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took place between 1993 and 2001, involving rehabilitation works
such as soil protection afforestation on 73,156 ha, rangeland reha-
bilitation on 19,882 ha, oak rehabilitation on 2,240 ha and cedrus
rehabilitation on 1,687 ha.
Private afforestation works in Turkey, which started in 1986, had
extended to 50,011 ha by the end of 2010. As a result of amend-
ments made to the articles of the Afforestation Regulation, which
incentivizes these works, a substantial increase in afforestation has
occurred recently.
National parks in Turkey
In Turkey, 41 parks covering 808,172 ha have been declared as
national parks since 1958. In addition, 17 natural parks, 34 nature
protective areas and 102 natural monuments have been declared
as PAs, covering 69,505 hectare in total. Of the 1,374 wetlands of
international importance in the world, 135 are in Turkey.
Turkey has 9,000 plant species, 160 kinds of mammals, 454 bird
species, 150 reptile and amphibian species and over 400 fish species.
There is an urgent need to place some restrictions on the use of
these resources.
Research in forestry
In Turkey, studies on forestry research are being carried out by 11
directorates of forestry research and faculties of forestry. In various
parts of Turkey, ten research forests were established in
order to carry out these studies.
The Turkish National Tree Rehabilitation and Seed
Production Programme was implemented in 1994 and
a selection of genetic conservation forests have been
established since then. The aim to is conserve the genetic
diversity of forests and to ensure that these values will
be passed on to the next generation. Genetic conserva-
tion forests, nature conservation areas, national parks
and natural parks are different from those protected
without any interventions. In this regard, 172 seed
orchards have been established to date over 1,200 ha as
well as 13 clonal parks covering 29 ha.
Education and advertising activities
The first Turkish education in forestry was given in a
‘Forest School’, which was founded in 1857 in Istanbul,
and training in forestry continued in several schools
with different names. Today, there are nine forestry
faculties at various universities.
Legal arrangements have been made to increase
public awareness of the importance of forests. Law
no. 4122 regarding National Afforestation and Erosion
Control Mobilization called for the Turkish Television
Forest villagers are key actors in forest-community relations
Image: Aykut Ince