5 JUNE- WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

This year’s theme of the “World Environment Day” celebrated on the 5th of June since 1972 has been determined as “Connecting People to Nature”. Considering the fact that today more than the half of World’s population reside in urban areas, this year’s theme aims to promote harmony between humanity and nature and Canada is identified as the host country for official celebrations.

Scientific and technological developments achieved in recent years together with growing environmental problems, such as climate change, whose effects are felt more and more deeply each day, indicate how much significance natural systems bear for the well-being and prosperity of humanity. For instance, today it is clearly seen that protection of oceans and forests acting as natural storage areas of greenhouse gases which are the main causes of climate change, indeed play a key role in terms of sustainable development.

Today, with natural resources under risk of depletion due to rapid industrialization and population growth, it became increasingly more meaningful to “take into account” the “value” of nature’s gifts to humanity that were in the past largely taken for granted.

In Türkiye, efforts to align with the EU’s environmental legislation, grounded on the dependence of humanity to the gifts of nature, is ongoing with resolution in the framework of the Chapter on “Environment and Climate Change” which was opened to negotiations on 21 December 2009. Alignment with the EU’s acquis on environmental protection contribute to improving the quality of air we breathe, ensuring sanity and hygiene standards for water intended for human consumption, providing extra input to the economy by encouraging re-use of waste, avoiding noise pollution in areas open to public and ultimately guarantee that future generations will live under healthier conditions.

Each new step taken to implement the EU’s environmental standards in Türkiye will further improve the life quality and well-being of our citizens. A clean environment coupled with balanced and prudent utilization of natural resources are key to improve our citizen’s life quality. In this regard, Türkiye’s on-going accession negotiations with the EU act as a strong driving force for upgrading environmental standards in our country.

Respectfully announced to the public.