The closing meeting of the "Project for the Preparation of Local Climate Change Action Plans for Tekirdağ, Çanakkale and Yalova Provinces" supported by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and carried out by TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center (MAM) was held on May 18, 2023 at TÜBİTAK MAM Conference Hall.

The opening speeches of the meeting were delivered by Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yozgatlıgil, Vice President of TÜBİTAK and President of TÜBİTAK MAM, and Dr. Tuğba Dinçbaş, Vice President of Climate Change Directorate.

Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yozgatlıgil stated that TÜBİTAK MAM successfully carries out internationally competitive projects in environmental technologies, taking into account the protection of the interests of our country at the global level and said, "In line with this goal, the ability to produce scientific and technological solutions to environmental problems, especially in urbanized areas, is directly related to the competence of the R&D teams and qualified laboratories established in this context."

Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yozgatlıgil continued his speech as follows: "At the end of last year, we organized stakeholder meetings with wide participation in Yalova, Tekirdağ and Çanakkale with the contributions of our valuable stakeholders in order to share the work completed in the project and to evaluate the greenhouse gas mitigation and climate change adaptation actions. We finalized the action plans by evaluating the outputs of these meetings. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our valuable stakeholders for their contributions and cooperation during the project."

In her speech, Prof. Dr. Tuğba Dinçbaş touched upon the activities carried out by the Climate Change Directorate and stated that important decisions were taken with a focus on local governments, especially within the scope of the Climate Council, and that it is aimed to prepare Local Climate Change Action Plans in 81 provinces with the Draft Climate Law prepared to be evaluated in the new legislative period. He also stated that through the Climate Portal, which is planned to be fully commissioned in the near future, an infrastructure has been established where both the studies carried out in the field of climate change will be shared and local stakeholders will carry out monitoring studies on action plans.

At the project closing meeting, Climate Environment and Urbanization Expert Neslihan Ağartan made an informative presentation on the activities of the Directorate of Climate Change.

Dr. Tuğba Doğan Güzel, Senior Researcher and Ece Gizem Çakmak, Lead Researcher from Air Quality and Environmental Noise Technologies Research Group of TÜBİTAK MAM Climate Change and Sustainability Vice Presidency, presented the outputs of the "Preparation of Local Climate Change Action Plans for Tekirdağ, Çanakkale and Yalova Provinces Project".

The questions asked within the scope of the project were answered in the question-answer session held after the presentations.

Preparation of Local Climate Change Action Plans for Tekirdağ, Çanakkale and Yalova Provinces

Within the scope of the contract signed between the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and TÜBİTAK MAM on October 22, 2021, Local Climate Change Action Plans were prepared for Çanakkale, Yalova and Tekirdağ, the 3 provinces in the Marmara Region that do not have a Climate Change Action Plan.

The activities carried out within the scope of the project are given below.

• Information on greenhouse gas emissions and factors affecting climate change was collected in these provinces.
• GHG emission inventories for the three provinces were created using nationally/internationally accepted emission factors.
• In addition to the baseline scenario, GHG emission reduction amounts were calculated on the basis of scenarios. For each action identified to reduce GHG emissions, information on the responsible and relevant institution/organization, implementation period, key performance indicators, current status and performance targets were evaluated.
• Within the scope of adaptation to climate change, climatological analysis and climate projections analysis as well as sectoral baseline assessment were carried out and actions for adaptation to climate change were identified. For each action, information on the responsible and relevant institution/organization, implementation period, key performance indicators, current situation and performance targets were evaluated.
• Stakeholders who contributed to the preparation of the Climate Change Action Plan were identified and opinions were requested for the reports prepared through stakeholder meetings organized in each province. In this context, workshops were organized in 3 provinces.

The "Local Climate Change Action Plan", which includes all the outputs obtained, was prepared for three provinces.