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Environmental Policies and Sustainable Development
in The World and in Türkiye

Among the institutions conducting environmental studies are UNESCO,
HABITAT, UNEP, WMO, WHO, UNDP, the specific organisations under
the United Nations; and the European Union, European Commission and
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on
the European level. Moreover, even NATO deals with environmental issues
at certain times. The works performed by Green Peace and similar non-
governmental organisations having international activities should also be
taken into account.
Some of the environmental problems are the issues that concern only urban
settlements, while some of them are regional and global in nature. Global
warming, ozone depletion, deforestation and desertification, radioactive
pollution, climate changes, and narrowing of wetlands, movement of toxic
and hazardous wastes from one country to another, loss of biodiversity are
among those problems. All of these reach to an extent that may threaten all
humanity and the ecosystem if the necessary measures are not taken or not
implemented adequately.

The continuous nature of environmental problems in the global level
has brought the concept of “environmental security” to the fore. Ensuring
environmental security requires very close cooperation among the nations.
Today, the concept of security largely relieved from being trapped inside its
traditional boundaries. Currently, environmental crises have also become an integral
part of the security of nations. Borders of the concept of security have inevitably
extended as a result that living environment and the ecosystem as a whole face with
many threats in local, regional, national and global level.
Thus, starting from the 1970s, we are witnessing that the concept of national
security has been expanded to “include environmental elements” and that
it has not only been used in the formation of national policies, but also that
regulations have been made in international legal documents in this direction.
It is quite clear that mostly the climate change threatens the today and
future of humanity among the mentioned problems. As it is expressed literally
by an author that “the seasons could be distinguished from each other clearly
in the past years. However, it is quite hard to separate summer, winter and
spring from each other today. If the famous composer Vivaldi was alive today,
he would probably have great difficulty recreating his masterpiece The Four
Seasons, which is recognized all over the world.”

Türkiye, with a great sense of good will, has added “Climate Change” to
the name of the Ministry engaging with these issues. Whether this change,
which already exists semantically in the concept of the environment and has

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