The indicator is an impact indicator. A large part of Turkey’s forests, located in the Mediterranean climate zone, is threatened by forest fires.

In 2020, 3,399 forest fires broke out, damaging 20,971 hectares of forest land. The average area burned per fire was 6.2 hectares. In 2020, the number of fires increased by 26.5% compared to the previous year. The burned forest area increased by 85% compared to the previous year.

The vast majority of fires in our forests are caused by humans. In 54% of forest fires in 2020, the cause could not be identified. 34% of forest fires were caused by negligence/ accidents, 9% by natural causes, and 3% by intent.

According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) data, the average size of burned areas per ten-year fire (2009-2019) in European countries in the Mediterranean climate zone was 25.60 ha in Greece, 11.79 ha in Italy, 8 in Spain, 2 ha, 7.1 ha in Portugal, 2.9 ha in Turkey, and 3.2 ha in France ^[122].

GRAPH 150- FOREST FIRES (1990-2020)

GRAPH 158- CAUSES OF FOREST FIRES (1997-2020)

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, General Directorate of Forestry, Forest Statistics 2020, https://www. ogm.gov.tr/ekutuphane/Sayfalar/Istatistikler.aspx