The civic initiative “To save Vodno” continues by collecting signatures against the mass urbanisation and destruction of the forest (“Skopje lungs”). The public petition began with a march to Vodno. Signatures will be collected on several locations: in City Park, and on the main square (on the street “Macedonia “).
The initiative “To Save Vodno” requires immediately stopping the progress of the construction of commercial buildings on Vodno, cutting of forest, destroying the tranquillity of animal habitats and penetration pathways that would generate motorised vehicles. Initiative believes that forest on Vodno is planted there to protect Skopje from air pollution, high temperatures and torrents which throughout history had flooded the city. The park – forest is a source of clean air and closest place for recreation for all social categories of citizens from Skopje. The initiative requires immediate defining of the boundaries of the park – forest Vodno and putting it under the care of the state.
ENV.net in Albania closed the open call for “Small Scale Environmental Interventions Initiatives” by 24th of February 2014, with 8 applications received within the deadline. During the month of March Co-PLAN, evaluated all 8 proposal through a transparent process, and selected to award 3 proposals as the followings:
– Eco Movement Group Albania, located in Tirana, with the project “Renewable energy for a poor village out of the grid“.
– Milieukontakt International, Albania, located in Tirana, with the project “School Energy Efficiency Standards (SEED)”.
– Aarhus Information Center, located in Vlora, with the project “Renewable energy initiatives, as important step toward the sustainable development”
On March 26, 2014, ATRC, in the framework of the regional project Env.Net organized the roundtable “The impact of transport on air quality in the municipality.” In the roundtable participated the representatives of the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of European Integration, Municipality of Prishtina, Ombudsman, independent agencies and institutes, and organizations of civil society. Through the discussion of this topic, ATRC has sought jointly with representatives of institutions, civil society and environmental experts to analyze the situation about air quality in Pristina and identify alternatives to reduce or eliminate pollution.
At the beginning of the roundtable, ATRC has presented the findings of a monitoring / evaluation of the situation, and then representatives of the Ministry of European Integration, Municipality of Prishtina, the Ombudsman, the Hydrometeorology Institute of Kosovo and civil society organizations have made separate presentations panels.
The roundtable participants concluded that transport in Prishtina is assessed as the second polluter after Obiliq power plants. Among the main causes of this condition are old cars, poor quality fuel oil, not good public transport and generally insufficient control of air quality. Representatives of civil society institutions agreed that they should work more on taking concrete steps to improve the quality of air transport.
In the context of preparations for the 2014 Progress Report, the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia is currently launching the round of consultations with the civil society. In this respect, they invited NSA to submit a written contribution to the to the 2014 Progress Report on the economic criteria and/or European standards.
EASD – ENV.net Serbia, prepared and sent to EC Delegation in Serbia, written contribution to the 2014 Progress Report- Chapter 27.
EASD representative will participate to the Economic Criteria Consultations which will take place at the at the EU Delegation to Serbia premises, on Friday 4 April.
On March 26th, 2014., the United Nation Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) organized the meeting with representatives of NGOs from Serbia at the Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection premises. NGOs working in environmental-related projects talked with the Environmental Performance Review (EPR) Team of UNECE, and it was a great opportunity to discuss some of the major environmental issues and to share experiences of our NGOs in carrying out environmental projects. Representative from Environmental Ambassadors gave a brief presentation of ENV.net project.
The effects of the projects that will affect the future of Istanbul, the 3rd Bridge, 3rd Airport and Channel Istanbul, were accumulated in a scientific report under the leadership of TEMA. The results of the Istanbul Projects Report were shared with public at a press conference on Tuesday, 25 March 2014.
Report shows the threats of these projects on the life support systems of Istanbul such as the northern forests, water basins, agricultural and meadow lands, underground water reservoirs and biodiversity were presented. The report was prepared in 7 months with the contribution of 16 scientists.
Prof. Dr. Nuran Zeren Gülersoy (İTÜ), Prof. Dr. Doğanay Tolunay (İÜ), Prof. Dr. Emin Özsoy (ODTÜ) Prof. Dr Haluk Gerçek (İTÜ) and TEMA President Deniz Ataç attended the press conference.
Identification and assessment of the current situation:
Access to natural assets and use of these assets are human and social rights.
Istanbul forests are considered as one of the 200 major ecological regions worldwide and one of the 100 forests that needs to be urgently protected in Europe.
The forests in the north of the city are very important for protecting the water basins and for enabling Northern winds to bring clean air to the city.
The Bosporus Bridge which was built in 1973 and the connection roads to the bridge caused the city to move northwards both in population and land use wise.
In 1988, the construction of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and TEM access road accelerated the destruction of the rural settlements and agricultural lands in the north part of the city as well as the destruction of the fresh water sources, water catchments and the forest areas.
On the 1/25.000 scale Zoning Plan for the North Marmara Highway, 26 junctions are planned within the 3rd Bridge and its connection roads. . These junctions will pave the way for new settlements in the area by connecting these watersheds, forests and agricultural areas with the rest of Istanbul. In this way as like in first and second bridge Istanbul will expand to the north.
25% of Istanbul is agricultural land. On the European side, especially on agricultural lands in Silivri and Çatalca region, it is possible to make dry or rain fed farming on 90% of the land.
Beneficial effects of urban forests on human and human environment can be listed below: support biodiversity, to reduce atmospheric carbon levels, improve air and water quality, to avoid noise pollution, to balance hot and cold temperatures and raise awareness of people living in urban cities on ecology and support human health.
The after effects of the projects:
The values that will be lost with the construction of these projects will be more than the ones that will be created.
The total forest land that will be cut for the construction of the 3rd airport and the 3rd bridge will be 8715 hectars. This is something like 8000 football fields.
The bridges will go on carrying the vehicles and the traffic will still be suspended. According to the projections, at rush hours, all the three bridges will be blocked by heavy traffic.
Because of the excavations for the runway, apron and upper structure of the 3rd airport, natural forest lands and more than 70 lakes and ponds that have wildlife will be damaged. Agricultural and meadow lands and especially the creeks and streams that feed the Terkos Lake will be endangered.
There will be a decrease in the ecosystem services provided by the forests. These services are water production, climate regulation, CO2 absorption, oxygen production, decreasing of air pollution, providing living environment for the wildlife, timber and wood production. Also habitat fragmentation will occur. Istanbul is located on one of the most important bird emigration routes which pass over Lake Terkos and the Belgrad Forest. The local and migratory birds living at these regions are under the protection of the Bern Convention. Projects that are planned to be built along the migration routes of birds, will destroy their living habitats. This will also constitute risk for airplane accidents.
The differences that will be created on air and climate conditions with the construction of these projects, will affect the local climate first, then it will expand to the regional scale. The projects will adversely affect the heat and moisture flow, temperature, humidity, evaporation, cloud formation and wind parameters and local distribution patterns and those areas will turn into urban heat areas.
If the Canal Istanbul project is constructed at the Sazlıdere basin, Istanbul which already has limited water resources will face a very serious threat. Terkos-Kasatura sea shore, which is among the 122 most important plant areas of Turkey, will be adversely affected by the Canal Istanbul project. The areas on which the Istanbul projects are planned to be constructed are ecologically fragile areas and must be conserved for sustainable life. These areas are the habitats of several endemic plant and animals. The projects will harm the flora and fauna of Istanbul.
The loss of agricultural land will not be limited to the permits for construction along the route of the channel. The damage will be multiplied by the uncontrollable constructions that will be a part of the neighborhood of the channel. Canal Istanbul will harm the underground water reserves under Silivri, Çatalca and Büyükçekmece provinces that have the potential to irrigate large areas of agricultural land.
The routes of İstanbul Trakya Railroad, TEM and E5 Highway, similar important roads will have to be shifted because of Canal İstanbul. Also the places of historical Terkos-Alibey water gallery and Ataköy waste water collector and routes of important water transmission lines will have to be changed or rerouted.
By carrying on these projects, Turkey will be violating a lot of international conventions. The international conventions on the protection of the nature have to be applied as Turkish laws and legislations. With the realization of the bridge and its adjoining roads, a large number of international conventions will be violated.
According to the Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed by Turkey, although there is no obligation for a commitment to decrease greenhouse gas levels, destruction of the forests that are important agents in the absorption of carbon, is against the regulations of these conventions. For all projects, comprehensive analysis on the public benefit and ecosytem damage must be undertaken to see the pros and cons of the projects.
It is projected that by the projects to be done at the land areas protected by the international conventions, Büyükçekmece Lake, Küçükçekmece Lake, Terkos Lake, Ömerli basin and West İstanbul meadows will be significantly damaged. In addition to these, ecosystems at important nature areas like sand dunes at Kilyos and Ağaçlı on Black sea coast, West İstanbul meadows near Alibeyköy dam, The Bosphorus, Şile coast, Ömerli basin and Pendik valley, will be damaged. While the short term economical values related to agricultural and forest lands that have direct economical profits are receiving recognition whereas the other ecosystem functions are neglected since their functions don’t carry direct economical value.
Executive Summary of the Report in English will be ready in the upcoming days.
First photograph of the week is from TEMA Karaman Volunteer Representatives. In this photo, our Uncle Ömer is planting a tree within the scope of Forest Week activities at Karaman-Mut. He presents us a good example of being active in life despite his advancing age.
Photograph 2
The second photo of the week is from our Malatya City Volunteer Representatives. We want to present this photo, taken during a bicycle tour into the nature. .According to our volunteer Tolgahan Ateş who had taken this photo: “Cycling is life. It motivates people. You can’t even realize you are flying. TEMA is also life. It invites you to nature. In this way you feel yourself purified and revitalized.”
Photograph 3
The last photo of the week is from the Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Young TEMA. On the World Water Day, to get attention and create awareness on the importance of water, young TEMAs walked in front of the Trojan Horse at the city center square with the t-shirts they designed, just like other young TEMAs did in various places across Turkey.
ENV.net Serbia received, within due deadline, 83 applications and through ENV.net transparent process 2 proposals have been selected for funding:
– Association for protection and improvement of environment and built heritage – “Protego”, Subotica: Species of plants and animals of special conservation concern in EU
– Centre for development of the Civil Society PROTECTA, Nis: My choice, my rights – healthy environment!
We are looking forward to work together with these grantees to support them in achieving ENV.net common goals.
TEMA started to share photos from its volunteers each week.
This week the first photo is from TEMA Karabük Volunteer Representatives. They opened a stand to introduce TEMA activities and projects while recruiting new volunteers.
Second photo is from Konya Necmettin Erbakan University TEMA Youth community. After the plantation activity in a district of Konya, Karapınar, just as the TEMA Youth members posed for the cameras, strong wind appeared. This is especially meaningful since Karapınar is the region in Turkey with the strongest wind erosion.
The last photograph of the week is from Antalya, from the Natural Heroes Training for Trainers for TEMA Youth. Training was supported by the charity runners’ Project ‘Step to Save the World’.
ENV.net has officially launched its training programme. The training calendar is available here.
The first 3-day training session will be organised in Tirana from 15th to 17th April 2014, targeting key staff of Albanian CSOs (NGOs/CBOs, youth organisations, academic institutions, and other type of no-profit organisations)involved in the planning and management of EU-funded development programmes and in selected areas of the EU environmental policy.
The course shall provide a general understanding of the necessary steps to be successful in getting funds from the EU and enable participants to actively participate in call for proposals launched by the European Commission and the EU Delegation for projects to be implemented in Albania or abroad. Moreover, participants will improve their capacity in preparing effective project proposals by using the logframe approach. The second part of the training will focus on selected areas of the EU environmental policy – namely the EU Climate and Energy policy and 7th Environmental Action Programme – and enable participants to understand better how to get involved in the work on environmental policy at both the EU and national levels and monitor country’s progress to comply with theEU requirements.
