Issue: 61
The cabinet’s decree published in the Official Gazette will place the Saros Gulf’s natural assets, historical and cultural resources, biological diversity and underwater and above water living organisms and nonliving things under protection and lead to the forming, revision and approval of development plans for the area.
The cabinet’s decision represents fulfillment of one of the commitments of the “Strengthening Protected Area Network of Turkey: Catalyzing Sustainability of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas” project where the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is the implementing partner.
The project is conducted by The Environmental Protection Agency for Special Areas (EPASA) as the executing agency on behalf of Ministry of Environment and Forestry with the partnership of the General Directorate for Nature Conservation and National Parks and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs General Directorate of Protection and Control, under the financial support of Global Environment Facility (GEF).
In the scope of efforts concerning the Saros Gulf SEPA, EPASA representatives will visit the area to prepare an action plan to resolve shortcomings in terms of protection-development, environment and infrastructue needs and planning.
Gökova is also on the agenda
75 thousand hectares of the Gulf of Saros is now placed under EPASA management while the Gökova SEPA is further extended 50.000 hectares.
With the decree, the number of SEPAs in Turkey increased to 15, expanding the total area of the SEPAs to over 1 million hectares. The total coastline of SEPAs reached 195 kilometers while the marine and coastal protected areas reached over 270 thousand hectares.
WWF-Turkey is an active partner in “Enhancing Forest Protected Areas Management System in Turkey” project. What is the importance of this project? Can you briefly tell us about your role in the project?
Fighting against degradation of natural areas and severe effects of climate change, the number of protected areas, which are the safety nets of life on earth, are still not enough. To top this off, it is still not possible to say that effective nature conservation mechanisms are in place in many countries of the world. With its protected areas remaining at 6 percent and lacking effective management, Turkey is among these countries. The Convetinon on Biodiversity, Conference of Parties organized this year in Nagoya set higher targets for countries. Under these circumstances, one of WWF strategic goals is to increase the number of protected areas on earth and to contribute to the effective management of these areas.
With “Enhancing Forest Protected Areas Management System in Turkey” project carried out with the support of the Global Environment Fund (GEF) in partnership with UNDP and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, is one of the most important tools in reaching this target.
In short, the most important role we take on in the scope of the project is developing local capacities for effective nature conservation and ensuring technical support for the national park to be part of the PAN Parks system. To serve this objective, a series of activities like preparing a sustainable tourism strategy for the national park, biodiversity and nature conservation training programmes for engineers and forest rangers, establishing a local volunteer system and preparing communication, awareness and advocacy strategies are carried out by WWF-Turkey.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is also a project partner. What can you say about your partnership with UNDP?
After Küre Mountains were declared a national park in the year 2000, the first and foremost assignment for the Ministry and WWF-Turkey as well as for other interest groups was to realize a series of targets on paper. This long list included forming the administrative infrastructure with adequate number of personnel, necessary equipment and visitor’s services, for the effective protection of the national park; the promotion of the site; developing ecotourism and alternative sources of income for the local people; establishing a system for biodiversity research and monitoring and increasing environmental awareness.
Undoubtedly, the opportunities presented by a project with resource and time limitations may not be enough to realize these ambitious objectives listed above. Still, the project has an important role in contributing to the initial milestones for these goals. We came to this point, the point of implementing this project, through many rough paths. There is great effort behind this project.
UNDP Turkey’s immense contribution has brought the project to the implementation stage. We are aware that UNDP Turkey’s trust in all project partners, including WWF-Turkey has an important role to play in the organization’s decisive attitude in this path. This is why, we are trying our best to carry out our role within the scope of the project, we also benefit from our own resources and the global WWF network to reach our common goals.
Programme of Work on Protected Areas was translated into Turkish and the Protected Areas and Climate Change Draft National Strategy was prepared with project partners in this scope are important examples of these benefits. Our cooperation with UNDP is not limited to the Küre Mountains. We owe the realization of the Black Sea Toolkit to this cooperation in the scope of “Every Drop Matters” initiative run with the support of Coca-Cola. With this project which aims to increase awareness among primary school children about the Black Sea’s biological assets and ecological challenges, we have trained over 500 teachers. Our goal is to reach two thousand teachers and hundreds of thousands of students.
As biodiversity loss and global climate change move towards points of no return, cooperation between important actors like UNDP and WWF is not only an expression of goodwill but an inevitable necessity.
Like UNDP, WWF-Turkey has been working in the Küre Mountains National Park and buffer zone for quite a while. Can you please tell us a little bit about the work you are doing in the region?
Above all else, Küre Mountains has an important place in WWF’s nature conservation strategy. Our interest in the region dates back to the 1990s. During the period when we were carrying out projects like “Important Plant Areas” and “Important Bird Areas” across Turkey, the phenemonal landscapes as well as the intactness, wilderness, biological richness and rare and endangered species and habitats in the Küre Mountains caught our attention.
We also proposed the Küre Mountains as one of “European Forest Hotspots” in the scope of WWF’s international campaign “The Living Planet”, launched a thousand days before the new millennium in 1997. As a result, Küre Mountains was chosen one of Turkey’s nine hotspots. During the same period, we were not only a loyal ally in the scope of a project run in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UNDP and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in the process of declaring the area a national park using an innovative and participatory approach.
The Küre Mountains were also one of the best places to watch the solar eclipse on 11 August 1999. An international media trip to the site and the Minister’s declaration of the area as a national park to be followed by other hotspots, were some of the milestones in this process. In an international ceremony held in the UK, Küre Mountains were chosen as “Turkey’s Gift to the Earth” by WWF in the scope of the “Living Planet” campaign.
However, the real work started after all of this. In this process, together with local units of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, local administrators, local associations and villagers, I believe we created one of the best examples in cooperation and partnership on nature conservation. The most important issues were local capacity building in nature conservation and ecotourism development. The mansion in Pınarbaşı and 20 nature guides who have been trained are some of the most concrete examples. New ones are added to these every day.
New visitor centers were established by Provincial Directorates of Environment and Forestry. Azdavay Yanık Ali Mansion ve Zümrüt Village are products of Küre Mountains Ecotourism Association, a real grassroot organization born and bred in our hands, grown and now standing on its own.
The Küre Mountains are now known by more people both in Turkey and around the world compared to 10-15 years ago and there is an increased desire to visit the place. The mountains draw interest not just because of their natural beauty but also because of exemplary works in the field of nature conservation. I must however, draw attention to keeping the balance in not exceeding the carrying capacity of the area and protection of the site.
From here on, our common vision together with our partners is to get a “PAN Parks” certificate. Similar to “blue flag beaches” but more than that, cleaner, better protected, maintaining wilderness, providing good accomodation and guidance services for visitors and contributing the welfare of the local communities. Our main aim is to ensure that the Küre Mountains National Park become a part of Europe’s elite national parks.
What is the importance of civil society organizations in the conservation of Turkey’s nature and in sustainable resource use? What is your take on the ongoing efforts?
Located in a junction of three continents, we have a rich biological heritage in which we take much pride. Against increasing extensive threats and pressures, this rich heritage also imposes a great responsibility on us. We have a lot of work to do, our opponents are strong but our capacity and means are limited. Civil society organizations in our country and the community that supports them is at a much lower level compared to that of developed countries.
In these circumstances, the development of civil society organizations to be more important players in nature conservation and sustainable resource use is of critical importance. In this respect, CSOs need to be more effective and public institutions need to be more willing to share. As part of an international nature conservation network, the role we took upon ourselves as WWF-Turkey, is to offer knowledge and experiences from around the world to Turkey through innovative methods and approaches. We do this by executing best practices in protected area management in Küre Mountains and Kaş-Kekova, sustainable water use in the Konya Basin, protecting sea turtles in Çıralı and Akyatan, and by contributing to the development and formulation of national strategies and policies.
On the other hand, local CSOs and local communities in particular, are increasingly raising their voices in favour of these threats and pressures. This is really important progress. In a geography where threats are extensive and multi-dimensional, a more comprehensive and integral nature conservation can be ensured if all individuals and local CSOs play an active role in maintaining sustainable resource use in their own communities.
To make sure that necessary conditions are set, meaning that they are supported by adequate tools, is the job of international organisations like WWF-Turkey. The recently launched “Turkey’s Life” (“Türkiye’nin Canı”) campaign aims to do just that. We invite interested individuals to visit our website at: www.turkiyenincani.org
You are one of the experienced civil society organizations in Turkey in the field of nature conservation. You have a plethora of creative campaigns. Can you provide brief information about WWF-Turkey’s mission and activities at the international and national levels?
We are the Turkish national organization of the world’s leading nature conservation institution, the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF). “For a living planet” being its motto, WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. We do this by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the sustainable use of renewable natural resources, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. We try to be effective in a wide range of topics from international and national policy making to sectoral practices, from social awareness to best practices.
The paths of WWF, founded in Switzerland in 1961, and Society for the Protection of Nature, founded in Turkey in 1975 and known for its efforts to protect northern bald ibises, sea turtles and wetlands, crossed in the 1980s. The association’s several nature conservation projects are supported by WWF. The relationship which continues with the association becoming a member of WWF in the 90s, results in the establishment of the Fund for the Protection of Nature in 1996 and the foundation taking on the name of WWF-Turkey in 2001.
Today, WWF-Turkey which is part of a global network with over five million supporters, over 40 national and regional offices, running more than a thousand projects in 100 countries worldwide, follows worldwide progress in biological diversity, climate change and sustainable resource use, introduces new concepts such as “RAPPAM”, “PAN Parks”, “Ecological Footprints” and the knowledge and experiences of the worldwide network to the benefit of our country. We try to act as a bridge between the universal and the local, by carrying our lessons learned to the world. In doing so, our approach is to cooperate openly and constructively with governmental institutions, the private sector and local communities. After all, we embarked on this journey in the interest of our own country, our world and future generations.
The system aims to ensure the effective management of areas subject to National Parks Law (No. 2873), the effective allocation of expertise and resources, the timely and accurate identification of factors negatively affecting management effectiveness and the development of policies to overcome these problems.
In order to introduce the new monitoring system, a workshop titled “Protected Areas Management Effectiveness Monitoring System in Turkey” was held in Antalya on 15-17 December 2010. This workshop was organized within the framework of “Enhancing Forest Protected Areas Management System in Turkey“ project.
A group of 50 experts comprised of national park administrators, representatives from the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks and civil society organizations from across Turkey, attended the workshop at the end of which a system to evaluate and monitor the management effectiveness of national parks and nature parks was established.
It was agreed that the “Protected Areas Management Effectiveness Monitoring Tracking Tool” used by international organizations such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) will also be used in Turkey.
First implemented in Olympos
Fieldwork conducted in the scope of the workshop, participants filled out “Protected Areas Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool” form for the Olympos Beydağları Coastal National Park to evaluate the management effectiveness of the area.
Head of the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit Ministry of Environment and Forestry General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks Mustafa Yılmaz said the following about the system to be implemented for the first time in Turkey:
“The Yozgat Pine Forest was established as the first national park in Turkey, in 1958 . Until recently, the 41 national and 41 nature parks in Turkey were managed based on the effective usage of expertise and the allocation of resources. However, the success and failure of the effective use of expertise and resources was not possible with the existing management system because of the lack of a monitoring mechanism. The desired level of institutionalization in the more effective management of protected areas, had not yet been reached.
Moreover, according to goals outlined in the “Programme of Work on Protected Areas” prepared in the scope of the Convention on Biological Diversity, to which Turkey is a party, Turkey needed to determine the extent to which protected areas are managed effectively, and develop monitoring, evaluation and reporting frameworks to focus its implementation efforts towards national and regional systems by 2010.
This is why a team formed under the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks Department of National Parks Monitoring and Evaluation Unit will begin to implement the new monitoring system for all national and nature parks in 2011. With the evaluations which will be conducted periodically once every 3 years, the team will monitor the management effectiveness, progress and trends in protected areas and national reports will be prepared.”
The strategic partnership will create institutional support by integrating inclusive market development issues in learning and research at one of Turkey’s leading business management institutions.
The partnership will lead to the establishment of an academic initiative on inclusive markets in Turkey, where academic research on issues like value chains and clustering in Turkey as well as South Eastern European countries and the Commonwealth of Independent States will be conducted. This will support the integration of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and small producers into international and local value chains.
By partnering with UNDP Turkey in the scope of regional Growing Inclusive Markets (GIM) initiative, Koç University is taking a step further in responding to the global call for business schools and other academic associations to advance corporate social responsibility worldwide and to respond to the need for developing more inclusive markets.
As a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) – a framework for academic institutions to advance the broader cause of corporate social responsibility and incorporate universal values into curricula and research – Koç University’s Graduate School of Business will be an active partner to promote the inclusive markets in the faculty.
This will increase awareness about the Growing Inclusive Markets (GIM) initiative in Turkey and target project countries and present an opportunity for students to participate in relevant research and advocacy activities.
This main objective will be supported by the facilitation of graduate level research and teaching on inclusive business models, market development and sustainability at the Base of the Pyramid and of ongoing mapping of local stakeholders from the government, civil society, private sector and the larger donor community in the area of inclusive businesses and markets.
UNDP organized four seminars for the Koç GSB MBA students for their “new venture” course. In this course, students will develop new enterprises with a responsible and inclusive perspective. The first seminar on poverty and poverty measurement aimed to improve MBA students’ understanding of poverty and familiarize them with the human development concept. At the second seminar, UNDP Private Sector Programme Manager Hansın Doğan informed the students on Corporate Social Responsibility and presented the Turkish experience. The third seminar focused on the concept of “Base of the Pyramid”. The final seminar, presented UNDP’s “inclusive market development” initiative, through case study analysis where a discussion on how to use the new Growing Inclusive Markets (GIM) website and inclusive business models database for analyses took place.
To further these studies, UNDP and Koç University GSB has agreed to organize a workshop on the Base of the Pyramid and inclusive business models for Turkish business community executives.
The Growing Inclusive Markets (GIM) initiative aims to catalyze more inclusive markets in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, through advocating for the development of inclusive business models and by creating an appropriate enabling environment for human progress and development.
UNDP Turkey plays an integral part in the GIM initiative together with the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) to respond to specific regional challenges.
Launched in December 2010, the project is implemented by the General Directorate of Electrical Power Survey and Development Administration (EIE) under the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Turkish White Goods Manufacturer’s Association (TÜRKBESD) and Arçelik A.Ş.
Project Manager Necmettin Tokur explained the project objectives in detail in an interview with New Horizons.
UNDP Turkey: Why is there a need for this project in Turkey?
Necmettin Tokur (N.T.): Considering the consistent increase in Turkey’s net energy consumption figures and particularly the fact that nearly electrical household appliances consume 30 percent of total energy in buildings, achieving a fast market transformation towards more energy efficient appliances will provide a valuable contribution to the efforts to reduce energy consumption. Compared to a “business as usual” scenario, this will directly reduce total GHG emissions in Turkey.
By increasing energy efficient appliances sales and accelerating the phase-out of old and less energy efficient appliances, the overall project aims to achieve energy savings and corresponding reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through market transformation. The project thus fully matches the foregoing concerns and serves Turkey in her efforts to ensure energy efficiency.
UNDP Turkey: As consumers of appliances, we see that there is already a labeling system in place. Is this project a part of the already established system? What will you do differently?
N.T.: Well, regarding the concept of energy labeling system, yes the project will be part of the existing system “partially”. However, the project also aims to accelerate transposition by Turkish governmental institutions of new European regulations on eco-design and energy labeling which imposes higher (or stricter) energy efficiency standards in energy usage and energy related products (shift from class A towards A+, A++ and A+++). This entails suiting the capacity building needs of project partners (i.e. the Ministry of Industry and Trade) in order to accelerate market transformation through legal enforcement.
Another fact to keep in mind is that the purchase price of the product, in this case the appliance, is the most important driver for the consumers while the concept of energy labeling system still remains a tool for the consumer to be informed on the energy performance of the products.
Even though the labeling system proposes a shift towards more energy efficient products, and raises consumer awareness, enforcement mechanisms, financial support mechanisms and the enforcement capacity of countries are still important in moving towards energy efficiency.
Therefore, the project will try to change consumer attitudes towards energy efficient products through creative awareness raising activities and developing financial support mechanisms including carbon financing.
UNDP Turkey: What are the project objectives and how will they be achieved?
N.T.: As briefly mentioned before, the four main objectives of the project are as follows:
This will be achieved by establishing a partnership between supply side institutions (i.e. Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources) and demand side institutions (i.e. Ministry of Industry and Trade); reviewing existing energy efficient appliances policies, gaps in institutional organizations and new European regulations affecting energy efficiency of appliances, and developing recommendations on removing these gaps and changes in existing policies to effectively implement new regulations; establishing a well-structured market monitoring system for the purpose of monitoring energy consumption figures (for EIE) and for market surveillance purposes (for MoIT); training the public authorities to develop and implement energy efficiency regulation.
This will be achieved by testing the proposed compliance checking and enforcement programme for targeted products and training of market surveillance and testing personnel to implement the proposed program.
This will be achieved by conducting consumer survey to determine key drivers of consumers; designing and implementing specific marketing campaigns based on the results of these surveys both to increase sale of energy efficient appliances and to accelerate phase-out of old and inefficient appliances; designing and implementing a website to support consumers’ choice towards energy efficient appliances; and training sales staff on marketing techniques and methods to increase sales of energy efficient appliances.
This is perhaps the most important outcome of the project, because since the project will be implemented during a 4 year period, it is particularly important to ensure the sustainability and permanency of project outcomes. This will be achieved by making the project recommendations towards capacity building part of enforcement organization and activities of governmental institutions; increasingly including the energy efficiency aspects in the curricula of educational institutions and implementing research studies in universities; and elaborating financial support mechanisms to accelerate proposed market transformation.
UNDP Turkey: What role is UNDP playing in the implementation of the project? What are the roles of both public and private sector partners?
N.T.: UNDP will ensure effective management of the project and oversight of the project budget through the Project Management Unit. As the executing agency EIE will coordinate project implementation, facilitate contacts and consultations with different project stakeholders and provide and leverage governmental co-financing. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will transpose and implement appliance specific regulations (i.e. EU regulations) and implement market surveillance of products under energy labeling and ecodesign regulations. TÜRKBESD will participate awareness raising and training activities under the project and provide market data. Arçelik A.Ş. will assign senior staff to support project activities and make contributions to public awareness raising, training activities and promotional campaigns.