“We have increased our forest assets to 23.4 million hectares”

 

Speaking at the “Green Homeland Heroes On Duty” event, President Erdoğan said: “We have increased our forest assets from 20.8 million hectares in 2002 to 23.4 million hectares today. We have covered, embellished and enriched 30 per cent of our country’s total land area with forests. Since 2002, we have planted more than 7.5 billion saplings all across our heavenly homeland.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the “Green Homeland Heroes On Duty” event at Etimesgut Airport in Ankara.

Speaking at the event, President Erdoğan stated that the humanity is faced with an increasingly painful picture, and added: “Such problems as global warming, climate crisis and drought increase the pressure on natural resources each passing day. Using underground and aboveground resources in an efficient and sustainable manner with appropriate policies is a top priority for countries. Obviously, we as a country located in the Mediterranean belt face such problems as well. In recent years, especially our forest assets, one of our greatest natural resources, are under big threat and danger. Increasing temperature, irregular precipitation and long-term drought pose serious risks to our forests’ future.”

President Erdoğan said: “Thanks be to Allah, we have increased our forest assets from 20.8 million hectares in 2002 to 23.4 million hectares today. We have covered, embellished and enriched 30 per cent of our country's total land area with forests. Since 2002, we have planted more than 7.5 billion saplings all across our heavenly homeland. With the afforestation campaigns we have been carrying out under the theme of ‘Breath for the Future’, we have made millions of our citizens plant saplings. We will definitely complete the afforestation of the areas affected by the fires by the end of next year.”