Workshop on Sustainable Management of Dry-land Forests: Forest Management Certification

Forests, are important global resources that offer a wide range of environmental, economic and social benefits. Forests and trees provide a variety of valuable wood and non-wood products. They contribute to the livelihoods of rural communities while providing vital ecosystem services. Forests can also play a significant role in addressing global climate change concerns.

These ecosystem services can be beneficial if only the forests are managed sustainably. Basic precondition for sustainable forest management is the plans that set the standards for specific activities within a planning period of 10 to 15 years at the level of local/regional forest enterprises or administrative units. Forest management plans that are considering ecological and socio-economical factors are often aligned with responsible forest management rules set by various certification schemes.

The training workshop will present advantages of certification systems in Turkey's dry-land forests. It will improve the knowledge regarding the complexity of forest management as well as trade and marketing of non-timber forest products. Stakeholders will be informed about marketing of all timber and non-timber forest products (NTFP) and the advantages of forest certification as a tool to imporve the livelihoods of local communities, especially women, by facilitate access to new markets. 

The expected impact of the training workshop is three-fold:

• to make participants aware of the conditions for FSC certification based on responsible managed forest and its costs;
• to facilitate communication and collaboration among Turkish forestry authorities with long-term experience in managing dry-land forests; and
• to promote sustainable management of dry-land forest which can benefit from production of FSC certified non-timber forest products.

The workshop will be conducted under the component ‘Rehabilitation of degraded forests and pastures’ of the project titled GCP/TUR/055/GFF ‘Sustainable Land Management and Climate-Friendly Agriculture in Konya Basin, Turkey’.