Two decades after an ambitious local reforestation effort, 400 hectares of barren land in southern Türkiye have blossomed into a thriving cedar forest. In the mountainous district of Feke, villagers and forestry officials worked together to terrace abandoned vineyards and scatter thousands of seeds at an altitude of 1,000 meters. Today, the once-empty slopes offer a breathtaking, lush green landscape that serves as a vital environmental revival for the region. Halime Alboğa, a local who helped plant the seeds 20 years ago, expressed her joy at the transformation, saying, “Seeing that the tree I planted has now grown taller than me makes me very happy.”
Beril Solmuşgül