The BWI-affiliated TARIM ORMAN-İŞ has recently published a comprehensive report titled “Fighting Forest Fires”, drawing attention to large-scale forest fires that could not be brought under control for days in many parts of Turkiye and Europe. The Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI) welcomed the report, which highlighted not only the causes of the fires but also the negligence that contributed to their inability to be extinguished. Prepared by the union’s “Forestry Science Committee,” the report aims to contribute to the evaluation of current policies and to shed light on future perspectives.

The rise in forest fires, the report stressed, cannot be explained solely by climate change; other key factors include the allocation of forest lands for non-forestry purposes, the approval of dense construction within forest areas, and poorly maintained power transmission lines following privatisation.

The union underlined that preventive measures are both more economical and effective in addressing the problem. It emphasised the need to develop separate training modules for all forest workers, operators, rangers, forest villagers, and volunteers. These trainings should be carried out regularly in 2–3 year intervals.

The report also called for urgent reinforcement of firefighting capacity through new recruitment. In the short term, at least 15,000 forest fire workers, 1,500 forest rangers, and 1,000 forest engineers must be employed. In addition, previously successful first response and helicopter teams should be re-established. The union further recommended prioritising forest villagers and fire volunteers in employment, ensuring that merit and transparency are upheld in appointments, and called on ministries to operate independently from government interference while adopting a principle of transparent public information sharing.

Read the full report.