Turkey hosts more than three thousand endemic plant species, has high
diversity of other taxa, and is almost entirely covered by three of the world's thirty-five
biodiversity hotspots.
Although some environmental pressures have been decoupled from
economic growth
Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...
the environment still faces many threats, such as
coal and
diesel fuel emitting greenhouse gases and deadly fine particulate
air pollution. there is no fine particulate limit and
coal in Turkey is subsidized. Some say the country is a
pollution haven.
Issues
Conservation of biodiversity
The
wildlife of Turkey
The wildlife of Turkey is abundant and very varied. Turkey is a large country with many geographic and climatic regions and a great diversity of plants and animals, each suited to its own particular habitat. About 1500 species of vertebrates have ...
is diverse, due to its wide variety of habitats and unique position between three continents and three seas. "Ill-considered development projects are threatening biodiversity, but a new
wildlife corridor offers hope for further conservation progress."
Turkish montane forests face major threats to their genetic diversity associated with over-exploitation, forest fragmentation, air pollution, and global
climatic change
''Climatic Change'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media covering cross-disciplinary work on all aspects of climate change and variability. It was established in 1978 and the editors-in-chief ...
.
The
European Environment Agency
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) which provides independent information on the environment.
Definition
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) which provides i ...
has identified three
biogeographic regions
A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions.
De ...
in Turkey, the
Black Sea,
Mediterranean and
Anatolian
Anatolian or anatolica may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the region Anatolia
* Anatolians, ancient Indo-European peoples who spoke the Anatolian languages
* Anatolian High School, a type of Turkish educational institution
* Anatol ...
regions, which should be protected under the
Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, to which Turkey is signatory.
Forest in Turkey
Forest now covers just over a quarter of Turkey, but 4000 years ago most of the country was forested. The country is reforesting, which is important for the wildlife of Turkey.
History
Forest cover before the formation of the Republic in 192 ...
had a 2018
Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.39/10, ranking it 75th globally out of 172 countries.
Air pollution
Air pollution is particularly significant in urban areas; the problem is especially acute in
Istanbul,
Ankara,
Erzurum, and
Bursa
( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...
, where the combustion of heating fuels increases particulate density in winter. Almost all the urban population is exposed to particulate matter emissions higher than the EU and World Health Organization limits. Especially in Istanbul, increased car ownership causes frequent urban smog conditions. "Air pollution in urban centers, often caused by transport, and the use of small-scale burning of wood or
coal, is linked to a range of health problems." "PM10 levels are 36.7 micrograms per cubic meter, much higher than the OECD average of 20.9 micrograms per cubic meter, and the annual guideline limit of 20 micrograms per cubic meter set by the World Health Organization." Although there is some monitoring of air pollution compared with other European countries, many air pollution indicators are not available. Regulations in Turkey do not contain any restrictions on the pollutant PM 2.5, which causes lung diseases. Greenpeace Mediterranean claim that the
Afşin
Afşin is a town and district of Kahramanmaraş Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey.
Afşin-Elbistan power stations
Two coal fired power stations are operational and are said to be damaging health via air pollution
Air po ...
-
Elbistan coal-fired plant
A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide, there are about 8,500 coal-fired power stations totaling over 2,000 gigawatts capacity. They generate about a th ...
is the power plant with the highest health risk in Europe, followed by the
Soma
Soma may refer to:
Businesses and brands
* SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects
* Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems
* SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...
coal-fired power plant, also in Turkey.
Waste disposal
many municipalities use substandard dumps to dispose of waste.
Noise
Environmental noise data is not reported.
Climate change
Summer temperatures have increased and are expected to continue to increase due to climate change.
Coal in Turkey emits a third of the country's greenhouse gas.
Water
Pollution
Organic pollution of streams is a problem. There is a potential for
spills from the 5,000 oil- and gas-carrying ships that pass through the
Bosporus annually.
Drought
Turkey is at risk of
water shortages
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is wher ...
. Almost three quarters of water that is consumed is used for
irrigation in
agriculture.
Land degradation
Land degradation is a critical agricultural problem, caused by inappropriate use of agricultural land,
overgrazing, or over-fertilization,. Serious soil erosion has occurred in 69% of Turkey's land surface. A national soil information system is being developed as presently 'it is difficult to assess the levels of
land degradation, desertification or
soil contamination'.
Green space in cities
Former military land in cities may be rezoned for housing.
Laws and regulations
The first
Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
Directive 2008/1/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control is a directive of the European Union. It replaces the Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 on ...
permits are expected to be issued in 2024, to use
best available techniques but to use the least stringent emission levels (of those specified in EU 2017-1442). In 2021 ships were banned from using open-loop scrubbers in national waters.
Politics
Environmental issues are becoming more politically sensitive. Changes in the law on environmental impact assessments are being considered which will permit mining investments without waiting for environmental impact assessments. The EU has asked for "a stronger political commitment". In 2019 Turkey was one of five countries which voted against the proposed UN Global Pact for the Environment.
Economics
Ecotaxes on
gasoline,
diesel fuel and vehicles cover the
social cost of carbon from the road transport sector, however being nationwide they are not designed to cover the
negative externality
In economics, an externality or external cost is an indirect cost or benefit to an uninvolved third party that arises as an effect of another party's (or parties') activity. Externalities can be considered as unpriced goods involved in either co ...
of health costs due to local air pollution in cities.
Subsidies
Turkey continues to provide substantial environmentally harmful subsidies, such as subsidies for poor families to use coal for heating.
Restrictions on public access to information
Turkey is not a party to the
Aarhus Convention, and the
EU and
OECD say the government should remove restrictions on access to environmental information: researchers say the government is punishing them for publishing information about pollution.
See also
*
Water supply and sanitation in Turkey
*''
Polluting Paradise
''Polluting Paradise'' (german: Der Müll im Garten Eden, also known as ''Garbage in the Garden of Eden'') is a 2012 German documentary film directed by Fatih Akın. The film was screened in the Special Screenings section at the 2012 Cannes Film ...
'', a 2012 documentary film about the village of Çamburnu, which has been turned into a rubbish dump by the government
*
2013 protests in Turkey
A wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Turkey began on 28 May 2013, initially to contest the urban development plan for Istanbul's Taksim Gezi Park. The protests were sparked by outrage at the violent eviction of a sit-in at the park prote ...
, which were sparked by environmental issues
*
TEMA Foundation
The Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion ( tr, Türkiye Erozyonla Mücadele, Ağaçlandırma ve Doğal Varlıkları Koruma Vakfı), better known in abbreviated form as TEMA, is a non-governmental organization (NGO) for reforestation and t ...
, an environmental organisation
External links
Biodiversity in TurkeyConvention on Biological Diversity "Çevre Kuruluşları Dayanışma Derneği" environmental organizationEkosfer environmental organizationSefia environmental organization
Sources
*
*
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Environmental Issues In Turkey
Issues
Turkey
Environmentalism in Turkey