WITH WILDLIFE CORRIDOR, TURKEY TACKLES AN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS
Christian Science Monitor
March 2 2012
In Turkey, where conservation tends to get short shrift,
environmentalists are excited about a plan to create a 58,000-acre
wildlife corridor in hopes of bolstering dwindling populations of
wolves, bears, and lynxes.
By Alexander Christie-Miller, Correspondent / March 2, 2012 Kars,
Turkey
“This is an Armenian plot,” mutters a farmer as ecologists explain
what may be Turkey’s most ambitious wildlife conservation project ever,
right in his backyard.
But in fact, the government is behind it. This summer, officials expect
to begin the reforestation of a 58,000-acre corridor of land that
will connect the isolated Sarikamis National Park and its shrinking
population of wolves, bears, and lynxes to a swath of territory in
the Caucasus.
In a country where environmentalists are often greeted with official
hostility and public indifference, the plan has generated rare optimism
among scientists warning of an impending ecological crisis.
SEE ALSO: Five hotbeds of biodiversity
“This is the biggest landscape-scale active conservation project ever
undertaken in the country,” says Cagan Sekercioglu, a professor of
biology at the University of Utah who proposed the corridor. “We’re
hoping this will reduce human-predator contact and encourage these
animals to access much larger and more resource-rich forests along
the Black Sea and Caucasus.”
But near the route of the corridor, which will run close to the border
with Turkey’s historic enemy Armenia, ecologists got mixed reactions
from villagers. “Why can’t the government just fence the wolves inside
the park?” asked one sheep farmer.
Onder Cirik, projects coordinator for KuzeyDoga, the wildlife charity
founded by Mr. Sekercioglu that has spearheaded the corridor project,
says that ecological awareness is poor. “People in Turkey have no
idea of the importance of biological diversity and of how fast it is
being lost.”
When it comes to wildlife, Turkey has a lot to lose. Sitting astride
one of the world’s most biologically diverse nontropical regions,
it hosts more known endemic species than all of Europe combined,
with some 3,000 plants unique to the country.
New plants and animals are found at a rate faster than one a week. The
Taurus ground squirrel was first discovered only in 2007. But as
the economy booms – growing an estimated 8.3 percent last year –
housing and roads are taking precedence over conservation.
Ecologists accuse the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of
striking down environmental safeguards whenever they conflict with
its development plans.
Last August, the AKP abolished a network of independent protection
committees, casting into doubt the future of 1,261 smaller nature
reserves.
National and international environment groups have condemned a draft
conservation law that they say aims to pave the way for development in
other protected lands. And ecologists are concerned about a government
irrigation and hydropower plan to create 4,000 dams, diversions,
and hydroelectric power plants by 2023.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Forestry and Water Works said the
government is more alert than ever to environmental issues.
“Biological diversity is always endangered where there are human
activities and climate change,” he said. “But, compared with the past,
sensitivity to this problem has increased.”
Many Turkish scientists disagree. “Turkey’s environmental law and
conservation efforts are eroding…,” some warned in the December
issue of Science. “This has precipitated a conservation crisis that
has accelerated over the past decade.”
About half of 61 endemic fish species are critically endangered,
and 83 of 319 native breeding birds are threatened. In February,
Turkey was ranked 121 out of 132 countries for biodiversity and
habitat preservation in an annual environmental performance index by
Yale University.
Delicate negotiation process But ecologists must tread carefully. “To
pursue projects at protected sites, all NGOs need the permission of
the ministry,” says Engin Yilmaz, director general of Doga Dernegi,
one of Turkey’s largest wildlife research charities. “If permission
isn’t given, you have no legal grounds to carry on activities in
nature conservation.”
Doga Dernegi learned this the hard way. Last year, Ankara revoked
many of its permits to operate in national parks and reserves after it
mounted a public campaign against the draft nature law and dam-building
policy.
Sekercioglu, who has co-written articles criticizing the government,
fears KuzeyDoga could suffer for his outspokenness. “How do I do more
good for the Turkish environment?” he asks. “Do I keep quiet and do
what I can in northeastern Turkey, or do I look at the big picture
and say it’s unacceptable? I’m trying to do both.”
Some groups have mobilized protests, but with little impact. In one
2010 survey, only 1.3 percent of respondents viewed environment-related
issues as a serious concern. “Turks are discovering the consumption
society, and they are more than happy with all these things,”
says Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir
University. “The government has a major ally in the Turkish public.”
In Kars, near the Sarikamis forest, however, one group is optimistic.
According to Sekercioglu, a blend of research, patience, and
tea-drinking with officials brought successes.
The government has already planned the corridor’s course:
a 50-mile-long snake of land between 500 and 2,000 yards wide,
connecting Sarikamis to much larger forests in neighboring Georgia.
Sekercioglu says about 25 wolves may survive in and around the forest.
At least seven have been shot or hit by cars in the past year alone. A
radio collar fitted to one young male wolf showed that, since December,
the animal had ranged over an area of some 1,189 square miles, more
than 13 times the size of Sarikamis National Park.
Sekercioglu hopes the corridor will inspire similar projects,
eventually creating a network spanning the country. But, he
acknowledges, “it is like turning around a very big ship. It will
happen slowly, but we have to keep pushing.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2012/0302/With-wildlife-corridor-Turkey-tackles-an-ecological-crisis