Sultan Bekiroğlu

Opportunities to enhance contribution of model forests in the sustainable forest resources management (example from Yalova Model Forest)

Model forests are nongovernmental organizations at local, regional and international level which are mainly focused on reconciling the conflicts between the stakeholders. This is an innovative approach to organization, which has been receiving more and more attraction from increasing number of countries, which gradually increased the number of model forests for the last 25 years. If these organizations reach desired levels of structure, medium, impacts and assets their contribution in sustainable forest resources management will increase ipso facto. The very first model forest of Turkey was created in Yalova Province in 2010. Yalova Province has certain fundamental problems including but not limited to; population growth and unplanned urbanization caused by industrialization, uncontrolled increase in demand for fire wood and non-wooden products of forestry resources, questionable resource management decisions adopted in the past and low-income levels of the people especially those in the rural areas. The main objective of present case study is to analyze Yalova Model Forest (YMF) so as to determine the possible problems that may occur during implementation of sustainable management for forestry resources through a planning approach with multiple stakeholders. As a result of research, it has been revealed that YMF has certain significant structural, environmental and impact-related problems. In order to ensure continuity of YMFs contribution to sustainable forestry resources management, these problems need to be addressed promptly.

Resident perceptions of livelihood impacts arising from the Kızıldağ National Park, Turkey

In this study, perceptions, needs, expectations and participation levels in the park management of residents of the Kızıldağ National Park were investigated. It was focused on especially how residents’ livelihood was affected by establishment and management of Kızıldağ National Park. It was examined why residents do not support protection efforts. Research data were obtained with the help of a survey form prepared to determine the perceptions of residents living in the national park. For the analyses of obtained data, statistics package program (SPSS 20) was used and also independent-samples t test and one-way analyses of variance were applied. As a result, the most important negative effects were loss of income and changes in traditional lifestyle. The most affected group from these negative effects was the ones dealing with animal husbandry. For the sustainable management and protection of national park, sense of belonging should be brought to residents so as to increase participation, traditional lifestyle of residents should be conserved and new sources of income should be generated for residents. To improve the participation of residents in national park management, community engagement mechanisms can be used as a tool.

Difficulties of Scaling in Forest and Water Management in Urban Areas: Social and Institutional Dimension

Efficient scaling, from small headwater catchments to major river basins, also requires integration of social, economic and ecologic information with physical landscape data in order to build up appropriate solutions for managing forests and water resources in harmony. Besides supplying a high proportion of the water for domestic, industrial and ecological needs forests also provide society with a range of other conservation, amenity and environmental benefits such as recreation, biodiversity, erosion control, water collection, wildlife shelter, reduction of the negative effects of green house gasses and global climate change and others. The main objective of managers and planners is to maximize this wide range of benefits without detriment to water resources and ecosystem function. In this study, the interactive connections between water and forest management and the complexities among socio-economic-environmental and institutional systems are highlighted with some examples from European urban lands.