Hwaseong Special City Takes First Step with 'Environmental Companion Network' Uniting Citizens, Government, Industry and Academia

Hwaseong Special City (Mayor Jung Myung-geun) and the Hwaseong City Environment Foundation held the first meeting of the ‘Environmental Companion Network,’ involving various environmental practice stakeholders within the region, on the 10th at the YBM Training Center under the slogan ‘Sustainable Hwaseong, Companionship Together.’

This meeting was arranged to establish a cooperative framework among environmental practice stakeholders across various sectors of the local community, including civic groups, businesses, schools and administration, and to discover and promote joint environmental projects.

In the first session, a professional instructor from the Korea Public Education Institute was invited to conduct training on ‘Understanding Public-Private Governance and Best Practices.’ In the subsequent second session, participants shared various opinions on the official name of the Environmental Companion Network, its future operating direction, and the discovery of environmental practice projects to be jointly pursued.

The meeting was attended by stakeholders from various fields spanning civic, government, industry and academia, who reaffirmed their commitment to solidarity, including △the Hwaseong City Climate, Energy and Environment Bureau △the Hwaseong City Environment Foundation △Neonadeuri Earth Community △the Healthy Diet Culture Institute △Bniel Store △Sanmaru Nature School △the Upcycling Artists Group △Songsan High School △Eco Hands △Working Holic △Earth Story △the Hwaseong Fair Trade Village Council △the Hwaseong City Sustainable Development Council △the Hwaseong Environmental Education Network △the Hwaseong Environmental Movement Coalition △and Hwaseong Love-Environmental Solidarity.

Yoon Soon-seok, Director of the Climate, Energy and Environment Bureau, said, “Using this first meeting of the Environmental Companion Network as an opportunity, we will continuously communicate and cooperate with the private sector to jointly create environmental policies that citizens can feel.”

Jung Seung-ho, CEO of the Hwaseong City Environment Foundation, said, “The Environmental Companion Network is a public-private-industry-academia cooperation network in which civic groups, businesses, schools and administration join forces to build a sustainable future for Hwaseong City,” adding, “We will actively support solidarity with more local community stakeholders going forward and ensure that joint projects lead to tangible results.”

The Hwaseong City Environment Foundation plans to establish a stable operating foundation for the Environmental Companion Network in the future and to discover and promote environmental practice projects jointly planned and implemented by the public, private, industry and academia sectors.