DOI: 10.1007/s00267-003-0107-1

Illegal Logging Activities in Turkey YUSUF GUNES* OSMAN DEVRIM ELVAN Forestry Faculty Department of Forestry Law Istanbul University 80895, Bahcekoy Istanbul, Turkey

ABSTRACT / Global forest ecosystems are under the threat of illegal logging. In this article, illegal logging activities and the principal causes of such violations are discussed in view

There are several causes of deforestation, varying from mismanagement to illegal logging, of which the latter is fast becoming a serious threat to forest ecosystems at local, national, regional, and global levels. Moreover, illegal logging is a worldwide problem, although it occurs mostly in Second and Third World countries (Hermosilla 2002). Recent studies conducted in Cameroon found that high-level authorities have overlooked illegal logging activities (Greenpeace Russia 2000). In Russia, in recent times, illegal logging has become a normal forestry activity. At least 20% of all timber cut is being logged illegally (Greenpeace Russia 2000). According to some researchers studying tropical forests in Brazil, about 80% of timber in the Amazon is logged illegally (Laurance and others 2001). In Indonesia in the second half of the 1990s, legally harvested timber volumes were 25–28 million m3, whereas illegally logged volumes were somewhere in between 17 and 30 million m3 (Palmer 2000). Illegal logging is not a simple case of criminality but a complex economic and political system involving multiple stakeholders (Wahjudi and Purnama 2001). Furthermore, illegal logging is not a stationary condition that can be effectively dealt with through coercive or repressive measures alone. Rather, it should be viewed as a dynamic and changing system deeply engrained in the KEY WORDS: Illegal logging; Forest; Destruction; Turkey; Protection; Crime Published online July 7, 2005. *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; email: [email protected]

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of the available data and case studies from the Turkish forestry sector. A brief discussion of the importance of illegal logging within a global context, along with a description of Turkish forestry and deforestation activities, is provided. Underlying causes of illegal logging are discussed, and some solutions are recommended. It is concluded that illegal logging is a serious worldwide problem that exploits all forests. Turkish forests have suffered their share of such destructive illegal practices, although the range of impact varies from one period to another, depending upon the circumstances. The underlying causes of illegal logging activities derive from the economic, political, and cultural structures of Turkish society.

realities of rural life in countries such as Indonesia (Cassan and Obidzinski 2002). Nigeria, the first country in Africa to pioneer decentralized forest management through empowering village authorities to manage more sustainable forests inside village boundaries, has faced clear cutting of the countryÕs last tropical productive forest, which is host to wonderful flora and fauna, plays a unique role in protecting soils and watersheds, and provides shelter and food for over 1.5 million poor Nigerians (Johnson 1995). Illegal logging also rips up Tanzanian forests; illegal exploitation of forests there has reached a crisis point. Mafia-like logging cartels are stealing timber and selling it to consumers, largely in the developed world. The ecological factory of the planet, and the resulting impoverished local peoples, are ultimately paying the price. Unless illegal and ecologically unsustainable harvesting and consumption of remaining old-growth forest ecosystems is halted, we and our descendants will all pay the price (Odhiambo 1999). Since the beginning of the 1990s, illegal logging has been seen in Cambodia and characterized as the result of muddy waters (Le Billon 2002). Besides the above cases, the stealing of trees has been persistent in the Unites StatesÕ forests since the beginning of the century (Morgenroth 1991, Marijnissen 2002, Simon 2000). Since 1990 environmental criminal prosecutions have been growing at an exponential rate in some parts of the country (Environmental Action 1993). Similarly, Canada has been experiencing crime against forests for many years. On Vancouver Island, temperate rainforests have been clear-cut at a rate of 25% above sustainable level (Pendleton 1997). Illegal logging takes places when timber is harvested and traded (bought, sold, transported) in violation of national laws (Brack

ª 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

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and Hayman 2001). According to a World Bank report prepared by Callister (1999), the types of corrupt and illegal activities can be summarized as follows. 1. Illegal logging (logging of timber species protected by national law, logging outside concession boundaries, obtaining concession illegally, extracting more timber than authorized, logging without authorization, logging in prohibited areas, logging in protected areas); 2. Timber smuggling (exporting or importing timber species banned under national or international law such as CITES, movement of illegally logged timber from forest to market, exporting volumes of forest product in excess of the documented export quantity); 3. Illegal timber processing (processing timber without documentation verifying its origin, operating without a processing license, failing to meet license provisions, including pollution control standards). Brack and Hayman (2001) discuss the scope and scale of illegal logging. To them illegal logging covers the harvesting procedure itself, illegal access to forests, extraction without permission or from a protected area, cutting of protected species, extraction of timber in excess of permitted limit, illegal transport of the tree species, illegal export, misdeclaration to customs, and avoidance of paying taxes and other monies. In brief, extracting any plant-based materials from forests in violation of the law, even in violation of the sustainable development and technical forestry principles but not violating current law (e.g., giving harvesting concession to a person in excess to annual allowable amount to cut limit), is considered illegal. The portrayals of such violations vary from one country to another, meaning that not all illegal logging activities have been monitored in every country. In contrast, some kinds of violations are frequently observed in one country, whereas other kinds of illegal practices are commonly seen in another.

Forestry in Turkey Illegal logging activities have been damaging all global forests. Turkey is not excluded from such violations, meaning that illegal logging activities have been investigated for many years in TurkeyÕs forests. In this paper, in brief, we discuss the reasons for illegal logging activities in Turkey. Forest management involves the legal, economical, administrative, social, and technical measures related to utilization and conservation of forests (FAO 1997).

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Criminal actions in the forestry sector must be considered as a forest management issue. Lack of authority, inefficient law enforcement, and outdated provisions of the current laws are key causes of illicit removal of trees and encroachment. In Turkey, illegal logging activities, as summarized briefly, include removal of plant-based materials from forests, smuggling of timber or other forest products, illegal tree felling, extended clear cutting, harvesting without a license, picking up harvest residues beyond personnel needs, transporting wood among the cities without a legal permit, forestland encroachment, and so on. Forest encroachment, defined as the illegal occupation of forestlands, is the second most important cause of illegal forest clearance. The common point in all the activities is that people have destroyed forest vegetation illegally. Among them illegal tree cutting, grazing within the forestlands, converting forestlands to, in particular, residential development and clearing forest vegetation for agriculture are the most prominent and most destructive illegal activities that have taken place in Turkey. In contrast, there is no visible illegal timber trade. All those activities violate the Forest Code of 1956 (Number 6831). This Code has several major articles to regulate how to benefit from forest resources and how to protect them in terms of sustainable yield and habitat and species protection. Article 14 includes provisions regarding protection measures and criminal actions. According to the article, cutting and lifting the living or dead trees, natural or artificial plants or seedlings, carrying bent or fallen trees or producing charcoal from them, and collecting and transporting flowers, all kinds of forest undercover, medical plants, or forest tree seeds are prohibited. Article 17 regulates leasing and other permits for building purposes and prohibits forestland encroachment. According to the article, constructing any kind of building, animal house, clearing vegetation for barnyard, farming within forests, and settling within forests are prohibited, except for constructing buildings for the purpose of forest protection, management, and harvesting. Article 108 prohibits knowingly carrying wood that has been illegally transported, cut, or collected, the penalty being imprisonment and fine. The punishment for illegally felling trees, listed in Article 91, is imprisonment and a fine based on per cubic meter of wood. Moreover, if the violations are committed against seedlings, the aforementioned punishments are multiplied by five. In addition, Article

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93 provides a penalty of imprisonment for forest encroachment. On the other hand, from the peopleÕs point of view, there is a feeling that cutting trees for the purpose of meeting vital necessities should not be illegal. However, if the amount exceeds vital needs, they will support its classification as illegal.

Methodology and Materials In devising the methodology for research addressing the continued illegal destruction of TurkeyÕs forests, the following key points have been considered. First, five separate divisions are recognized within the research area: the Marmara region, the Black Sea region, the Aegean region, the Mediterranean region, and the rest of the country, the last of which contains only a small proportion of the forests and includes the Central Anatolian, East and South Eastern Anatolian regions. Because much of the illegal logging is for heating and cooking purposes, as well as for animal feed purposes, it is important to consider the forest villagers. Quantitative analysis of official data is supplemented by field observations and interviews. The qualitative method is of particular value when addressing issues that essentially cannot be assessed with a quantitative approach (Atkinson and Hammersley 1994). The unreliability of official data is emphasized by the fact that, in official reports, total forest areas vary from 20.1 million ha to 20.7 million ha and the total land areas of the country also differ between data sets, varying between 77 million and 78 million ha; detailed discussion of the reasons for such differences is beyond the scope of this paper, however. Moreover, the official data do not fit well with facts; for example, calculating the quantity of illegally cut wood by multiplying per capita firewood consumption and the population living in forests leads us to totally different amounts of consumption. The unreliability of official data is apparent when predicting populations of forest villages and the number of households as well. There is a reasonable explanation for such differences. In the case of the number of forest villages, the statistics vary from 7 million to 10.5 million, the differences resulting from severe migration, both seasonal and permanent, from those villages to metropolitan areas at a rate of 35% ¨ Y 1998). In addition, forest villagers move to (ORKO summer meadows to pass the hot summers and return to their villages during autumn. Thus, the variation in village population is dependent on when the data are collected and on migration patterns. Calculating the number of families is a further difficulty. In rural

Turkey, the definition of household is ambiguous. Sometimes more than one family lives in a single house, forming a kind of patriarchic family pattern. If the data are collected on a per house basis, the number of families becomes less than if the data were collected per family, regardless of being patriarchic. Data sets do not have any explanation of whether they counted each family as a household or each house, irrespective of the number of families living in it. Thus, the variation in the number of households can be large. This study uses those data sets gathered by the General Directorate of Forestry (Konukc¸ u 2001). A second official data set was collected by the Official Statistics Department (State Statistics Institute 2001). Another data set analyzed was collected by Haan and his colleagues within the scope of research conducted in 1998 throughout the Turkish forestlands, which addressed grazing resources and livestock management (Haan 1998). HaanÕs study is particularly important in allowing crosschecking of some data about forest villages and villagers, although it is restricted to particular fields and does not cover all illegal forestry activities. In addition, some local forest districts were selected in each major region for the collection of data by interviews and telephone surveys. In the selected local forest districts, we interviewed some prominent foresters, village mayors (Muhtar), and the managers of forest village development cooperatives. These unofficial data are also of great importance for crosschecking. Beyond that, some facts and field observations have been investigated to determine the quantities of timber illegally cut. Also, data on illegal tree felling and animal feeding were collected, particularly in the vicinity of villages. In addition, data on forest encroachment in both rural and metropolitan areas were collected and analyzed. From the data analyzed, it is quite reasonable to assert that there is enough information to suggest that the volumes of timber harvested illegally are substantial and cause for serious concern.

Results According to available official statistics, since 1937 the quantity of illegal wood cut is 95,000 m3/year of industrial wood and 360,000 m3/year of firewood, totalling 455,000 m3/year. Within this, illegal tree felling is the most important in quantity, more than 64,000 m3/year of industrial wood and 177,000 m3/ year of firewood. On the other hand, some researchers place illegally cut wood at more than 7 million m3/ year, which is one quarter of the total official annual timber harvest.

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Besides that, according to expert foresters whom we interviewed, illegally cut firewood is about 5–7 million m3 and industrial wood about 150,000 m3. The fact that each family living in the forest consumes 7 m3 of fuel wood for cooking and heating purposes means that, with about 1 million families living within forests (excluding families living next to the forests), the total is about 7 million m3. ¨ Y (Forest VilAccording to data collected by ORKO lages Development Agencies), almost 8.3 million people live in 18,000 villages in and in the neighborhood ¨ Y 1997). About 6.5 million of them of forests (ORKO live in the Marmara (0.92 million), Black Sea (2.785 million), Aegean Sea (1.175 million), and Mediterranean (1.465 million) regions, covering 78% of all forest-village population in Turkey. This data set does not include the rest of the country. The average population of forest villages is 770, with an average household size of 4.8. The number of households in the villages is 535,577 in the Black Sea region, 293,750 in the Aegean region, 305,208 in the Mediterranean Sea region, 230,000 in the Marmara region, and 384,809 in the rest of the country. Thus, in total there are about 1,749,344 households. Thus, the number of households varies, according to different sources, from 1 million to slightly above 1.9 million (1,914,436) (OGM 2001). The State gives each forest village household a firewood entitlement, which is 50 sters (25 tons) in the Black Sea region, and 25 sters (12.5 tons) in the Aegean, Marmara, and Mediterranean regions. Annual illegal cutting per household for heating and cooking purposes is estimated to be 20% in excess of the State allocation, which would be 5 tons in the Black Sea region and 2.5 tons in the other three regions. To calculate the total amount of illegal cutting in all four regions, we can simply multiply the number of households by the estimated amount of illegal cutting, as follows: 2.7 million tons in the Black Sea region, 0.7 million tons in the Aegean region, 0.75 million tons in the Mediterranean region, 0.58 million tons in the Marmara region, and 0.96 million tons in the rest of the country, making 5.7 million tons of illegal cutting in all, which is almost equal to 11.5 million m3, throughout the country. Other research conducted in the Black Sea region predicts that, in extreme weather conditions, three quarters of total fuel wood is cut illegally (Tu¨ rker 1992). However, we cannot generalize this study to the other regions. Illegal cutting also takes place for feeding animals, particularly making use of branches, young seedlings, and forest undergrowth. According to Haan, each household collects one fifth of its total livestock feed requirements through forest grazing, amounting to an-

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nual household savings totaling 46.3 million dollars, and because 1 ton of animal feed is $150 on average, this amount offsets 0.3 million tons of animal feed annually. According to research conducted by Mol, more than 60% of animal feed from the forests are tree branches, seedlings and fresh leaves, etc. Approximately 0.2 million tons (0.4 million m3) of woody materials are cut illegally for grazing purposes (Mol 1987). In Turkey, urban encroachment in forestlands takes place particularly in metropolitan areas, where, despite perceptions to the contrary, HaanÕs research revealed that the greatest threat to forests comes from urbanization and urban settlements rather than from forest villagers and other rural people. HaanÕs findings also identified the threat from tourism; in coastal areas, forests are cleared to build expensive tourist resorts, hotels, and even golf courses. Around major metropolitan areas such as Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, and Antalya, forests are occupied by wealthy people, who build expensive villas and even factories, due to closeness to market and proximity to labor, as well as saving some other investment costs such as raw materials, energy, etc. Our field observations verify these findings. According to official statistics for encroachment, 0.13 million m3/year industrial wood and 0.12 million m3/year firewood have been illegally cut (OGM 2001). However, unofficial statistics suggest that up to the present time almost half a million hectares of forestlands have been cut down, the great majority within the vicinity of metropolitan areas. Furthermore, in rural areas, and to a minor extent in forest villages, people have cleared forests to make farmland, particularly in the Black Sea, Marmara, and Aegean regions. Those lands have been converted to hazelnut farms in the Black Sea region and olive farms in the Aegean and Marmara regions. Thus, if those areas are added to the areas cleared for the purpose of urbanization mentioned above, total encroachment becomes larger than 1.5 million ha (The Chamber of Forest Engineers 1993). To calculate the quantity of wood illegally cut within those areas, we follow such an approach. Because almost all forests within those areas are unproductive, the growing stocks are 10 m3/ha and 15 million m3 wood has been cut down illegally since 1955, averaging 300,000 m3/year. Thus, a point is reached where the data collected by the various researchers and in our interviews seem reasonable and consistent with the reality faced by the villagers. We can say that the data are satisfactory for analysis of the underlying causes of illegal logging activities in Turkey, and the main reasons for those activities can be summarized as economic, weak authority, personnel shortages, subsidizing of agricul-

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tural crops, forestland encroachment, and legislative deficiencies. These will be discussed below.

Discussion Economic Factors About half of the villages in Turkey have been settled in or next to forests. Within these small villages, on average, about 8.5 million people live. These villagers are considered the poorest part of the population. In many regions, forest villagers are too poor to buy even the smallest amount of firewood for heating and cooking. In brief, this part of the population depends completely on forest resources to meet their vital needs. According to official statistics, as mentioned above, 7 million m3 of timber is cut illegally. Because forest villagers are too poor to pay for fuel wood, they cut down the amount of wood they need illegally. When considering unofficial data, we can say that illegal logging exceeds 11 million m3, which is above the official annual allowable cut. Meanwhile, at least 60% of such people have been unemployed for a substantial part of their lives and the rest just have seasonal jobs and have considered the forests as their only source of income, from which they obtain their entire annual earnings. Because there is a supply and demand imbalance in domestic consumption, the timber price has increased and the deficit in timber has, in all probability, been supplied from cheap but illegal sources. As a result there was a peak in illegal cutting before 1990, although it is difficult to give accurate figure for the annual volume of unsanctioned cuttings of this type. However, according to the expert foresters we interviewed, 0.15 million m3 of wood were cut illegally and shipped to the lumber mills each year up to 1990. Also, it is clear that this kind of unsanctioned cutting targets valuable and mature trees. Since 1990, such unsanctioned cutting has declined, because the forest industry has been given access to imported trees from, in particular, Russia and other Eastern European countries. A statistical test given in Table 1 verifies that there is a significant difference between amounts of imported wood before 1990 (IMPBEF90) and after 1990 (IMPORT). Thus, we can say that the forest industry used to be a significant contributor to illegal logging in Turkey before the year 1990. Lack of Personnel, Infrastructure, and Equipment to Control Illegal Logging Efforts to reduce illegal logging activities in forestlands are obstructed by lack of personnel, infrastruc-

ture, and equipment. As mentioned above, Turkey has 20.7 million ha of forests and almost all are administered and managed by the State, in the form of the General Directorate of Forestry. The agency has only 5887 rangers, and each ranger is responsible for about 3600 ha of forestlands to be monitored and protected from illegal logging activities. Normally, 11,150 forest rangers are needed for efficient protection. By testing whether such a difference is statistically important or not, it is seen in Table 2 that there is a significant difference between the number of actual and optimal forest rangers. This implies that to achieve sufficient protection, an optimal number of forest rangers must be reached. Also, particularly in winter and bad weather conditions, substantial forestlands become inaccessible because of lack of good roads and vehicles. It is said, however, that more forest roads lead to more forest destruction, and it is true that making forests inaccessible protects them from timber smuggling to a large extent. In forests near urban areas, where wood is valuable for the manufacturing of small but expensive gifts for tourists, smugglers often carry timber away manually. Wood such as Box, much valued in the Black Sea region for making spoons, other kitchen utilities, and gifts, are particularly susceptible to such smuggling. Because most of the smugglers live in the forest villages, they have easier access to forests than do the rangers. In bad weather, they can store the illegally cut materials in their homes and carry them to the market when the weather improves. In bad weather they are safe from the rangers, because the forest roads will not be accessible to vehicles at such times. Rangers may try to access the forests by walking instead, but this makes the protection inefficient and it becomes less practicable to monitor the smugglers and to arrest criminals. Therefore, logistical problems prevent effective protection and law enforcement. Forestland Encroachment Another reason trees are felled illegally is forestland encroachment. Turkey could not have developed its industries and made progress in rural development without encroachment into forests, but industrial development and economic investments have not been evenly distributed throughout the country. In Turkey, as in many countries, the principal development of industrial plants and factories has taken place around metropolitan areas such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, and Bursa. This pattern has led to domestic migration toward those locations, resulting in growing settlement around these cities from the 1970s right up to the present day. In general, Turkey has not been

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Table 1. The statistical correlation between timber import and illegal timber cut One-sample test Test Value = 0

D Sig. (two-tailed) Mean

Difference

T Import IMPBEF90

4706 2330

2000 1035

657.60 230.67

95% confidence interval of the difference Lower

Upper

369.21 18.30

945.99 443.03

**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

Table 2. The statistical correlation between the number of actual and optimal forest rangers One-sample test Test Value = 0

D Sig. (two-tailed) Mean

Difference

T Actual Optimal

13,100 13,530

26,000 26,000

249.89 413.07

95% confidence interval of the difference Lower

Upper

210.68 350.3

289.10 475.83

**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

able to address the settlement issue or to develop a radical settlement policy that would supply enough apartments for its citizens. The State has not even been able to allocate sufficient housing lots to people for them to construct their own houses. Moreover, because Turkey has insufficient infrastructure such as roads, electricity, and housing lots, migrants have tended to settle wherever they found space available, including in the forests just next to the above-mentioned metropolitan areas. There has been a tendency for such illegal settling to be followed by the State (municipalities and other local government bodies) providing much of the previously mentioned missing infrastructure. Thus, there has been a pattern of migrants attempting to solve their settlement problems by their own means, particularly by occupying State forestland in violation of the law, but then the State legalizes this settlement and completes the necessary infrastructure. The result has been the substantial occupation and settlement of forestlands, despite their supposed legal protection. Furthermore, this pattern has been reinforced, particularly in the 1970s, by increasing demand from industry for more land for building new factories and other facilities. Since the 1980s such encroachment has continued, but the settlers are now the rich rather than the poor. Another pattern is that, since the 1980s, more forestlands close to metropolitan areas have been occupied than forestlands far from such areas. Data collected from occupied forestlands of both metro-

politan areas and rural areas verify that more occupation, and thus more illegal cutting, have been occurring in metropolitan areas than in rural areas, as is verified by the statistics given Table 3. An important factor has been the recent demand, particularly in metropolitan areas, for rustic houses and luxury villas, hotels, camp sites, and golf courses—demands that the State, once again, could not meet. The State completely forbids such developments on public lands, but the people have created their own solutions by occupying public lands and particularly forestlands. The State has been unable to develop a policy to respond to this issue. The result is that almost half a million hectares of forestlands near metropolitan areas have now been occupied. By adding encroachment areas in rural Turkey, total occupied forestlands now reach 1.5 million ha. These illegal activities have broken the Forest Code of 1956, No. 6831, Articles 14 and 17 as summarized above. Legislative Deficiencies in Forest Code of 1956, No. 6831 The Turkish Forest Code of 1956 (No. 6831) has some provisions, such as Article 2, that encourage the public, particularly wealthy people in metropolitan areas and forest villagers in rural areas, to occupy and convert forestlands to other use, particularly agricultural use and settlement. According to Article 2, the following kinds of forestlands may be excluded from the boundaries of forests:

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Table 3. The statistical correlation between urban and rural areas in terms of encroachment One-sample test Test Value = 0

D Sig. (two-tailed) Mean

Difference

T Urban Rural

6217 4555

25,000 41,000

15091.46 1930.83

95% confidence interval of the difference Lower

Upper

10092.40 1074.85

20090.52 2786.82

**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

A) Areas in which preservation as forests would be of no scientific value and which could be more beneficially converted into agricultural land for the purpose of complete or partial settlement of the populations of villages within the forests; and areas covered with heath and scrub which have been determined to be useful for conservation into agricultural land and are at present included under the forestry regime. B) The following from among areas which prior to 31.12.1981 had completely lost their scientific character as forests: lands that have been determined to be useful as agricultural land of various kinds, such as fields, vineyards, gardens, fruit orchards, olive groves, hazelnut orchards, pistachio (pignolia and pistachio) orchards, or useful for stock-breeding, such as pastures and summer and winter grazing lands, as well as community settlements with town or village buildings. If such areas, which are excluded from forests, belong to the State, they shall be excluded from forests in the name of the Treasury; if they belong to public legal entities, they shall be excluded in the name of such legal entities; and if they are private forests, they shall be excluded in the name of their owners. After the transaction has been completed, the required corrections and modifications shall be entered in final form on the deed. Apart from such areas, no limitations of any kind may be placed on the boundaries of forests. As long as the conditions described continue to exist, the provisions of this article shall not apply in the forested areas set aside as forest reserves or national parks, in forested areas to which right of access has been established, or in areas subsumed under the forestry regime by Article 3, nor shall they be implemented in any form whatsoever in areas in which forest fires occurred. Until the sale has been completed, no recompense shall be collected from users of areas, buildings, or other facilities in areas which have been excluded from the boundaries of forests by paragraph B of this article

and which are to be sold in return for a price to be allotted according to their actual status under Articles 11 and 12 of Law no. 2924. Paragraph A is aimed at forest villagers. The main purpose of the paragraph is to encourage the development of forest villages, but in practice only small amounts of forestlands have been taken out of the forest boundary and allocated or conveyed to forest villagers. Paragraph B is the most damaging one to forests. According to this paragraph, if a part of the forestland loses its vegetation and forest cover due to illegal logging, illegal encroachment, and so on, that land may be taken out of the forest boundary by the Forest Land Survey Commission working under the General Directorate of Forestry and conveyed to the Treasury Department. Because these areas are actually occupied by the people, the Treasury Department does not sue them in the Court. Because of the lack of authority or overly tolerant authority, the occupiers have been using those areas by constructing buildings, luxury villas, hotels and so on, or by converting to agricultural uses, if the lands are far from metropolitan areas. This provision is aimed at making previous unlawful forestland occupation and clearance legal, in the hope that this would lead to the cessation of illegal logging activities. In practice, however, the provision has failed to stop such destructive practices. According to official statistics, approximately half a million hectares of forestlands have now been cleared and have been converted to settlements and farmlands. If the forest is owned by a private entity, the aforementioned lands have been recorded on behalf of the owners and the owners may convert those lands to other uses, but in reality only a couple of lots on private forests have been taken out of forests. The penalties described in the Turkish Forest Code of 1956 (No. 6831) are not severe and have proved to be little disincentive for the people committing forest crimes, particularly tree felling and encroachment. According to Article 91 of the Forest Code, the penalties for illegal tree felling are imprisonment from 2 to

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12 months and fines of up to 20,000 Turkish liras per m3 of wood. The penalties for encroachment are imprisonment from 1 to 3 years. In most cases, only small fines have been recovered from guilty parties. Thus, committing forest crimes, particularly illegal tree felling activities, has continued. Moreover, among the occupiers, it is possible to observe that some high-level bureaucrats, foresters, and businessmen have occupied a substantial amount of forestlands and have succeeded in having those areas taken out of forest boundaries. There is a kind of iron triangle among the forest service, bureaucrats, and vested interests, with the bureaucrats and foresters sometimes having vested interests as well. Also, there is a long-lasting tradition in Turkey, particularly in rural areas, derived from the era of the Ottoman Empire, that the villagers have a usage right, a kind of traditional right, to use and exploit forest resources to meet their vital and personal needs. Calling upon this right, people can enter forests, collect bark, harvest residues, woods, seeds, and so on, despite the Forest Code prohibiting such activities. The State is reluctant to strictly implement the Forest Code in these cases, because the people are supplying their own needs from the forests. In other words, the forests feed those people and meet their demands for vital necessities, relieving the government of the obligation to support them. Thus, it is hard, even unreasonable, to strictly implement the Forest Code. Instead a kind of tolerant policy has been pursued so far. Government Subsidy to Forest Villagers by Paying High Prices for Agricultural Goods As mentioned above, forest villagers develop forestlands as an income source by converting forests to agricultural usage. In other words, tea plantations and hazelnut farms in the Black Sea region and olive farms in the Marmara and Aegean region have been established in forestlands by clearing all forest vegetation. Up to the 1980s, the government-subsidized prices have been a particular encouragement for villagers to convert forestlands into such use, after which they would be more profitable than keeping them as forests. Since then, illegal cutting for the purpose of converting cleared areas to farmlands has been slowed down substantially, due to migration and the impossibility of productive farmlands at lower altitudes. The Turkish government has been a guarantor buyer of such crops as hazelnut, tea, olive, tobacco, cotton, and so on. Of these, hazelnut farms, olive farms, and tea plantations have been established in formerly converted or degraded forestlands. For many years, all the governments pursued the same policy without accounting for

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the supply-and-demand relationship and producer surplus. This also proves that there has been no coordination between forest administration and agricultural bodies. As a consequence, according to official statistics, half a million hectares of forestlands were converted, whereas 1.5 million ha were converted according to the research conducted by the Chamber of Forest Engineers; taken as an average, about a million hectares of forestlands have been converted to other use, particularly agricultural planting, and all vegetation and trees have been destroyed (Chamber of Forest Engineers 1993). From the peopleÕs perspective, all those logging activities are not illegal, unless exceeding vital necessities. To predict the quantity exceeded by vital necessity is difficult and is not within the scope of this study. Thus, we have only calculated the quantity of illegally cut wood from the StateÕs perspective.

Conclusion These analyses support the notion that illegal logging activities pose a serious threat to Turkish forests. Although there has been a decline in use of illegal timber in industry since the 1990s, illegal logging is still the prime reason for forestland decrease. There are several reasons for illegal tree felling, varying from economic necessities to the deficiencies of forestry personnel. The most important reason behind illegal logging is the poverty that exists in small villages. The necessities of such communities can be supplied only from forests unless the Turkish government develops a radical economic and development program that frees these people from poverty. To prevent our forests from illegal logging and other harmful activities, we need to address urgently the poverty that forest villagers have been experiencing. To solve this problem, rural development is to be encouraged and a propane gas or natural gas system for heating should be supplied at a discounted or subsidized price to forest villagers, because most illegally cut timber is consumed for heating and cooking purposes. Then the Forestry Department, instead of encouraging illegal logging, should strictly control the forest industry, because they are the only buyers of illegally cut industrial wood materials. By controlling this, there would no longer be a market for illegal timber and the villagers would no longer have any incentive to cut industrial wood illegally. On the other hand, The General Directorate of Turkish Forests must be fully furnished with enough equipment and personnel. Forest rangers are particularly well equipped to protect forests. Also, the forest

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rangers could be increased in number, properly equipped, and educated, to enable them to stop illegal logging activities. All forestlands should to be made accessible in every season and in all weather conditions to facilitate patrols by rangers. Forestland encroachment should be discouraged by supplying housing lots and industrial plants. Actually, Turkey does not have the land classification system (classifying the countryÕs lands as forestland, farmland, industrial development areas, settlement areas, and so on) regarding its productivity, closeness to urban areas etc.) required by law to build infrastructure, residency areas, and farmlands, meaning that industry has often been constructed on first-class lands that are most suitable for agriculture. Wetlands have been drained, filled, and settled, and some were hit by the 1999 earthquake that killed more than 20,000 people. This is a unique example of lack of land classification and allocation policy. Forest legislation requires reform; an amendment in Article 2 of Forest Code No. 6831 is needed. Also, the Forestry Service needs to be more serious and tough to implement the Forest Code. Then the penalties described in the Forest Code should be increased and the fines updated in accordance with inflation, because 20,000 Turkish liras are equal to about 15 US cents per cubic meters of wood. In addition, the State should revise agricultural policy and not pay subsidies to farmers, which encourages conversion of forestland to agricultural usage. Agricultural policy should be coordinated to give forest protection a high priority. Clearly, governments should consider illegal logging and encroachment when subsidizing farmers; indeed, by putting extra tax on hazelnuts, olives, and tea, the government might discourage such farming activities. Also, training and education programs should be developed to change public perception of forests, emphasizing that forest resources are limited in terms of both quality and quantity. And traditional use rights are to be left for more efficient protection and sustainable use of forest resources. In light of the above discussion, it is reasonable to reach some global implications. Illegal logging activities have become a serious threat to Turkish forests as well as the global ecosystem and sustainable management of forests for many years. All the reasons for illegal logging activities are seen in the rest of the worldÕs forests. This means that economic and legislative deficiencies and political reasons are the most prominent reasons for illegal logging. This leads us to the conclusion that a common solution applied to all countries experiencing such destructive

activities can be developed by coordinated efforts at both the regional and global levels. Poverty is the main reason for illegal logging in rural areas of Turkey and likely in other developing countries. Therefore, combating poverty is a prime requirement in the reduction of such illegal practices. Also, a global aid program by the United Nations or other relevant international agencies might be developed and support rural people with the aim of relieving poverty. From a forest management perspective, the implication is that forest planning and administration must be integrated with rural development efforts. Forestland encroachment in rural areas also implies that industrial development, investment, and job creation initiatives have not been evenly distributed throughout the country. As a solution, forest management and planning can be oriented toward more job creation efforts by encouraging investors to move into rural areas both in Turkey and in countries that have similar problems. Forestland encroachment in metropolitan areas reflects a complete lack of law enforcement and also reflects political corruption. Because in general wealthy people have occupied forestlands in such areas, they have been at least implicitly encouraged by the failure of politicians to implement current laws and sanctions. This also implies that in some cases a series of amendments of current laws is necessary because penalties are not severe enough to discourage those people. Also, because some of those people are highlevel bureaucrats, political corruption comes to mind as well. From a global point of view, it is reasonable to say that lack of law enforcement and political corruption are observed in other countries as well, so a global campaign against corruption is perhaps needed. On the other hand, providing import permission from other countries such as Russia has reduced illegal timber cutting within Turkey, but this implies that such an import policy has fueled illegal logging practices in other parts of the global forest ecosystem. This leads to the conclusion that illegal logging is a kind of chainreaction-like process such that malpractice in a country may fuel the same illegal activities in another country. Likewise, a solution for illegal logging in one country may become a reason for illegal logging activities in another country. Therefore, as mentioned above, intergovernmental solutions at the regional or global level are urgently needed. In this context, a global import and export policy and customs and tariffs regulations must be put in place. Also, the CITES Convention must be signed and implemented in all threatened countries.

Illegal Logging Activities in Turkey

In addition, because illegally cut wood, in the end, is in demand and used for the production of end products such as furniture, lumber, and so on, a legal framework at the national or global level must be enacted, such that an origin certificate for such products must be obligatory for manufacturers, and consumers must be pushed to request such a certificate when buying these products. Forestry research efforts are encouraged and financed to create new supplementary products made out of raw materials other than wood. This will reduce the demand for wood-based products and raw industrial wood and will lead to diminishing demand for illegal timber cut and smuggling. In summary, illegal logging is a worldwide problem that threatens global ecosystems. The underlying causes of such illegal practices in Turkey are the same as in other countries facing the same problem. To reduce the amount of illegally cut wood, more global and regional level solutions are needed and international cooperation is essential to combat the problem. The management of forests at both the global and national levels must be integrated with rural development and a poverty-relieving program must be developed; even cash payment may be provided to poor local people. Also, because rural people will keep living within forests, they should be given an opportunity to participate in forest planning and management efforts. A management approach of this type, i.e., collaborating with local people, reaches a more sound solution to combat illegal logging.

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