Turkey Blog #13. Deforestation and Turkey.

Turkey Blog #13. Deforestation and Turkey.

China's buying up most of the wood from tropical forests to make chopsticks and
newspapers is a modern example of how global commerce is influencing tropical
deforestation to this day. The need of raw materials drives the incentive to cut down
more and more rich bio-diverse forests. Besides raw materials, certain goods like palm
oil and beef need large amounts of land to meet demand. Forests are being bought up
and cleared so that farmers and ranchers can start making money off crops and
livestock. The demand for these goods is so great because it comes from global
sources with large populations.
The deforestation of Turkey is not only brought out because of the potential land
profit, but also because the large population of Istanbul needs to spread outward.
Populations in large cities are another contributing factor to tropical deforestation, as the
population grows the city must expand outward with suburbs. Sometimes smaller cities
can develop out of larger ones, as is the case in Turkey with the city of Istanbul. The
government of Turkey has announced that they will start large scale projects, such as
bridges and sub cities for the urban area around Istanbul. The Black Sea Forest will
have 1.6 million trees cut down for the new bridge and road.

(Figure 2­ Deforestation of the Black Sea Forest)

Deforestation is a concern for the Turkish people and environment, one biologist
named Dr. Aykut Kence had this today about this issue. “There is an attempt to change
the constitution of Turkey to allow for the sale of lands that were once classified as
forests… The government of Turkey expects to receive billions of dollars of income by
selling off these once protected lands… In the long run, the deforestation of Turkey will
have important consequences for the country and the environment… Deforestation
causes a chain reaction which reduces the biodiversity of Turkey’s land.”Turkey has been trying to implement environmental policies since the 1950’s. In
1997 the “rules of the convention of biological diversity” have been a driving force for
the country. But in recent years things have started to turn around. While Turkey does
not have any tropical forests, its landscape is 13.22% forest at about 10,175,000
Hectares.

Figure 1. In green are areas of Forest in Turkey.

Text sources

Butler, Rhett. "Turkey." Forest Data: Deforestation Rates and Related Forestry Figures.
Mongabay.com, 2006. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
<http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/archive/Turkey.htm>.

Nigros, J. E. "Environment and Ecology." Turkey: "May Our Forests Never Thin Out"
Enviorment­Ecology.com, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
<http://environment­ecology.com/biodiversity/291­turkey­may­our­forests­never­thin­out­.html
>.

httGazetecllik, Feza. "Mega Construction Projects Drive Deforestation in Town."
TodaysZaman. Todayszaman, 2007. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.todayszaman.com/national_mega­construction­projects­drive­deforestation­in­to
wn_320652.html>.


Image Sources

"Turkey, Forestry and Antalya." EFIMED. European Forest Institute, 2010. Web. 03 Dec.
2014.
<http://www.efimed.efi.int/portal/events/annual_meeting/efimed_am_2010_­_antalya/turkish_f
orestry_and_antalya/>.

"More Turkish Forests Opened for Construction." Good Morning Turkey. Good Morning
Turkey, 18 Apr. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.
<http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goodmorningturkey.com%2Fturkish­forests­opened­construction%2F
>.