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Ruşen Keleş

resulted in the extension of the Ministry’s name a little more, is sufficient to meet
expectations, will depend on the nature of the steps to be taken in this direction,
which time will show.
Despite the fact that many states have assumed responsibility for climate
change, some states, especially the United States, have consistently avoided
assuming responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However,
in international environmental conventions, under the name of “Common,
but differentiated responsibility”, it is clearly emphasized that the countries
conducting polluting activities should have a large share of responsibility. It is
known that the European Union has a position in favor of limiting greenhouse
gas emissions.
Türkiye, on the other hand, ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2009 with the Law
No. 5836. The main reason for the failure in the worldwide implementation of the
Kyoto Protocol is the insistence on prioritizing national interests and selfishness in
international relations. Parties gathered for the first time for a common purpose
during the 21 Conference of the Parties of Framework Convention on Climate
st
Change and agreed on the text of the Paris Agreement. The main objective
of the agreement, as is known, is to control climate change by keeping global
warming below 2 degrees Celsius. Paris Agreement, which entered into force in
2016, had already been signed by 187 out of 197 states by 2019.
In Stockholm Conference on the World Environment in 1972, a certain
number of South American diplomats argued that there were two types of
pollution forming the basis of the environmental problems, that the pollution
encountered in the underdeveloped countries was “pollution arising from
poverty” while it was “pollution arising from abundance (wealth)” in developed
countries, and that the priority should be given to the acceleration of the
development rather than preventing or cleaning the pollution.
The policies which focus on development and prioritize the elimination of
poverty, of course, are of great importance. However, “sustainability” which
was developed under the leadership of the United Nations since the 1980s and
finally expressed in the Brundtland Report titled Our Common Future in 1987,
means “meeting today’s needs and expectations without compromising the
needs and expectations of future generations”. The concept of sustainability,
which is regarded as the balance of preservation – utilization was expressed
70 years prior to this report, by “the real statesman”, the great leader Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk in these words: “the people cannot live on their land as the sole
owner of property rights; they should keep in mind that the next generations
have also utilisation and exploitation right on this land.”
In the Environmental Law no. 2872 which entered into force in 1983, the
purpose of the policy to be followed is set out as “protection, improvement

30 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate