Our school organized an awareness event against forest fires in Çamiçi Plateau

Within the scope of the Scientific Research Project (BAP) titled “Awareness, Soil Conservation and Applied Intervention Training on Forest Fires in the Context of Climate Change in Rural Areas,” conducted by Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University Niksar Vocational School, an awareness and information event on forest fires was held in Çamiçi Plateau.

The project, carried out through interdisciplinary collaboration between the academic staff of our school's Forestry and Forest Products Program and Civil Defense and Firefighting Program, is implemented in partnership with the Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University Community Contribution Coordination Office and the Tokat Provincial Gendarmerie Command. The project aims to increase public awareness on forest fires, climate change, soil, and the protection of natural resources.

The project is led by Dr. Ergün Kahveci, an academic staff member of our Forestry and Forest Products Program, while Lecturers Betül Tahmaz, Gökhan El, and Mustafa Yıldız serve as researchers in the project team.

The event, held in Çamiçi Plateau, was attended by project leader Dr. Ergün Kahveci, project researcher and Civil Defense and Firefighting Program academic staff member Gökhan El, and students Mert Yaşar Güller and Melih Güneş from the same program. During the event, informative brochures prepared as part of the project were distributed to local residents and visitors using picnic and recreation areas.

Our academic staff and students participating in the event engaged in direct communication with citizens, providing information on preventing forest fires, measures to reduce fire risk in picnic areas, the increased risk of fires due to climate change, and the importance of protecting natural resources.

The awareness campaign was also supported by teams from the Niksar-Çamiçi Gendarmerie Station Command, operating under the Tokat Provincial Gendarmerie Command, a project stakeholder. With the contribution of the gendarmerie teams, the importance of individual responsibility, social awareness, and inter-institutional cooperation in preventing forest fires was emphasized while reaching out to citizens.

The event held in Çamiçi Plateau is one of the social awareness activities planned within the scope of the project, and in the later stages of the project, training, information and other activities planned within the scope of the project will continue in different rural settlements of Niksar.