An analysis on the “protection-utilization balance” in Turkish forests

Forest resources, due to their basic requirements and structure, have features that affect human life directly. Preserving the forest resources is becoming an extremely difficult task due to changing global balances and increasingly intimidating utilization of the resources. As a precaution, tools and methods for protection of forest resources are being developed on a global level and efforts for international cooperation and coordination are getting increasingly more intense. Hence the protection-utilization balance is becoming more and more important. This approach which foresees the more intelligent use of the resources, is based on the principle of providing for the continuity of the natural resources and meeting the needs of the society. One of the main tools used for preserving this balance is the legal regulation. The article is aimed to evaluate the level of this balance in the Turkish Legislation on forests and point out the key points for the establishment of the balance. Current legislation is analyzed on the main laws related to forests and a SWOT analysis is also given to evaluate the status of Turkish forestry.