The Inauguration and I. Workshop of the "Updating the National Action Plan for the Protection of Our Seas against Land-Based Pollutants" Project, which is carried out under the auspices of the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and under the coordination of TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center (MAM) Climate Change and Sustainability Vice Presidency (BYİDS) Marine Research and Technologies Research Group, was held in Ankara.
Ferudun Tekbıyık, Deputy Director General of the Directorate General of Environmental Management (DGEM) of the MoEU, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abit Balın, Strategy and Business Development Director of TÜBİTAK MAM, as well as many experts, researchers and representatives from relevant institutions and organizations, including the MoEU and TÜBİTAK MAM, attended the project launch. Approximately 100 people from the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, TurkStat, Universities, Union of Municipalities of Turkey, Coastal Metropolitan Municipalities, Provincial Directorates of MoEUU and many other institutions/organizations participated.
The opening meeting started with a speech by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abit Balın from TÜBİTAK MAM, explaining the importance of the project, its scope, the requirements for initiating this project and its expected outputs. The meeting continued with the opening speech of Mr. Ferudun Tekbıyık, Deputy Director General of DGMM. Tekbıyık underlined that stakeholder institutions and organizations should contribute within their duties and responsibilities in order to ensure that the project can be realized as planned, and that the national action plan to be created in line with the contributions received will be a guide in planning and implementing the work to be done in the coming years.
In the continuation of the program, Dr. İbrahim Tan, Project Manager, made a presentation on the introduction of the project, the work carried out so far and planned for the future, as well as the support expected from stakeholders within the scope of the project. Dr. Gülsen Avaz, the project coordinator of "KKK NAP 2017" completed by TÜBİTAK MAM, presented the outputs of the completed project and the update works. In the afternoon session, Nazan Özyürek, Head of Marine and Coastal Department, General Directorate of Environmental Management, Directorate General of Environmental Management, MoEU, made a presentation on the projects and activities carried out by the Ministry within the scope of marine environment management and emphasized the importance of the project.
After the opening meeting, the "KKK NAP 2023 - Current Situation Assessment, Gap Analysis and Identification of Problems Workshop" was organized with all participants. Within the scope of the workshop, Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) were identified and work on "Updating the National Action Plan" was initiated.
