Report: 196 incidents of 'destruction' of the Northern Forests found in three months

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The Northern Forests Research Association has found 196 incidents "threatening and destructing" the Northern Forests in northwestern Turkey.

A branch of the European forest belt, the Northern Forests lie in the provinces of Edirne, Kırklareli, Tekirdağ, İstanbul, Kocaeli, Yalova, Sakarya, Düzce and the northern parts of Bursa, Balıkesir and Çanakkale.

The association has released a report to contribute to the activities of the Northern Forests Defense, which strives for the protection of İstanbul's forests.

In its first report covering July, August and September, the association stated that 47 forest fires occurred in the three-month period, citing news reports. Eleven fires occurred in July, 23 fires occurred in August and 13 fires occurred in September, it noted.

Satellite image of İstanbul's northern forests (Google Maps)

The most important cause of the fires is the combination of suitable climate conditions, strong winds, the climate crisis and the "intense destruction" in the Northern Forests, according to the report.

A total of 550 hectares of area was razed in 23 fires and the causes of 24 fires were not announced, the report noted.

There were 29 news reports about mines and 25 reports about the Canal (Kanal) İstanbul, a planned artificial waterway linking the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, in the three-month period.

Kanal İstanbul continued to be one of the most important threats against the last remaining agricultural, forest and water sources of the Marmara Region, said the association.

Twenty-four percent of the reports about mines and 21 percent of the reports about Kanal İstanbul qualified as "threats," 31 percent of the reports about forest fires and 15 percent of the reports about mines qualified as "destruction," the report said.

Twenty-nine percent of the reports about forest fires, 15 percent of the reports about Kanal İstanbul and mines were about "defense," it noted. (TP/VK)