The project consists of afforestation works carried out to create commemorative forests throughout the country with individual and corporate sapling donations in order to protect and increase forest assets that provide many ecosystem services such as combating erosion, climate change, protecting biodiversity, water production, providing habitat for wildlife, and raising awareness about the importance of afforestation works since the establishment of the Foundation. The project sites are predominantly located in areas that are considered as state forests within the afforestation programs of the General Directorate of Forestry and include planting saplings in cooperation with the General Directorate of Forestry and carrying out maintenance works for 3 years in each planted area.
Within the scope of the amount of afforestation donations received by the Foundation during the year, it is aimed to achieve a minimum of 70% success at the end of 3 years in each field by conducting field research, sapling planting, maintenance and completion planting in areas where sufficient success cannot be established.
The first memorial forest in the project was established in Ankara in 1994. Between 1994 and 2021, 22.3 million saplings were planted in 244 different sites on an area of over 19 thousand hectares (the size of 27 thousand football fields).
As of 2023, we continued to monitor the success rate and sapling planting activities in 104 different fields included in the control program. Among the fields where saplings are planted and three-year maintenance and complementary planting activities will be performed, the average success of the fields that have completed their third, second and first year is 82%, 71%, and 76% respectively.
