Forest in Turkey

Forest now covers less than a third of Turkey, but ten thousand years ago the land was mostly wooded. The country is reforesting, which is important for the wildlife of Turkey.

Definition
The legal definition of forest has minimum area 3 hectares. However the national greenhouse gas inventory is different as it is in line with the FAO: it has minimum 1 ha and 5m tree height and subcategories of coniferous, deciduous, mixed, and ‘other forested land’ which has crown closure between 1 and 10 percent. Productive forest is defined as having a crown closure of over 10%. Trees grown for crops for agriculture in Turkey (such as its hazelnuts) are not classified as forest.

History
Ten thousand years ago the land was mostly forested, but forest cover before the formation of the Republic in 1923 is not well known. Prehistory can be studied from tree rings and palynology, ancient pollen and charcoal. From 10000 BC onwards oak increased in Central Anatolia, but after 4000 BC they were almost all cut down, such as for fuel and construction in Çatalhöyük. Human impact is thought to be negligible until the Bronze Age around 3500 BC, which included wood transport from remote areas. Much old growth forest was cut down in the last two thousand years, especially in the last five hundred, and sometimes armies burnt it to expose their enemies and sometimes ships were built and some was cleared for agriculture in Turkey. As well as oak there was juniper and Pinus nigra. The Ottoman navy used timber from the coasts of the Black, Marmara and Aegean Seas. But armies used more wood than navies.

From sources such as Theophrastus Ancient Mediterranean civilisations used wood as a fuel in houses, bakeries, bathhouses and for metalwork. Cedar was used for temples such as at Ephesus and Artemis. Chestnut and fir was used for charcoal.

The first big afforestation project was in 1939.

Old-growth forest
There is old-growth forest (sometimes called ancient woodland) and over 500 taxa of trees and shrubs in the country. It is defined differently to ancient woodland in the UK as “A primary or natural/near natural forest area containing tree species, whose existence can be traced back from hundreds of years to neolithic ages.” Degraded ancient woodlands are sometimes very scattered. Both local support and national policy are needed to rehabilitate them.

Climate and forests
Forest covers 23 million of Turkey's 78 million hectares (almost 30%), but 3 million hectares have less than 10% crown cover. Almost all forest is state owned and managed by the General Directorate of Forestry of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The constitution prohibits forests being transferred from state ownership; however, private afforestation permits allow the private sector to reforest state land. Less than four thousand hectares a year are reforested by the private sector. 5% of forest is coppice and the rest high forest. There are also six million hectares of maquis, mostly in the south and west. High rainfall in the eastern Black Sea Region sustains temperate rainforest. Drought in Turkey is a threat both directly and by encouraging bark beetles.

The Turkish Industry and Business Association predicts a 90% reduction in habitat suitable for Black pine. Decrease in precipitatİon is especially snow. They say that the mega forest fires that took place in 2021 and the shrinkage and even drying of wetlands in Central Anatolia are the most obvious examples of aridification. And that the severity of drought and the size of the area it penetrates will increase with the effects of climate change; and that it is predicted that this will negatively affect forest. And that in a climate that becomes more arid, efforts to increase sink areas, such as afforestation and carbon sequestration, will become less efficient. They suggest:

relevant strategies and action plans should include targets to reduce and adapt to the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems, as well as targets that clearly outline the role of forests in terms of carbon storage.

A holistic afforestation action plan should be developed, taking into account land degradation, and in this action plan, potential areas suitable for afforestation through afforestation in Turkey should be identified, taking into account the current land use situation, socio-economic conditions and ecological balances, and the work to be carried out in these areas should be planned.

Legal regulations that directly lead to a decrease in forest area should be abolished, the issue of allocation of forest areas to non-forestry uses should be reviewed, and the issues of climate change and carbon storage of forests should be included in national forestry legislation, especially the Forest Law and the National Parks Law.

Although carbon pricing and emission reduction are essential in the context of combating the climate crisis and the net zero emission target, projects based on "biotic carbon sequestration" are also increasingly of critical importance. In this context, systems and mechanisms that will increase the contribution of private sector organizations and encourage investments for carbon sequestration should be established. For example, improving existing afforestation incentive practices, so that the carbon captured by LULUCF practices can be used for offsetting purposes. Studies such as establishing an integrated system with ETS or establishing a National Afforestation Certification System can be carried out. These certification and trading systems and mechanisms for the LULUCF sector must observe environmental honesty, transparency and contribution criteria; Establishment in compliance with global standards and international validity; It is important to make the necessary arrangements to integrate it into international certification systems.

They say that not much land is suitable for afforestation.

Forest products industry
In 2022 6 million stere of firewood and 34 million m3 brushwood (dikili damga means timber mark?) were cut. wood production provides the main income from forests. 25 million cubic metres of wood was harvested in 2022, including 9 million m3 of timber, 9 million m3 of fibre-chip wood, 5 of paper wood and 1 of industry wood. 500 million lira ( USD) support was provided to ten thousand families in 2022. Coppices have become high forests, and grassland in and around forest has become forest.

Distribution of forests


8 ecoregions are officially defined (a bit less than the WWF list of ecoregions in Turkey) all of which can contain woodland: Euxine-Colchic deciduous forest; North Anatolian deciduous, coniferous and mixed forest;  Mediterranean coastal zone deciduous and coniferous forest;  Mediterranean Mountain zone;  Aegean Inland deciduous and coniferous forest;  Central Anatolian steppe; East Anatolian deciduous forest zone; and  East Anatolian steppe. Almost all forest is in a temperate climate.

A quarter of the Black Sea Region is forested, and other regions with over 10% forest are Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean and East Anatolian. Wildfires in Turkey are increasing in some regions due to climate change in Turkey. Because of droughts in Turkey in 2008, 2020 and 2021 more forest burned in those years.

Large area inventories can be done by satellite to hectare scale and small areas by lidar. The EVANIS database uses the national legal definition of forest and is very accurate for stands but not as good for greenhouse gas due to land use, land-use change, and forestry.

Benefits of forests


Most forests are natural and semi-natural, on mountains and have a lot of biodiversity, hosting most species of the flora of Turkey and fauna of Turkey, including Anatolian leopards. Deciduous forests are along the Black Sea region. Species in various ecoregions in Turkey, namely Irano-Turanion, Mediterranean and Euro-Siberian, belong to about 800 woody taxa. The predominant species are Turkish pine (Pinus brutia), Black pine (Pinus nigra), European red pine (Pinus silvestris), Fir ( Abies spp.), Caucasian Spruce (Picea orientalis), Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani 2%) Juniper (Juniperus spp. 3%), Stone pine (Pinus pinea), Mediterranean cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis 9%), Oak (Quercus spp. 24%), Alder (Alnus spp.), Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa), Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus).

8 million hectares of forests are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The value of both exports and imports of wood products increased from 2020 to 2022 but the value of exports exports is more than twice imports.

Forests are the country's main carbon sink, in western Turkey mostly as living biomass rather than soil organic carbon. Forests are estimated to have absorbed 34 million tonnes of the 600 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by Turkey in 2021, less than previous years because of both forest fires and a lot of wood being harvested. the government did not have enough expertise to easily issue reforestation carbon certificates for the Clean Development Mechanism.

The World Bank says, "Increasing forest cover and improving forest health can help prevent soil erosion and landslides and reduce the impacts of floods." In the mid-2020s the bank is supporting a project to make the forests more resilient against climate change in Turkey.

Some forests, such as Belgrad Forest in Istanbul, are important for recreation and tourism in Turkey. There is an ecotourism plan to 2025. There are forest schools and preschooling.

Threats


Some non-native insects are pests. Big fires, such as in 2021, affect the economy, for example tourism. The 2021 mega fires are estimated to have emitted 10 million tonnes of CO2 from 135 million hectares burnt. Satellites such as Landsat and Sentinel can be used to study fire damage. As of 2018 Istanbul northern forest is suffering from urban growth.

Regeneration and reforestation
Regeneration of ancient woodland (also called old-growth forest) may be possible, if local needs are properly considered. As some reforestation attempts have suffered due to lack of water desalination has been suggested.

As of 2022 how much of the Central Anatolian steppe was originally forested was not certain: but in some lower parts it is thought that it has always been steppe and too dry for trees due to rainshadows of the mountains. For steppe it has been suggested that overgrazing should be stopped but that full recovery to woodland should be prevented so as to have both steppe and woodland wildlife.

Anatolian black pine is commonly used for reforestation.

Some forest is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. It takes twenty years to convert to forest.