Page 9 - Çevre Şehir ve İklim Dergisi İngilizce - Özel Sayı

the serious consequences of the climate crisis. Our pastures, forests, agricultural
areas are among our natural resources that feel the impacts of these problems
at most. As indicated in the Desertification Vulnerability Map of Türkiye, 18% of
our lands are in the poor, 50.9% are in the medium and 22.5% are in the high
desertification vulnerability group.
Three significant developments, the effects of which are still felt today, were
introduced at The Rio Summit of the United Nations (UN) in 1992, a milestone
for environmental issues started to be discussed worldwide. The Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity
were opened for signature during the conference which was followed by the
Convention to Combat Desertification in 1994. Türkiye became a party to the
Convention in 1998, which entered into force in 1996. This year marks the 30th
anniversary of the entry into force of the Framework Convention on Climate
Change and the 28th anniversary of the Convention to Combat Desertification.
The 29 Conference of the Parties (COP) climate meetings, which is an
th
important platform for combating climate change, first convened in Berlin
in 1995 and held annually in different countries of the world, will take place in
Baku, the capital of the friendly and fraternal country Azerbaijan, in November
2024. Similarly, we, as Türkiye, hosted the COP12 Conference of Parties to the
Convention to Combat Desertification in 2015, which has been convened every
2 years since 2001. Parties will, this time, gather for COP16 in Riyadh, the capital
of Saudi Arabia in December 2024 and will take important decisions about the
future of our planet. As the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate
Change, we will represent Türkiye in the best way at both meetings together with
all our stakeholders.
We have carried out significant studies on combating the climate change as
well as desertification and drought so far, and continue these efforts consistently.
We have implemented important regulations in various fields, especially in
combating and adapting to the climate change in line with the 2053 Net Zero
Emission and Green Development Goals declared by H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,
the President of the Republic of Türkiye. This is because we regard Türkiye as the
changing and transforming power of the changing and transforming world. While
we focus on our own priorities, we fulfill our international obligations as well. We
ratified the Paris Climate Agreement by preserving the unique position of our
country and observing the principle of fairness. We have increased our reduction
rate in our Nationally Declared Contribution Statement from 21 percent to 41
percent for the year 2030. We maintain our harmonisation policies in every field
with our Action Plan prepared in accordance with the European Green Deal
Action Plan. We have also determined the 2053 Long-Term Climate Change
Strategy Road Map following the Climate Change Mitigation Strategy covering
the period 2024-2030. In our road map, we address the issues of adaptation to

VIII Çevre, Şehir ve İklim Dergisi