Forest Cadastre, Open Areas within Forest Areas and Areas Exempted From Forest Areas
Abstract
Once forests are registered to the land register as result of cadastre works, their timber lines can not be changed or narrowed, unless there is an exceptional situation. In other words, proprietorship of forests that are delimited as a result of forest cadastre and registered to the land register can not be abalienated to other persons or institutions. The Constitutional Court regards forest cadastre, which enables forest to be registered into land register by determining timber lines both on the land and on the maps, as an procedure which protects and guarantees the future of forests. In order to preserve forests in TURKEY, a forest cadastre aiming the determination of timberlines and properties' registra tion into the land register was commissioned. However, the desired results could not be obtained. In 68 years 1937 - 2005 , cadastres of 92.2% 19,526,597 hectares of the forests have been completed. Yet, of the cadastre and delimited forests, only a ¼ portion could be registered into the land registry. In Turkey, the failure to complete forest cadastre has caused forests and timber lines to remain unprotected and has also facilitated forest occupation. This situation has led to illegal settlements of counties, factories, districts and villages over forest areas in Turkey. It is obligatory to obtain permission for the buildings and facilities to be constructed within forests, as per Article 17 of the Forest Law. Other than the buildings and the facilities listed in the Forest Law, it is prohibited to invade or settle in, or act in similar fashion in treeless spaces or open areas within forest areas. In the Forest Law, such activities are referred to as offences and those who commit such offences shall be subject to penal sanctions Articles: 90-97 . This sanction is, however, ignored, and instead of punishing the offenders, the ones that cause destruction of forests are granted with the prietorship of forest areas they have occupied, and thus a covert remission is applied to the acts that are considered as offences. In this article, forest cadastre is discussed along with the reasons for not being successful in demarcation of forests, open areas within forest areas in other words, treeless spaces and uncovered areas blanks within forest areas and non-forestral areas on the claim that it lost its forestall characteristics.
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