Page 32 - 7. State Of Environment Report Of Türkiye

tinent is around 12,500, the number of plant species identified in Türkiye today almost reaches
this number. Around 3,000 of these are endemic species unique to Türkiye. While the number of
species constituting the fauna and flora of Europe is about 60,000, in Türkiye it is about 80,000.

There are around 150 mammal, 480 bird, 130 reptile and 300 fish species in Türkiye. Of these, 15
mammal species, 46 bird species, 18 reptile species and 5 frog species are in danger of extinction.
The total wetland area of Türkiye exceeds 1 million hectares. There are approximately over 250
wetlands. Despite the lack of data, invertebrates constitute the largest number among the living
species identified. The number of invertebrate animal species is approximately 19,000 and ap-
proximately 4,000 species/subspecies are endemic. The total number of vertebrate animal spe-
cies identified to date is close to 1,500. Among vertebrates, more than 100 species, 70 of which
are fish species, are endemic. Türkiye’s location on two major bird migration routes increases its
importance as a feeding and breeding area for birds.

Special Environmental Protection Zones, Wetlands, Natural Protected Areas and Natural Assets,
National Parks, Protected Wildlife Reserves, Nature Reserves, Nature Parks and Nature Monu-
ments, Wildlife Development Areas and Breeding Stations constitute Protected Areas in Türkiye.
The total area of Protected Areas in Türkiye is 10,332,969 hectares. Of this area, 3,832,960 ha are
Natural Protected Areas, 2,854,906 ha are Special Environmental Protection Areas, 909,158 ha are
National Parks, 1,165,448 ha are Wildlife Development Areas, 1,161,205 ha are Wetlands, 108,036
ha are Nature Parks, 46,453 ha are Nature Reserves, 8,356 ha are Natural Monuments and 246,446
ha are Protection Forest.

As of 2024, there are 48 National Parks, 266 Natural Parks, 31 Nature Reserves, 110 Natural Monu-
ments, 85 Wildlife Development Areas and 55 Protection Forest in Türkiye.
There are 19 Special Environmental Protection Areas in Türkiye and the area of these areas is
3,832,959.54 hectares. There are 4,034 natural protected areas in Türkiye and the area of these
areas is 2,755,773 hectares. The total area of Special Environmental Protection Areas corresponds
to 4.9 per cent of Türkiye and the total area of Natural Protected Areas corresponds to 3.5 per
cent of Türkiye.

There are 14 Ramsar Sites (184,487 ha), 59 Wetlands of National Importance (869,967 ha) and
47 Wetlands of Local Importance (107,021 ha) in Türkiye. In addition, the total number of trees
registered as natural assets in Türkiye is 10,510 and the total number of registered caves is 296.

The desertification in our agricultural areas, the deterioration of the species diversity and natu-
ral structure in our forest and pasture areas, improper land use, the concretisation of fertile and
well-qualified agricultural lands, the continuation of soil pollution, the significant dimensions of
erosion and soil loss are the facts that reveal the high sensitivity of Türkiye to desertification.

65% of Türkiye has arid and semi-arid characteristics and 86% of the country’s land is under
the threat of erosion, making erosion the most important cause of desertification. In the World
Desertification Hazard Map, a significant part of Türkiye, especially Central Anatolia, is shown as
“vulnerable to desertification”.

Changes in erosion are monitored and evaluated with the “Dynamic Erosion Model Monitoring
System (DEMIS)”. Within the scope of combating desertification/land degradation, afforesta-
tion, erosion control, rehabilitation of degraded forest areas and pasture improvement works
were carried out on 9.72 million hectares as of the end of 2023.

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