Türkiye ranks 4th in the world among the countries that have increased their forest assets the most.

Stating that the fight against forest fires, the sustainability of forests, and their effects on public health and food were discussed during COFO 28, Karacabey pointed out that Türkiye has increased its forest assets to 30 percent of the country's surface area as of today, and that it ranks 4th in the world among the countries that have increased its forest assets the most, according to FAO's reports, with 23.4 million hectares of forest assets.

Karacabey emphasized that Türkiye is the first in Europe and the third in the world in the category of countries with the most afforestation in the world, thanks to the afforestation and anti-erosion campaigns launched by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his term as prime minister.

Karacabey explained that since more than 90 percent of Türkiye's forests are natural forests, the forest ecosystem has great richness in terms of its direct and indirect contributions to public health and food.

Pointing out that forests appeal to 30 percent of humanity in helping people access food around the world, ensuring food security and directly producing foodstuffs, Karacabey said, "You know, there is a saying, 'Forests are the insurance of agriculture'. Forests are extremely important in terms of protecting the soil and constituting the source of water used in agriculture. We especially emphasized this during these meetings, during the COFO within FAO." he said.

Karacabey stated that they are ready to share Türkiye's entire experience in the field of forestry since 1839 with FAO members, and that they also want to benefit from their experience in the field of forestry.

Karacabey called on FAO member countries on the occasion of this meeting and said, "We have an International Forestry Training Center in Antalya. We conveyed to FAO that we can also use this center as a coordination center to combat large forest fires that may occur in countries in the Mediterranean climate zone and in our region." he said.

Pointing out that it has been seen that it is not possible for countries to cope with forest fires alone and with their own means, Karacabey said:

"We also expressed to our interlocutors that this center in Antalya should be turned into a center where joint trainings will be held, common risks will be evaluated and joint working opportunities will be discussed. We have started the work on this together with FAO. I believe that our Antalya International Forestry Training Center will serve an important function not only for the forestry of our country, but first for our region and then for the forestry of the world."