Tez özetleri Astronomi ve Uzay Bilimleri Anabilim Dalı 2

Forest Certıfıcatıon and ıts Importance ın Terms of Forest Polıcy
Global climate change and decrease in natural resources in the recent years made sustainable resource use come in to prominence. Forests among natural resources have a unique importance. Forests provide many benefits including social, economic and cultural benefits. However, decrease in forest areas continue due to excessive and uninformed use. At this point, forestry policies of the country comes in to prominence. One of the forestry policies of our country is the protection, development and expansion of our forest inventory. And protection, development and expansion of forest inventory has to do with forestry management. In sustainable forest management the aim is to make sustained benefit of the forests and policies are developed for the aforementioned purpose. One of the most important tools used to enforce sustainable forest management is certification.

It is evident that the demand for certified products is on increase recently especially in European countries and in the United States of America. Research suggests that the fact that the economic expectations from forest management certification is greater than social and ecological expectations will likely result in new problems. In other words, today's market-oriented certification approach will likely yield negative outcomes in the future. Institutions and organizations aiming to secure high profits from new markets they’ll have created via certification will likely be disappointed.

This study, first of all discusses the definition and scope, and aims and tools of the forestry policy. It then makes a general assessment on the forest certification, explaining certification types and certification bodies, examines the developments in Turkey and worldwide and the current standing of forest policies, finally explaining the importance of certification in terms of forestry industry and forestry policies. Moreover, this study discusses efforts and certification practices in Turkey aiming sustainable forest management. At this stage, Bolu Provincial Directorate of Forestry’s Aladağ Forest Management Office, where the first certification practice is carried out in our country, is examined as an example area.

In the scope of certification efforts of the Aladağ Forest Management Office affiliated with Bolu Provincial Directorate of Forestry, current organization structure, forest management system, socioeconomic and environmental structure and certification phases are discussed.

The main purpose of this study is to reveal how the operations are carried out in practice, types of problems encountered and possible means for overcoming those problems. This study moreover aims to examine the results of a study that was carried out on regional basis and to ensure that it sets an example for future scientific studies.