Forestry Policy and Development Plans

All of the sector policies have been articulated in National Development Plans in Turkey. Forestry policies in these plans have traditionally been protection of forest areas, sustainable provision of industrial and fuel wood to meet the domestic demand, provision of non-wood products, aforestation, rehabilitation and reclamation of degraded forest areas, range improvement, erosion control, establishing green-belts establishing and expanding national parks and protected areas, protecting wild-life, providing social services such as recreation, hunting, eco-tourism etc. and also contributing to the rural economy to decrease their pressure on forests.

However the past implementations were criticized due to not encompassing the changing conditions and varying demands of the community. Forestry, although recorded successful implementations, was claimed to focus on wood production. In fact this and most of other critics are not directed to the Development Plans but rather to their interpretations and distortions in implementations. It is true that management plans solely concentrated on wood production until recently. But it is not generally true that this production reached the extent to harm environmental values, on the contrary, the planning system has made great sacrifices in allowable cuts. Recently the management planning teams have been preparing functional management plans in which ecologic and social functions of forests and their harmonization with the economic functions are formulated.

Preparations for the last Development Plan (The VIII Five Year Development Plan) in 2000 were carried out with in this atmosphere. Not only the forestry sector but also all other sectors were clearly expressed their need to reformat the Development Plans under the light of International Commitments and changing political and socio-economic structure. The forestry sector, referring to IPF/IFF Process which was taking many proposals for action, including preparation of National Forestry Programs and to the decisions of MCPFE) decided 1- to reflect the new approaches of forestry to the Development Plan 2- to prepare a National Forestry Program 3- to update the existing Forestry master Plan.

The VIII Five Year Development Plan accepts the following national policies and strategies:

1. Strengthening conservation of natural and cultural values.
2. Reducing proportion of rural population and share of agriculture in the national economy.
3. Strengthening utilization of the natural resources potentials in the development of low-income rural populations. Increasing roles and contributions of NGOs and local administrations and strengthening rural communities institutions (e.g. cooperatives) for this purpose.
4. Decentralization of the authorities and responsibilities.
5. Reducing development inequalities between different regions.
6. Development of participation in the management of country resources.
7. Strengthening regulatory and inspectory roles and reducing implementation roles and responsibilities of the state institutions.
8. Reducing state budget allocations for implementation programs/activities of the state agencies.
9. Liberalization in economy, strengthening competitiveness at domestic/international markets.
10. Integration with the European Community.

The plan highlights ecosystem approach for forestry under five principles which are 1) sustainability 2) multi-use 3) participation 4) protection of biodiversity and 5) contribution to the development and stabilization of community. The elements of forestry policy, within this frame, listed as follows:

1. Protecting of forest areas and their integrity
2. Protecting of biodiversity and expanding the protected areas
3. Developing and updating forest management plans based on the SFM and varying public demand and the capacity of the forests
4. Valuing and caring cross sectoral effects and relations
5. Reforestation for environmental, economic and social purposes; rehabilitation of degraded forests; and consideration of benefits of local communities in these activities.
6. Increasing institutional capacities to combat against biotic and abiotic harmful agents
7. Training of forest workers and provision and development of ergonomic work conditions
8. Strengthening research in environmental and socio-economic issues
9. Strengthening cooperation between forestry and civil society organizations
10. Adapting to European Union, working toward establishing certification and green labeling
11. Developing Forest Law to more integrate environmental protection, ecosystem integrity, public benefit, wildlife issues

The Plan is in force and will be renewed in 2005.

As a response to IPF/IFF proposal for action which requests countries to analyze the underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation, Turkey started “Forestry Sector Review” in cooperation with the World Bank. The Final Report, delivered in June 2001, concentrated on poverty in forest areas, ownership disputes, participatory forest management planning, soil erosion, reclamation of degraded forest areas, the sector’s financial viability, and it provided a vision for forests in Turkey

The process to prepare the National Forestry Program started in 2001 with the assistance of FAO. The process has been highly participatory and this extended the time up to now. The Program which is at approval stage, contains two sections; the first section gives a comprehension overview of the present situation of our forestry, the second section gives the (i) national forestry principles, objectives and policies (ii) follow-up strategies to achieve the national forestry policies and to meet the objectives, (iii) short term Action Program (for 2004-2008 period).

Hence, with this paper, forestry in Turkey will have its three main policy documents namely, “Sector Review”, “National Forest Program” and “Forestry Outlook Study” before the IX National Development Plan. This is considered to be an important mile stone in terms of forestry policy.