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 2021, out of the 74 sites included in the control program, 24 of them are newly planted or prepared for planting in the fall of 2021, while the remaining 50 sites are planted in the last 3 years and maintenance and completion planting is ongoing. Among these sites, the success rate of the sites that have completed their third year is 84%, the success rate of the sites that have completed their second year is 85%, and the success rate of the sites that have completed their first year is 73%.
