Investigation of the effects of support to forest villageson social life: A case of Gümüşhane province

Forestry activities are carried out with forest villagers. The socio-cultural and economic conditions of forest villagers have a huge impact on forests. In order to improve the conditions of the forest villagers, various activities are put into action by public institutions so that all these impacts are converted to a more positive manner. The purpose of this thesis is to indicate the effects of the facilities provided to forest villagers on forests. Providing economic benefits to forest villages, reduces the social oppression. Thus, it contributes to ecosystem's sustainability. The fundamental hypothesis of the thesis aims to investigate the influences of ORKÖY's (General Directorate of Forest Relations) socioeconomic projects on the lives of Gümüşhane's forest villagers which took place between 2012 and 2022. In the cause of this study, surveys had been conducted with 121 forest village households among 16 forest villages through face-to-face interviews. The data in the questionnaires had been digitized and statistical analyses had been performed with SPSS 28.0 statistical software. The data's frequency and percentage distributions had been specified and their relations with the survey questions had been analyzed via the chi-square test. Eventually, it had been proclaimed that the participants respectively received; dairy cattle, beef cattle, solar water heating, dairy farming and microcredit support from ORKÖY subventions. Although, forest villagers stated that ORKÖY credits are beneficial, they also found the loan amounts low. It is obvious that the findings regarding positive consequences on forest villagers will create a useful impression to the concerned institutions. Key Words: Socioeconomics, Forest Villager, Solar Energy, Development.