Gov't prepares roadmap to protect forests

ANKARA

The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry has published a five-year strategic plan to protect and develop the country's forests and greenery.

The plan states that the role of forests will come to the forefront with the carbon pricing mechanism planned to be established in Türkiye in the near future and that natural systems will be a critical option for carbon offsetting efforts, especially by the private sector.

Within this scope, it aims to revise the forestation regulation to include emissions trading and voluntary carbon mechanisms, to harmonize it with "carbon credits," and to prepare a "Carbon Market Action Plan" in forestry.

 Restrictions on mining

According to the plan, some legal regulations such as zoning amnesty, penalty reduction and tax reduction create a perception of amnesty for forest crimes in the society, resulting in the loss of forest areas in order to gain settlements, agricultural land and plateau areas.

In response to this, a mechanism will be established to determine the impacts that each legal regulation may have on forest resources, quotas will be applied in licensing and operation in line with long-term regional land planning and classification suitable for mining, and the legislation will be developed in this direction.

Mining areas will be monitored using high technologies, and it will be ensured that mining activities and rehabilitation practices of the area are carried out simultaneously.

 Support for villagers, tourism

Due to the increasing interest of tourists in village life, the establishment of recreation areas by conducting demand analyses at the regional level, increasing rural income by passing ecotourism routes through forest villages, and supporting ecotourism investments with grants and low-interest loans, especially in forest villages, are among the targets.

In addition, ecotourism attractions of forest villages will be identified and efforts will be made to encourage forest villagers through practices such as pensions.

According to the plan, domestic firefighting aircraft will be developed to fight forest fires. The type, deployment location and number of aircraft will be determined by analyzing regional needs, and advanced supply bases and aviation centers will be established in these regions.

The first aviation center is planned to be established in 2025.