Biodiversity at the heart of forestry plans, actions

ANKARA

DHA photo

Turkey’s Forestry Directorate has developed 132 new honey forests on 10,653.8 hectares of land since 2008, according to official data.

More than 100 herbaceous and wood species, which are productive in pollens and nectars, are used in these forests in a bid to increase biodiversity and also to partly feed fauna.

The directorate uses eco-friendly forest management methods to protect biodiversity. For example, some dead trees are left in their own ecosystems to support development.

As part of afforestation and rehabilitation, local species that are in harmony with the ecosystem are preferred.

As a result of the recent efforts, ecosystems on nearly 2 million hectares of degraded forest lands have been rehabilitated.

Fruit trees were also included in the ecosystems to offer food for the fauna.

Particularly in winter, additional food is left in forests for large mammals.

In addition, ecosystem-based functional management is being conducted to integrate the need for biological diversity with forestry plans. Such a study has been conducted on 450.917 hectares of land since 2003.

Animals in Turkish forests

Most large mammals in Turkey live in forest ecosystems.

Turkish forests are home to mammals such as bears (Ursus arctos), foxes (Vulpes vulpes), wolves (Canis lupus), jackals (Canis aureus), bobcats (Lynx lynx), hyenas (Hyena hyena), deers (Cervus elaphus), chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), chevrotains (Capra aegagrus), boars (Sus scrofa scrofa), badgers (Meles meles), pine martens (Martes martes), hedgehogs (Erinaceus europea), rabits (Lepus capensis), weasels (Mustela nivalis) and squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris).

They also host reptiles such as snakes, chameleons (Chameleo chameleon), lizards (Lacerta agilis, L. armeniaca, L. parvula, L. derjugini, L. princeps, L. trilineata, L. viridis, Anguis fragilis), turtles (Testudo graeca) and birds such as trapogans (Phasianus colchicus), caspian snowcocks (Tetraogallus caspius), wood grouses (Tetrao mlokosiewiczi), woodpeckers (Dendrocopus sp.), and many birds of prey and singing birds.

Among these, species such as chamoises (Rupicapra rupicapra), bobcats (Felis silvestris), cinereous vultures (Aegypius monachus), eastern imperial eagles (Aquila heliaca), great spotted eagles (Aquila clanga) and lesser spotted eagles (Aquila pomarina) are protected under international agreements.