Local people of Mound Ida (Kaz Dağı) have united against the planned gold mining activies in their villages. The movement of the villagers are growing through exchange of experiences and solidarity. Env.net subgrantee, Association for Protection of Natural and Cultural Assets of Mount Ida has started the movement and is stil very actively involved in the Project “People of Mount Ida Protecting Their Nature”.
In November, 2015 they have protested the mining company during the EIA meeting using their whistles and banners. They have organized many awareness raising events, distributed brochures in regards to the issue and through these activities they have gathered over 5,000 signatures against the gold mine. The association also organized a seminar, which involved 2 speakers. Berkay Atik, Board Member of the Wheat Association has emphasized the importance of supporting the local environmental activism and also local economic development and has suggested to form a network for the locals to sell their natural healthy products without intermediaries. He has also given some information about “food communities” and “community supported agriculture”.
In her speech Suheyla Dogan, the president of Association for Protection of Natural and Cultural Assets of Mount Ida has emphasized that empowering women has reflected on the development of the local villages.
UPDATE:
On Thursday June 9th, Association for Protection of Natural and Cultural Assets represantatives Ms Süheyla Doğan and Ms Olga Durel were hosted at the Env.net supported radio show produced by the Env.net team in TEMA Foundation called “Yeşil Dalga” (Green Wave) on “Açık Radyo” (Open Radio). The podcast of the broadcast in Turkish can be reached at the following link:
As part of its policy of meeting with local volunteers in each city, TEMA Foundation organised its fourth regional volunteering meeting on Saturday 7 May 2016 in Van, an ancient city in the eastern Turkey, where more than 150 TEMA Volunteers from the cities of Muş, Iğdır, Bingöl, Siirt, Bitlis, Ağrı and Van were gathered in.
The meeting started with the welcoming speech of Başak Yalvaç Özçağdaş, the head of the Volunteering and Field Coordination Department of TEMA Foundation. Following her speech, Chairwoman of the Board, Deniz Ataç and General Director Assoc. Prof. Barış Karapınar presented the last year’s achievements and future plans of the Foundation, concluding the morning session.
The afternoon session was organised with the support of Env.net project. First, Env.net project coordinator and climate policy officer Cem İskender Aydın first presented the env.net project and its past achievements, and then talked about climate justice and climate change. Following him, Atila Uras from UNDP-Turkey presented the Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals) which were agreed upon by the United Nations in 2015.
The meeting was concluded with a Q&A session, addressing the questions of the volunteers about TEMA Foundation and its policies regarding environmental issues.
On May 3rd, a closed workshop was organised by the env.net team in TEMA Foundation, to discuss the latest version of Turkey’s draft water law with the reknown experts from TEMA’s scientific advisory committee.
In the meeting, participants compared the two latest drafts of the law, shared with public: the 2012 and 2016 versions. It was agreed upon that the latest draft still failed to address the most important issues against the commoditisation and commercialisation of water. The experts, in unanimity, claimed that, although the law seems to bring many improvements regarding to the current condition, the discussed draft is still far from being complete and cannot be accepted as it is. The lack of a proper definition of water and missing statements against the non-commercialisation cancel out all the possible improvements and put the scarce water resources of the country in great danger.
The views discussed in the workshop were then put together by the env.net team and sent to the relevant stakeholders in the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs.
NGO Green Home as representative from the ENV.net Montenegro organized awareness event – round table „Harmonization of Montenegrin legislation with the EU acquis in the field of environment“. Round table took place in Podgorica on 6th June 2016.
The aim of this round table was to inform interested public concerning importance of the process of harmonization of Montenegrin legislation with the EU acquis in the field of environment and also to inform interested public about planned activity and intended results of relevant institutions as well as about achieved results so far and realized activities in the field of environment.
At the round table representatives of Ministry of sustainable development and tourism, Ministry of agriculture and rural development and Environmental protection agency held several presentations. Most of participants were students and interns of NGOs and Public institutions.
versions. It was agreed upon that the latest draft still failed to address the most important issues against the commoditisation and commercialisation of water. The experts, in unanimity, claimed that, although the law seems to bring many improvements regarding to the current condition, the discussed draft is still far from being complete and cannot be accepted as it is. The lack of a proper definition of water and missing statements against the non-commercialisation cancel out all the possible improvements and put the scarce water resources of the country in great danger.
