Environmental Issues in Turkey

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Environmental Issues in Turkey

• Talia Ekin Tokyay
• IIHR Hydroscience and Engineering,
• Civil and Environmental Engineering, The
  University of Iowa, IA, USA

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Outline

• General information on Turkey
• Marine Pollution
• Air Pollution
• Energy Consumption
• Carbon Emissions
• Renewable Energy

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General Information on Turkey
The actual area of Turkey inclusive of its lakes,
is 814,578 square kilometers, of which 790,200
are in Asia and 24,378 are located in Europe.
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General Information on Turkey

• Population 70 million
• Average Life Expectancy
• total population 70.97 years
• male 68.63 years
• female 73.41 years
• Infant mortality rate 48.9 deaths/1,000 live
  births
• Language The official language is Turkish.
• Turkish Language is of Ural-Altaic origin, that
  is from the same origin as Finnish, Hungarian,
  Japanese and Korean.
• There are also Arabic and Kurdish speaking
  regions.
• Alphabet Latin
• Regions
• Marmara Sea
• Inland Anatolia
• Black Sea
• Mediterranean Sea
• Aegean Sea
• East Anatolian
• South East Anatolian
• PEACE IN THE MOTHERLAND, PEACE IN THE WORLD

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Rivers of Turkey

• Most of the rivers of Turkey flow into the seas.
• Turkey's longest rivers,
• Kizilirmak, Yesilirmak and Sakarya, flow into the
  Black Sea.
• Firat (Euphrates) and Dicle (Tigris) join
  together in Iraq and flow into the Persian Gulf.
• Susurluk, Biga and Gonen pour into the Sea of
  Marmara.
• Gediz, Kucuk Menderes, Buyuk Menderes and Meric
  into the Aegean Sea.
• Seyhan, Ceyhan and Goksu into the Mediterranean
  Sea .

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Natural Beauty meets the History
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Environmental Issues

• General Development
• Marine Pollution
• Air Pollution
• Energy Consumption
• Carbon Emissions
• Renewable Energy

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General Development

• 1983 Environmental Law
• 1991 National Ministry of Environment
• After 1990 Increase in the Oil tanker traffic
  through the narrow straits of Turkey.
• Extensive Network of Hydroelectric Energy Sources
• Cleaner Burning of Natural Gas replaces the coal
  in power generation.

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Marine Pollution

• Istanbul-Bosphorus Straits?
• Population 12 million
• They live on either side of the straits.
• Major concern
• Oil Spill
• Tanker Accidents
• Nuclear Waste Carrying Ships
• Two recent examples
• Greek Cypriot Tanker Nassia
• Russian Tanker Volgoneft-248
• Black Sea?

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Marine Pollution

• Istanbul-Bosphorus Straits
• In March 1994 Nassia collided with another tanker
• Killing 30 seamen
• Spilling 20,000 tons of oil.
• Bosphorus Straits burn for 5 days
• In December 1999 Volgoneft ran aground and split
  into two.
• 800 tons of oil spill
• Covering the coast of Marmara with heavy oil

• Black Sea
• Overfishing and pollution from surrounding
  countries have seriously damaged the ecosystem.
• Cleanup costs are estimated as 15 billion.

Black Sea Strategic Action Plan
Shipping Laws passed in 1994
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Air Pollution

• Key Pollutants
• Sulfur Dioxide
• Suspended particulates
• Nitrogen Oxides
• Carbon Dioxide
• International Energy Agency suggests
• Maintain and possibly increase investments in
  public transportation especially in urban areas
• Promote fuel switching from high-lignite sulfur
  to natural gas.
• Tighten the standards
• Limit the growth of green house gas emmisions
• In May 2001, Greenpeace protest in Izmit.

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Energy Consumption

• Over past 20 years domestic energy consumption
• 1980 1.0 quads
• 2000 3.2 quads
• Germany 14 quads
• France - 10.4 quads
• Poland 3.7 quads
• ¼ of total energy consumption is residential
• Rest is for transportation and commercial.
• 42 oil, 31 coal, 17 natural gas

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Energy Consumption

• Turkeys per capita energy consumption was 47.5
  million Btu by 2000.
• USA - 351 million Btu
• Russia 192.9 million Btu
• Germany 170.4 million Btu
• Greece 126.1 million Btu

Solution against this rise is better insulation
at residential.
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Interesting Point

• Turkey is not a part of UN Framework Convention
  on Climate Change or the Kyoto Protocol.
• However Turkey has established a National Climate
  Coordination Group to carry out the national
  studies in line with those conducted by all
  countries of then UNFCC.

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Renewable Energy

• Non-fossil energy sources have a high share of
  energy supply in Turkey.
• In November 2000, 120 hydroelectric power plants
  in operation and 34 more under construction.
• Disputes with Iraq and Syria on rapid growth of
  Turkey in hydroelectric production.
• Choke of water supply in these countries after
  the construction of dams on Tigris and Euphrates.
• The South Eastern Anatolia Project (GAP) is one
  of the largest hydropower projects in the world,
  involving 22 dams and 19 hydroelectric power
  facilities on Tigris and Euphrates.
• Controversial destroy a designated archeological
  site.
• Turkey is also encouraging the construction of
  wind power plants.
• First facilities were commissioned in December
  1998.
• Geothermal energy projects.
• Solar Energy.
• Nuclear Energy
• Projects against deforestation

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Acknowledgement

• Dr. Tatsuaki Nakato and IIHR-Hydroscience and
  Engineering
• University of Hiroshima
• Energy Information Administration

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Thank you!

• Questions