Non-wood forest products as a component of the total economic value of Turkish forests

Forests like other natural resources perform a set of functions to meet the needs of people. It is usually impossible to state the monetary value of all goods and services provided by forest resources in most countries. These goods and services are generally called as non-market goods and services. Therefore, the valuation of non-market goods and services as a research area is getting importance rapidly in Turkey as well as in other countries. The sum of all values, which a natural resource has, is accepted as Total Economic Value (TEV). There is no definite and rigid rule about the components of TEV and therefore, many different approaches have been discussed about this concept. In another word, the items forming the TEV are classified into main and sub- components such as positive and negative externalities or use, non-use, option, existence and bequest values. The contribution of direct and indirect use values, option values, existence values and negative externalities to the TEV are accounted for as far as possible. In Turkish forestry, the most important part of TEV is represented by the direct use values including wood and non-wood forest products. The option and existence values remain someway vague and difficult to be calculated. Therefore, the share of forestry sector which is among the main production sectors in the national economy and accounts for only 0.3%; this rate arises mainly from wood forest products, partly from non-wood forest products and very little from hunting and recreation. In this study, the TEV concept will be reviewed briefly for Turkish forestry, and then the non-wood forest products as its TEV components will be given and then the share of NWFPs in the TEV of Turkish forests will be determined by using the data of MEDFOREX Project and lastly Turkish forest resources will be discussed as far as possible from the social-economic and environmental points of views regarding the sustainable forestry and also possibilities of increasing the share of non-wood forest products in the TEV of Turkish forest resources.