Suwon Arboretum Joins Hands with Korea National Arboretum

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] The Suwon Arboretum, which will open as Suwon City's ecological landmark in 2022, will be developed into a specialized "signature" arboretum through consulting and cooperation with the Korea National Arboretum, the nation's leading forest research institution.

Suwon City and the Korea National Arboretum signed a business agreement on the 14th at the Suwon City Hall Situation Room, with key officials from both organizations including Suwon Mayor Yim Tae-young and Korea National Arboretum Director Yi Yu-mi in attendance, to establish a mutual cooperation framework for the exhibition, preservation, and education of plant genetic resources.

Through the agreement signed on this day, both organizations pledged to ▲cooperate in the collection and exchange of plant genetic resources to increase biodiversity ▲conduct joint research, provide research technology support, and provide consulting cooperation for the preservation of plant genetic resources ▲operate and jointly develop plant exhibition and education-related programs, and promote human resource exchanges and cooperation.

The city expects that through this agreement, diverse important plant genetic resources, including various Korean endemic plants, will be introduced to the Suwon Arboretum, and it will be able to secure a foundation for activities to preserve and promote the diversity of biological species in the future.

The "Suwon Arboretum," to be developed as the city's first arboretum with a scale of 101,500 square meters—equivalent to 14 soccer fields—in Ilwol Park in Cheoncheon-dong, is being promoted with the goal of commencing construction next year and opening in 2022. The Suwon Arboretum will feature eco-gardens such as wetland gardens, rock gardens, grassland gardens, and ecological forests, as well as ornamental gardens, winter gardens, edible gardens, and rainwater gardens where visitors can experience various plants and gardening techniques. Additionally, through storytelling research to reflect Suwon's characteristics, plans are in place to infuse the arboretum with Suwon's distinctive features.

Suwon Mayor Yim Tae-young said, "Through the agreement with the Korea National Arboretum, we expect that the Suwon Arboretum, which aims to be an urban regional hub arboretum, will be developed well," and added, "I hope that today's agreement will serve as a stepping stone for Suwon to move toward becoming an environmental capital."