Comparison of Forest Laws According to Sustainable Forest Management Criteria: The Example of Türkiye, Lithuania, Poland, Kazakhstan, Iran

Sustainability constitutes a strategic priority not only at the level of practical implementation but also within the framework of legal regulations and policy-making processes. Within the scope of this study, the forest-related legal frameworks of selected countries from Asia and Europe have been examined. To ensure consistency and objectivity in the analysis, a set of evaluation criteria was established, with particular attention paid to their international recognition and legitimacy. In this context, the criteria developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization and Forest Europe were adopted. Based on these internationally accepted standards, the forest legislation of the selected countries was assessed and analyzed using the EFLD (Environmental and Forest Law Department) scoring methodology to determine the extent to which sustainability is integrated into their legal systems. Six criteria were defined and evaluated separately for each country based on the overall average. It was concluded that Türkiye and Kazakhstan’s forest legislation aligns with sustainability criteria compared to other countries’ legislation, Lithuania and Iran’s forest legislation is close to the overall average, and Poland’s forest legislation requires more explicit and progressive provisions in terms of sustainability.