PERCEPTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS ON FOREST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION OF FORESTERS IN STATE FOREST ENTERPRISES: A CASE STUDY IN TURKEY

Determination of the perception of employees in the forestry organization involved in forest management certification (FMC) in state forests is considered important in increasing the success level of this process. In this study, some questions were asked to evaluate the opinions of the forest management directorate employees [forest engineers (FE), rangers (R), and forest workers (FW)] about the forest management certificate and to know the expectations about certification. Data has been collected by conducting face-to-face interviews with 51 FEs, 56 Rs, and 80 FWs. This data collection was done at the certified forest enterprise of the Kastamonu Regional Directorate of Forestry, which has been selected as the work area. The research methods included descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, and correspondence analysis for hypothesis testing. When a statistical significance (p = 0.05) was found, the intergroup differences were analyzed using a post hoc test. Our results showed differences in the perceptions of foresters, with 90% of FEs, Rs, and FWs stating that the certification process contributes positively to forest management. Moreover, 35.8% of the foresters stated that FMC encouraged selection of the most suitable forest management, 34.5% stated that FMC ensured forest management according to sustainable forest management (SFM) criteria and in compliance with international agreements, and 30.1% stated that FMC contributed to the conservation and survival of forest areas.