Turkish   German   日本語

We request an "Emergency Action Plan" to prevent wildfires, that will give us all confidence and protect our future. Our most basic request in this context is to take control of forest fires in a much shorter time with more firefighting planes and helicopters.

The lack of sufficient number of firefighting planes and helicopters in Turkey prevented the fires from being extinguished with early interventions. Unfortunately, we have all learned from bitter experience how important a strong and fast air intervention is, especially in areas such as Marmaris, Manavgat, Köyceğiz, due to the difficulty of reaching the burned places by land.

In the 14 days between 28 July and 10 August, more than 275 fires broke out in 53 provinces in Turkey. (The forest area we lost in 14 days is almost as much as the forest area that has been destroyed by wildfires in the last 20 years.) A significant part of the fires have been brought under control, but new fires continue to break out and unfortunately, each fire results in the death of millions of animals, plants, trees, causing irreversible damage to nature in the short term

We need urgent action plans! Along with the burning forests, animals die; fauna and flora suffers damage as well as residential areas. 

The number of wildfires and the amount of burning forest areas per fire are increasing rapidly in Turkey. 

• According to General Directorate of Forestry and Agriculture’s data, the burned forest amount in last 11 years is 98.950 ha, which is equivalent to 181 Istanbul surface areas.
• In 2020, in 3.399 fires, 20.971 ha forest areas burned , this is equivalent to 29.350 football stadiums. 
• The amount of unknown fires increased to %51 from %46 in the last 5 years. 

We demand effective, applicable, stable and transparent fire action plans for the conservation of  forests.

The action plan to prevent and control fires should primarily include the following items:

• Fire observation towers and fire protection centers should be expanded in a way to speed up the ground response 
• Buying or leasing planes and helicopters should be based on a more effective basis for rapid air response before the fires escalate.
• Establishing a team of experts in forestry 
  Identification of all forest areas
• Drawing forest borders in accordance with forestry principles
  Implementation of the constitutional guarantee that the burned area will be reforested after the fire
• Increasing the necessary measures to prevent forest fires,
  Investigation of data on forest fires and disclosure to the public with transparency
• Increasing the number of equipment and employees required for firefighting
• Applying criminal sanction and penalties to those who caused fire and implementation of applications without any exceptions
• Informing the public about the existing firefighting aircraft, equipment and personnel by the General Directorate of Forestry.
  Increasing the number of firefighting aircraft and trained personnel for firefighting

Findings show that 87% of forest fires are caused by humans. The allocation of forests to various projects such as construction and energy investments are among the first reasons in the destruction of forest areas, as well as forest fires.

We must all take a step forward for our future, and we must do it now!

Please sign our campaign and be a very important part of the solution by sharing this link with your loved ones: www.change.org/GelecegimizYanmasin

It is very important to create an "Emergency Action Plan" as soon as possible. Please share posts with the hashtag #GelecegimizYanmasin on social media and the campaign link in your whatsapp groups.

Sign now and help the voice of people and nature get heard!