. The Korea Forest Service presented plaques to the outstanding villages and awarded commendations to the village heads who led wildfire-prevention efforts.
"The no open-burning wildfire green village is an achievement made possible by village heads and residents working together," Deputy Commissioner Im Ha-su said. "We ask for your continued attention and participation in eliminating open burning so that we can protect our villages and precious forests from wildfires."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
