The Kyunghyang Daily is immensely proud to be presenting its sixth major forum as part of its mission to build a better future for Korean society. The Kyunghyang Forum has clearly consolidated its place among the foremost intellectual discussions in the country that presents the zeitgeist of our times as well as provides new directions in public policy.

In previous versions, the Kyunghyang Forum examined Korean society's most pertinent issues and provided alternative solutions by way of topics such as: innovation in the age of the new normal; challenges posed by the fourth industrial revolution; structural inequalities in society; and cooperation among Northeast Asian nations. Last year, the Forum dealt with the timely issue of how to respond to a rapidly changing world brought upon by COVID-19.

And now, I proudly present to you the title for the 2021 Kyunghyang Forum: Living with the Climate Crisis — Paths to Survival.

It is no secret that people around the world have become increasingly familiar with the occurrences of global warming-induced events, such as rapidly melting glaciers, floods, forest fires, and pest-related loss of vegetation. Unprecedented cold fronts have hit certain areas of our planet while murderous heat waves are causing damage in other areas. Meanwhile, grasslands are shrinking while desertification is taking place at an alarming rate. In short, climate catastrophes are worsening as time goes by.

Scientists and experts agree that the cause of such unusual climate patterns originates from greenhouse gases. In particular, it is the development activities of human beings that contribute to the rise of greenhouse gases that damage our planet's climate system which, in turn, contribute to the many symptoms of climate change. One could even argue that COVID-19 itself is a catastrophe that was brought upon by the indiscriminate destruction of nature by mankind.

As we speak, our planet falls deeper on a daily basis into the swamp that is the climate crisis, with efforts to reduce greenhouse gases hardly reaching beyond mere talk. Even as global economic activity had been severely reduced last year due to COVID-19, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions fell a mere 5% compared to the year before. Such makes one wonder if we have already lost our last chance to build a sustainable planet and that the depressing scenes of apocalyptic earth that we see so often in science fiction films may soon become our reality.

Hence, the 2021 Kyunghyang Forum has its objective in evaluating whether humanity's response to the era of climate crisis, or even climate catastrophes, and the accompanying issue of building a sustainable planet is appropriate in its current direction and speed.

This year, we have as our very special guests from around the world, former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who also helped put together the Paris Agreement, 2007 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Vice-President of the United States Al Gore, world-renown scholar Jeremy Rifkin, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund Yannick Glemaric, as well as Korea's preeminent expert in the life sciences and Distinguished Chair Professor of Eco-science at Ewha Womans University Choe Jae-chun. We expect to hear from these distinguished experts their evaluation of the current situation and insights into what can be done to improve the situation.

Our ultimate goal is for the 2021 Kyunghyang Forum to become a meaningful occasion that would provide impetus for human society's sustainable development. Further, we pledge that the Kyunghyang Daily would work tirelessly to seek and promote means for balanced development in the future. We hope you will find our Forum interesting and worth participating in. Thank you.

Kim Seok-jong, CEO of The Kyunghyang Shinmun