Technical Meeting at Muğla Regional Directorate of Forestry
Türkiye, being the second largest FSC Certified area in Europe, covered 24.3 M hectares of forest and as of March 2025 more than 11 million hectares are FSC certified. Almost all the Turkish forest is owned and managed by the General Directorate of Forestry (GDF), part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. GDF is organized under 30 Regional Directorates out of 17 are FSC certified.
Established in May 2024 Türkiye National Representation engaged Forestry Officer Tarik Durmuş in January 2025. Aiming to enhance the relationship with GDF and strengthen the knowledge level of forest managers and understanding the field level realities, Turkish office has started Regional Directorate visits to meet with high level managers and filed level implementers. Named Technical Meetings, these visits are part of relationship building activities at the regional directorate level.
The very first technical meeting has taken place in one of the oldest certified regions, Muğla. Located in the west of Türkiye, prone to wildfires, covered mainly with Pinus brutia and Pinus nigra, Mugla Regional Directorate has 1,152,359 hectares of certified forest area divided into 12 management units.
Managerial Level Meetings
Before the technical meeting, FSC Türkiye team met with The Regional Director, Vice Regional Director and the Marketing and Business Branch Manager to introduce FSC and Türkiye Office 2025 priorities. During this meeting the market trends, FSC certification value, Turkish supply chain needs and EUDR was also discussed.
Technical Meeting
Following introducing FSC mission, values, structure and introducing Turkish office, technical meeting has covered principles, criteria and indicator level detail. The audience is also informed about the process of switching to IFSS in Türkiye. More than 85 forest managers and management unit representatives participated to the meeting.
Field Visit
The second day of the technical meeting continued with a field visit to observe firsthand the forestry operations and practices being implemented in the region. The FSC Türkiye Office representatives first taken to wood storage facility where all the forest products are sorted, stored and sold.
The second stop provided insights into post-wildfire management and restoration efforts in the region. Participants visited a site recently affected by wildfire to better understand post-fire ecosystem rehabilitation methods.
The last stop was an active production site, where the team could observe ongoing wood-harvesting activities. The team had a chance to examine freshly harvested wood directly in the field, providing a clear insight into how production and initial processing activities are carried out.
