A different dimension in deforestation and forest degradation: Non-forestry uses of forests in Turkey

The Forest Law and Forest Regulations in Turkey have been amended frequently over the past 20 years to meet the increasing demands for non-forestry use of forest land. This led to a significant increase in the non-forestry use of forest areas and the share of these utilizations in all forest areas reached 3,5%. Since the General Directorate of Forest does not release detailed information about these allocations to the public, it is not known how this kind of uses affects or will affect deforestation in the country. For this reason, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports were used for the first time in this study to obtain detailed information on these uses, and 1.311 investment project were analysed. Thus, results that could not be obtained through the limited data released by the General Directorate of Forestry (GDoF) were reached. Among these results, the distribution of the allocation of forests for non-forestry uses to sub-sectors in each sector and the distribution of allocations by region and province are important for shaping the policies to be followed in the future. Energy and mining sectors are prominent in terms of forest area utilisation. According to the findings of the study, it was determined that 72,7% of the energy projects and 64,6% of the mining projects that received EIA positive decision between 2014 and 2022 have forest area allocations. When the areal distribution of these projects is analysed, it is seen that 33,54% of the total area of energy projects and 31,3% of mining projects are located in forest areas. In other words, if these projects are realised, one third of the project areas will be in forests and these forest areas will be destroyed. At this point, managers have two choices in front of them. Either they will abandon the current and future projects that will destroy nature and create new projects that protect nature, or they will destroy nature in the name of economic growth and further accelerate the deforestation in the country. There is an urgent need for the country's administration to realise that such an economic growth approach is not sustainable and to abandon this approach and to start taking measures against deforestation and the dangers arising from it as soon as possible. ●Forests are managed for the purpose of economic growth instead of nature conservation in Turkey.●Forestry legislation are being amended to increase the use of forests for non-forestry purposes.●Deforestation caused by non-forestry us