Bekir Pakdemirli, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, stated that Republic of Turkey is a leader country in combat against erosion and said that we reduced soil loss from annually average level of 500 million tonnes to 154 million tonnes thanks to our efforts on this issue. Our goal is to reduce this soil loss amount to an amount less than 130 million tonnes.
In his speech in 2018 The Best Award Ceremony held by Directorate General of Forestry, Pakdemirli said that Republic of Turkey is the one of the rare countries in the World which increases the forest presence.
Pakdemirli expressed that they have increased forest presence in Turkey by 1.8 million tonnes and forest presence in Turkey is 22.6 million hectares, and added that 29 percent of the land consists of forests. Pakdemirli also said that 'we believe that we will exceed our goal of the forest area of 23.4 million hectares in 2023, 30 percent of the country's land. We are leader country in combat against erosion. We reduced soil loss from average level of 500 million tonnes per year to 154 million tonnes thanks to our studies on this issue. Our goal in 2023 is to reduce this soil loss amount to below 130 million tonnes.'
'WE HAVE ESTABLISHED 137 CITY FOREST'
Pakdemirli noted that 'Turkey is a foremost country in lots of areas from planting to the conservation of biodiversity in the World, and added that we have established 137 City Forest in order to ensure our citizens living in and around the city remain together with nature and to give our young people and children forest love and raise awareness on forests.'
After the speeches, awards were presented to company representatives and staff of Directorate General of Forestry.