June 6, 2026, Tuv aimag, Mongolia — Celebrating International Children’s Day, 665 students from Batsumber Soum’ ‘s General Education School picked up their pencils and paintbrushes to share a message that matters: forests are worth protecting. The drawing competition, themed “The Forest, a Wonderful Home for All,” was held on 6 June 2026 as a key public awareness activity under the “Yuhan 4RE (Resilient, Regenerative & Responsible Reforestation): Restoration of Wildfire-affected Forests in Batsumber Project — a forest restoration initiative supported by Yuhan Corporation, and jointly implemented by Asian Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO), National Forest Agency (NFA) of Mongolia, and “Billion Trees” NGO. The project is working to restore wildfire-affected forest lands in Batsumber soum, Tuv Aimag, as part of Mongolia’s national Billion Trees National Movement (BTNM).
The competition invited children to express — through their own creative lens — the importance of nature conservation, forest protection, and fire prevention. The response was remarkable: all 665 participating students submitted original artworks, reflecting not only their creativity but also a genuine and heartfelt understanding of the environmental challenges facing Mongolia’s forests. All participants received commemorative gifts from the organizers in recognition of their contributions, and in the spirit of International Children’s Day, gifts were also presented to all students of the primary school in Udleg Bag, Batsumber Soum.
The selected best artworks will be featured in upcoming editions of the “Billion Trees” Magazine, giving these young voices a platform that reaches communities, policymakers, and conservation advocates across Mongolia.
The drawing competition marks the opening of an active month for the Yuhan 4RE Project. Building on the energy and community spirit of the Children’s Day event, the project team began tree planting across 15 hectares of wildfire-damaged forest land in Udleg bagh of Batsumber soum — putting 37,500 Siberian larch seedlings into the ground as the first tangible step toward ecological recovery. The planting site was identified through a detailed site selection and field assessment process conducted with the technical support of the National University of Mongolia, ensuring that species selection and planting locations are grounded in scientific evidence.The two activities together reflect the project’s commitment to combining community engagement with tangible restoration work on the ground.
This combined advocacy and field action reflects the project’s integrated approach: building community awareness and ownership while delivering measurable restoration outcomes on the ground. Wildfires have severely impacted Mongolia’s forest ecosystems, and restoring them requires not just planting trees, but nurturing the communities that will protect them for generations to come. By engaging the youngest members of the community alongside active planting efforts, the Yuhan 4RE Project is investing not only in the forests of today, but in the forest stewards of tomorrow. Moving forward, the project will conduct capacity-building activities for local residents and herdsmen of Udleg Bag, engaging them directly in seedling protection at the project site and raising awareness of the vital role forests play in their livelihoods and landscape.
The Yuhan 4RE Project is a Public-Private Partnership between AFoCO, Yuhan Corporation, Mongolia’s National Forest Agency, and the “Billion Trees” NGO, with a total budget of 200,000,000 KRW. It contributes to Mongolia’s commitment to plant 20 million trees in Tuv Aimag by 2030. Read more about the project here: