Various mechanisms have been developed to combat climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). These mechanisms include energy, waste, transportation, industrial processes and also land use sector that covers forestry. One of these mechanisms is carbon pricing that involves the pricing and payment of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions by the emitters. This approach is based on the compensation mechanisms that the GHG emitters purchase the carbon reduction credits or pay the taxes of their excessive emissions under the established carbon offset trade systems. Emission trading may be subject to both regulated and voluntary carbon markets. In both cases, emission reduction units from the projects could be certified in the frame of different standards and these certificates are processed in the carbon markets.

Although any regulated carbon market does not currently exist in Turkey, the emission reduction credits from mitigation projects can be traded in the international voluntary markets. Infrastructure work for the establishment of carbon trading systems in Turkey is still being implemented under Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR) Programme.

This project aims at establishing a conceptual structure of the carbon certification system for the forestry sector at the national / local level through local non-governmental organizations? actively participation in order to support sustainable forest management. It is aimed with the project to;

? Develop the conceptual infrastructure of carbon certification system in the framework of non-governmental organizations-government collaboration at a certain level by defining certification criteria and indicators for afforestation projects,
? Implement the relevant technical studies and field works by field survey methods that will base certification,
? Develop the recommendations for the facilitative legal and institutional framework towards combating climate change and sustaining forest management.