In biodiversity and habitat conservation, Turkey’s 121. rank is in the bottom 8%
Yale University of USA published the 2012 World Environment Performance Index (EPI): http://epi.yale.edu/epi2012/rankings
Turkey, aiming to become one of the top ten economies of the world, was ranked 109th among 132 countries evaluated for the 2012 Environmental Performance Index, ending near the bottom in environmental health and nature conservation. Ranked 77th out of 163 countries in 2010, Turkey’s EPI rank fell 32 spots in just two years. In other words, Turkey’s environmental performance ranked above 86 countries (53% of the countries evaluated) in 2010, while in 2012 it ranked above only 23 countries (17% of the countries evaluated).
Worse yet, in the category of biodiversity and habitat conservation, Turkey ranked 140th out of the 163 countries evaluated in 2010, falling behind 86% of the countries. This year, Turkey ranked 121st out of the 132 countries evaluated. This means that in this category Turkey is behind 92% of the world’s countries, ranking among the lowest 8% of the countries including Eritrea, Haiti, Moldovia, Libya, and Iraq.
In 2012, Turkey showed its best performance in the forests category, ranking 42nd. In the categories of environmental health, such as air and water pollution, it ranked 67th overall. In contrast, Turkey showed its worst performance in the categories of ecosystem vitality (118th), biodiversity and habitats (121st), and ecosystem effects of water sources(114th).
Regarding environmental issues, the Yale EPI classified Turkey among other weak performers, while in the categories of protecting biodiversity and habitats it was categorized among the weakest performing countries. For instance, Turkey fell behind Angola, Armenia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Congo, Mozambique, Moldova, Serbia and Sudan. Among European countries, only Bosnia Herzegovina was ranked lower than Turkey in the 2012 Environmental Performance Index.
In the EPI, the top performers were dominated by the European countries, including Latvia, Norway, Luxemburg, Costa Rica, France, Austria, Italy, England and Sweden. Libya, Bosnia Herzegovina, India, Kuwait, Yemen, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iraq were the weakest performers.
University of Utah biology professor Dr Çağan Şekercioğlu, who published key papers on Turkey’s unique, globally important and threatened biodiversity, had the following to say on Turkey’s disappointing performance in the 2012 Environmental Performance Index:
“With my colleagues, we recently published papers in Biological Conservation and Science where we summarized the unique natural heritage of Turkey and how fast it has been disappearing. We also pointed out that the country suffers from insufficient conservation management. Unfortunately, the situation is getting worse and Turkey’s poor performance in protecting its natural heritage is attracting the world’s attention. In 2012, Turkey fell behind 92% of the world’s countries in the category of biodiversity and natural areas according to the Yale University World Environment Index. For a country whose economy is the 17. largest in the world in the world, this failure to protect its natural heritage is embarrassing. This index shows again that global measures of development should not be solely based on monetary measures such as GDP, financial wealth, construction or dams. If we examine the top-ranked countries in the environmental index, we can see that these countries also have the highest degree of welfare, education, life standards and overall happiness. They include countries like Switzerland, Norway, Luxemburg, Austria, England and Sweden, and represent the kind of countries people would like to live in most, combining a healthy environment together with a high standard of life. On the other hand, the countries that rank above or near Turkey in the environmental performance index, such as Angola, Congo, Mozambique, Moldova, Sudan, Syria, Haiti and Nigeria, are mostly impoverished and unhappy places, plagued by civil war or other serious problems. Our country is unique in that it is almost entirely covered by three global biodiversity hotspots.We should not rank among the weakest performing countries in the various environmental indices. We, the KuzeyDoğa Society, are trying hard to help conserve Turkey’s rich natural heritage with projects like Turkey’s First Wildlife Corridor, in collaboration with the Ministry Of Forestry and Water Works. However, conserving natural heritage of Turkey should be the most important mission of every citizen. Our leaders are accountable for an environmental policy that has ranked Turkey among the weakest environmental performers in the world, We can only join the ranks of other modern and civilized countries with high environmental health standards by taking the necessary steps to protect the rich natural heritage of Turkey.”
