Analysis of the Relations between Forestry Financial Supports and Forest Crimes

Abstract

Forest crimes are among the serious threats destroying forests. To prevent the forest crimes there are various solutions proposed such as fortification of the laws, increasing the penalties, or increasing the public awareness. This article, however, aims to investigate the relations between the financial supports provided to forest villagers by the state in Turkey and the levels of various forest crime types to see whether the financial supports provided will cause any change in the forest crime levels. The study shows that, when the forest villagers are given financial supports, the levels of illegal logging, illegally expended trees, and illegal pasturage crimes decrease significantly. However, the financial supports do not affect the levels of illegal transfer of the forestry products, illegally expanding the lands into the forests, and illegal occupation of the forest areas crimes.