Türkiye’s forest cover increased 7 times more than area burned in 12 years | Partners | Belarus News | Belarusian news | Belarus today | news in Belarus | Minsk news | BELTA
ANKARA, 28 August (BelTA — Anadolu) — While about 255,000 hectares of land were damaged in fires in Türkiye
between 2012 and 2023, 1.7 million hectares were added to the forest
asset in the same period.
According to a record compiled by
Anadolu based on the data of the country’s General Directorate of
Forestry (OGM), prevention, extinguishing, and reforestation steps are
of strategic importance in the fight against forest fires.
In
this regard, the OGM tries to intervene in forest fires in a timely and
effective manner by using airplanes, helicopters, unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs), watchtowers, cameras and land vehicles.
It is
stated that rising temperatures due to climate change also play a role
in the fires. Meanwhile, with the afforestation campaign, much more
areas than the burned areas are added to the forest inventory.
The
data reveal that Türkiye’s forest cover in 2012 was over 21.6 million
hectares. About 2,450 fires broke out in the same period, affecting
10,454 hectares.
In 2015, forest cover increased to over 22.3 million hectares, while 2,150 forest fires broke out on 3,219 hectares.
Forest
cover also increased in 2018, reaching over 22.6 million hectares. In
this period, 2,167 fires broke out on 5,644 hectares.
Since 2019, Nov. 11 each year has been marked and celebrated as National Afforestation Day.
That
year, Türkiye’s forest cover was recorded as being over 22.7 million
hectares, while 2,688 forest fires broke out on 11,332 hectares.
In 2020, the forest area reached over 22.9 million hectares. In this period, 20,971 hectares were damaged in 3,399 fires.
In 2022, when the forest area was recorded as being over 23.2 million hectares, 2,160 forest fires affected 12,799 hectares.
Last year, the forest area increased to over 23.3 million hectares, while 2,579 forest fires damaged 15,520 hectares.
Thus, Türkiye’s forest area increased by about 1.7 million hectares in the 2012-2023 period.
During
the same period, around 255,000 thousand hectares were damaged by
forest fires. Thus, Türkiye’s forest cover increased about seven times
more than the area burned in this period.
About 32,000 fires were fought in 12 years.
About one-third of fires caused by negligence, accidents
The
human role in fires appears as a visible factor behind the causes. In
the 12 years, 11,357 forest fires were caused by negligence and
accidents that impacted 105,675 hectares of land.
Meanwhile, 3,992 forest fires erupted because of natural causes, damaging 2,699 hectares of land.
In the period 2012-2023, about 89,502 hectares of land were exposed to flames in 14,934 forest fires with unknown causes.
