21 st Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO) and 3 rd World Forest Week (WFW) 24-28 September 2012,

1. 21st Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO) and 3rd World Forest Week (WFW)24-28 September 2012, WFW-event on “Forests, trees and people together in a living landscape: A key to rural development”  Date: Tuesday 25 September Time: 14:30-16:00 Location:Red Room The landscape approach in the Republic of Turkey İsmail BELEN (President of Silva Mediterranea) Deputy Director General General Directorate of Combating Desertification and Erosion, Ministry of Forestry and Water Issues Email: ibelen@ormansu.gov.tr

2. Some Facts on Turkey and Forestry • Total Land area; 78 million hectares • Population; 75 million • Total forests 21,6 million ha. (According to FRA • 99% of the forests are state-owned • The Main Ministry for forestry and land rehabilitation is the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs. Major operational units of the Ministry are; • GD Forestry • GD Nature Protection and National Park • GD Combating Desertification and Erosion

3. Forests, trees and people together in a living landscape: A key to rural development • COFO/2012/6.2-I/1. Challenges related to food security, poverty, climate change, deforestation, ecosystem degradation,… • Non-wood forest products like pine honey (honeydew honey), mushrooms, stone pineseeds, carob, sweet chestnut, are essential for food security, as well as rural poverty. • 82 thousand tons of honey, 20 thousand tons of honeydew honey. • The whole honeydew honey comes from Pinusbrutiaforests . Main source of income for 10 thousands beekeeper s’ families. • Export to theWorld. But non-visible as Forest Product. • Theareadesignatedforhoneyproductionafter 2009,

7. II. The Potential to restore degraded lands • COFO/2012/6.2/II-4:Recent estimates suggest that between 800 million and 2 billion hectares of the world’s degraded forest lands offer opportunities for restoration… • National Afforestation and Erosion Control Mobilization Law, http://www.agaclandirmaseferberligi.gov.tr • Seedling production • Supporting FAO’s “drylands restoration initiative”. http://www.fao.org/forestry/aridzone/restoration/en/ • International workshop on Building forest landscapes resilient to global changes in drylands , Turkey from 28–31 May, 2012. • Declaration of CSO’s Organization to Combat Desertification, 17 June 2012, Ankara, http://www.cem.gov.tr/erozyon/Files/bildirge%20001.pdf • Silva Mediterranea Working Group on “Desertification and Restoration of Forest Ecosystems in Arid Zone” , February, 2012 http://www.fao.org/forestry/silvamed/en/ • Workshop in Senegal with FAO, UNCCD and Turkish International Cooperation Agency, December 2012. • Third Mediterranean Forestry Week, UNFF 10

8. Growing support for a landscape approach • COFO/2012/6.2/Paragraph 5: The International Model Forest Network. • Turkey is a member of Mediterranean Model Forest Network http://www.mmfn.info/sitio/ • MEDFORUM 2012: Changes in the Mediterranean Landscape”, 13-16 November 2012, Yalova Turkey • With the decree having force of law dated 4 July 2011,the Structure and Duties of the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs has been reregulated. • With this regulation; • Ecosystem integrity, participatory and multi-functional planning, • Urban forests,model forests, forest ecosystems, • To work in a close cooperation with non-governmental organizations, universities and private sector, were placed in law. 

9. A Landscape Approach at FAO • COFO/2012/6.2-8:Watershed Management. • Water basins, dams, agricultural activities, road construction and forestry activities should be planned together. • To increase agricultural production, protect biological diversity and to be able to cope better with forest fires the construction of small ponds should be encouraged. • 6.2-9:Fire Management: • Turkey, a large part of the forest fires of human origin. Shepherds could be one the most important part of the strategy against forest fires. More cooperation should be done with shepherds on biological diversity, fire fighting, and non-wood forest products. • Another important cause is the burning of plant residues. In other words, the combustion of stubble.For Electricity generation,biomassproductionfromforestsincludingstubble should be encouraged.

11. A Landscape Approach at FAO • 6.2-10-Agroforestry • Planned grazing in forestry should be part of the fire strategy. • Where is private sector? • Sustainable forest sector is essential for SFM and development. • Where is the rural culture? • When people migrate from places where they were born, they are losing the culture, savings gained from geography. • In rural areas, we are a part of nature and geography . But in the city we are a part of traffic, buildings and various technologies • The culture of rural area should be promoted as a part of landscapes