Korea–Mongolia Friendship Forest — Bilateral Urban Afforestation in Ulaanbaatar's Sükhbaatar District

Mongolia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Korea Forest Service (KFS) built the Korea–Mongolia Friendship Forest on 40 hectares of degraded land in Dambadarjaa, Sükhbaatar District, Ulaanbaatar, as the second phase of their bilateral Greenbelt Reforestation Initiative, first established in 2006 to combat desertification and yellow-dust storms.
Design work ran in 2017–2018, soil treatment across the site was carried out in 2019, a training and information centre was built in 2020, and the park opened to the public in 2023 at a total cost of about EUR 8 million. Some 55,000 trees and shrubs across 36 species — including larch, pine, fir, cedar, spruce, birch, aspen, willow, lilac and maple — were planted, alongside a bicycle path, playground, sports area and car parks, with the explicit aim of reducing air pollution and giving Ulaanbaatar residents accessible green space.
No independently published data on tree survival rates, air-quality change, carbon sequestration or soil/water outcomes at this specific site was found; the evidence available documents scale, cost and species diversity rather than measured ecological or health impact.

Read the full analysis: https://afocosec.org/newsroom/news/forestry-news/successes-in-forest-cooperation-greenbelt-reforestation-by-the-republic-of-korea-and-mongolia/