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Joint Statement by 50 Institutions on World Forest Day: A New Forest Law is Necessary to Protect Forests

On “World Forest Day”, 50 institutions called for the unconditional protection of forests and demanded a new forest law to protect forests. The signatories of the campaign, which was initiated by 50 institutions on Change.org Turkey and reached more than 45 thousand signatures, with the demand to change the substances that allow forest areas to be taken out of the forest, repeated their demands on World Forest Day and said, "Get Out of the Forests!".

In the press release, the institutions emphasized that the Northern Forests were plundered for the sake of rent and projects, while the Mediterranean Forests faced the threat of fire and climate crisis.

The statement said: "Even though scientists said that at least 30% of our forest areas should be taken under unconditional protection by 2030 at the latest, to combat the climate crisis and renew themselves, Turkey did not fulfill the commitments made on the 26th Conference of the Parties on the protection of forests."

The signatory institutions, stating that the current Forest Law does not protect the forests and that the forest areas destroyed every year are more than the burned areas, stated that the relevant articles of the Forest Law should be regulated on 21 March World Forest Day, in a way that would unconditionally protect the forests, and that the amount of protected forest area should be increased to 30% and demanded to put an end to the excessive production of wood from forests.

What happened to forest areas in Turkey since the fires?

July 28 – August 12, 2021: 124 thousand hectares of forests in Muğla and Antalya were destroyed by fires.

October 6, 2021: Turkey ratified the Paris Agreement in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

November 2, 2021: At the Conference of the Parties (COP26), Turkey signed the "Leaders' Statement on Forests and Land Use" with more than 100 leaders, committing to stop and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.

November 30, 2021: The Regulation on the Implementation of the Third Paragraph of Article 17 of the Forest Law, which regulates the permits that can be granted from forests, has been updated by adding new permission types.

December 29, 2021: Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced that the status of Uludağ National Park will be changed and the Presidency of the Area will be established.

5 and 7 January 2022: With the Presidential decision published in the Official Gazette, approximately one million square meters of land in Kastamonu, Manisa, Ankara, and Mersin was excluded from forest status.

January 28, 2022: Bolu Köroğlu Mountain Culture and Tourism Conservation and Development Region (KTKGB) Destination Development Plan, 1/25000 Scale Geological Geotechnical Survey Report Based on Land Use, 1/25000 Scale Master Plan Service Procurement Work was put out to tender by the Bolu Special Administration. 10 thousand hectares of the area up to 38,348 hectares consists of forest areas.

21-25 February 2022: A Climate Council was held in Konya to determine Turkey's climate policies. There was no provision for the protection of forests in the council decisions.

March 1, 2022: With the amendment made by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources in the Mining Regulation, olive groves were opened to mining activities..

March 5, 2022: The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change allowed the construction of wastewater, drinking water, natural gas, and electricity lines in the protected areas with the justification of "public interest".

March 21, 2021: A few of the institutions that started the campaign, applied to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, General Directorate of Forestry, where activities such as adequate budget, human resources, early response to forest fires, fire extinguishing equipment, evacuation plan, beekeeping were damaged. He asked whether an action plan has been prepared for the protection of Mediterranean forests from fires, such as compensation mechanisms and measures.

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