An aerial tour of Istanbul's disappearing forests

Looking at satellite photos of Istanbul over the past 40 years provides a clear view of how the city's forests have been disappearing. Serkan Ocak, Yücel Sönmez and Murat Şaka went up with a helicopter to get an even better understanding of the situation and saw firsthand the area’s transformation.

They saw that vast areas of trees and green land had been wiped out over the years—and hectares more are waiting in line to be destroyed for new projects, such as the city’s third bridge and third airport. 

Ünal Akkemik (Istanbul University Forest Faculty), who has been working on Istanbul's forests for many years, told us why deforestation in the area is of monumental importance. Akkemik stated that Istanbul has the potential to be a natural arboretum and botanical garden, as the intersection point of three geographical areas: the Black Sea, Mediterranean, and Iran-Turanian.

It is home to more than 2,000 botanical species and one of the most important plant migration routes during periods of climate change. The Istanbul forests are among the 200 most important ecological sites in the world. And in Europe, it is one of the 100 most urgent sites for conservation. The city is located on one of the few migration routes for birds, providing a resting space during their movement. 

What happened to Istanbul's forests?
 
Istanbul's population is rapidly increasing, and consequently, residential settlement is widening. The 36,000 hectares of settlement in the 1970s, has now surpassed 110,000 hectares, an increase of over 400 percent. The same period has also witnessed an increase in the city’s population of around 370 percent. This is the main reason why the forests—Istanbul’s life source—are...