The usability of voluntary carbon markets as a financial instrument in Turkish forestry sector

Abstract

There have been many international studies and cooperations to avoid global warming and climate change as being global disasters. As a result of these studies, to avoid these problems, bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperations, legal instruments, incentive mechanisms and international funds are developed. One of these instruments is global carbon market as a cost-effective method to combat climate change. Thanks to carbon markets, projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste management and forestry sectors aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can be developed at. As forests are the most important terrestrial carbon sinks and deforestation and forest degradation are the third-largest source of carbon emissions, forestry sector is one of the crucial sectors in this process. In this context, Turkish forestry sector should benefit from international markets for protection, improvement and sustainable management of forest resources. Currently, Turkish forestry sector has not taken any financial support from these markets. In this study, it is aimed to determine and evaluate opportunities provided by voluntary carbon markets for Turkish forestry sector financing.