Forests cover almost a third of Turkey. They are almost all state-owned and vary from temperate rainforest in the northeast to maquis in the south and west. Pine, fir, oak, and beech are common. While the forest area in Turkey accounted for 26.7% of the country’s surface area in 1999, this percentage increased to 29% in 2020 and is gradually increasing. Over half the volume of forest is from the three species of Turkish pine, Black pine, and Scots pine.
The total forest area of Turkey in 2020 was 22,933,000 ha. However, 58% of this area is normally closed areas, and 42% is degraded closed areas (sparsely vegetated or unvegetated) [69]. Despite covering only 0.5% of the Earth’s surface, Türkiye has a very high diversity of species, especially in the forest lands. The forests in Turkey produce 42 million Tons of Oxygen per annum.
Despite the economic potential, biological diversity, and environmental value, the forests and the surroundings are prone to external risks and societal pressures. Between 1990 and 2020, 420 million ha of forest have been destroyed worldwide for several reasons. In Turkey, 748 thousand ha of forest area were destroyed in the last decade due to wildfires and urbanization. Of this amount, 255 thousand ha has been destroyed due to wildfires. In the chart below, the red bars indicate the forest area destroyed by wildfires, and the green bars indicate the total forest area in ha.
The General Directorate of Forestry (GDF) is part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) and the main institution in the sector. It is responsible for the integration policy and supervision of the protection and sustainable forestry management of forest resources in Türkiye. Decision-making and forest operations have been planned, organized, and guided. GDF meets most of the wood raw material demand. Within GDF’s management are 28 Regional Directorates of Forestry and 12 Forestry Research Institutes.
Due to the rapid population increase, many natural habitats have been fragmented, reduced in size, degraded, or destroyed. Intensive forestry practices have further accelerated the loss of natural forest lands, especially along the Black Sea and coastal Mediterranean and Aegean regions. Natural habitats have also been degraded due to urbanization and construction activities in attractive regions of the country.
Forest establishment and rehabilitation activities since 1990 are shown in the below chart.
According to Forest Law in Turkey, all forest operations must be accomplished by villagers who live in the forest villages nearest to the workplace. Forest work is the main income for those villagers, who are also called “forest villagers.” The villages are facing demographic changes, and younger people are leaving the rural areas. Also, costly investments in new equipment are difficult for the villagers.
The Forest Law has strict and heavy punishment clauses for those who destroy forests. Despite the law, wildfires caused by carelessness seem to be the major risk to forests. Public awareness should be further enhanced.
This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard Turkey Country Manager Dr Semih Ergur.