ECOLOGY

Latest News

• Campaign to preserve the Munzur Springs 

  The initiative "Let Munzur Flow Freely" has launched a campaign to preserve the Munzur Springs. The Turkish government wants to close the source region in Dersim, which is sacred to Alevis, and redesign it in a profit-oriented way.
• Bike tour in Van against ecological destruction in Zilan Valley 

  The HDP Youth Council of Van has protested against the ecological destruction in the Zilan valley by taking a bicycle tour. Four hydropower plants are currently being built in the valley - the remains of thousands of genocide victims would thus disappear.
• Sewage water from Turkish brigade in Hakkari spreads diseases 

  Well over one hundred thousand Turkish soldiers are stationed in the province of Hakkari to fight insurgency. The sewage water from the brigade runs untreated into rivers and streams and causes diseases among the population.
• Village guards cut down forests in Van 

  Village conservationists in the province of Van have started to clear large areas of forest. The trees obstruct the military observation of the city and the radio frequencies, the reasoning says.
• Record number of fires in Brazil Amazon Forest 

  Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) warned about a 28 percent increase in the Amazon forest fires in July, in comparison to the same period in 2019. 
• Global Witness: 212 environmental defenders killed in 2019 

  Global Witness records the highest number of land and environmental activists murdered in one year.
• Australia's fires 'killed or harmed three billion animals' 

  Megafires ‘one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history’, say scientists.
• MEH: Anti-system movements must fight together 

  In a statement on the HDP's Ecology Forum, the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement points out the importance of uniting the struggle for the environment, the women's struggle and the other anti-system movements.
• Deposed co-mayor joins agricultural cooperative in Dersim  

  Deposed co-mayor Songül Doğan of the municipality of Akpazar in the province of Dersim continues her works in an agricultural cooperative.
• 252 whales and 35 dolphins killed in the Faroe Islands 

  Sea turns red with blood in Faroe Islands as dozens of whales and dolphins are slaughtered.
• Hydroelectric power plants destroy Kurdistan’s environment 

  The chairman of the environmental association Çev-Der in the province of Van, Ali Kalçık, describes the dramatic consequences of the construction of hydroelectric power plants for the ecology in the region.
• Flooding kills 100 sheep in Ağrı 

  Heavy rainfall has flooded a pasture with sheep in a village in the province of Ağrı. About a hundred animals drowned.
• Agricultural cooperative in Tirbespiyê 

  Five years ago, four women founded an agricultural cooperative in Tirbespiyê. Today, forty women work there and the cooperative covers a large part of the demand for vegetables in the Northern Syrian region.
• UN: World could hit 1.5-degree warming threshold by 2024 

  The U.N. weather agency says the world could see average global temperatures rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average for the first time in the coming five years.
• Report reviews the dam construction policies in South Kurdistan 

  New Report by Save the Tigris on the Dam Construction Policies of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
• Heavy rainfall and flooding in Van 

  Heavy rain has flooded some regions of the Van province. In many places there were landslides and flooded fields.
• Water4Rojava campaign celebrates success beyond expectations 

  Despite the difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, solidarity with Rojava has continued and grown.
• Zilan Valley: A 90-year long history of destruction  

  The region of Zilan is among the richest when it comes to endemic plant and animal population.
• Villagers protest HPP project in Zilan Valley 

  Works at the Hydroelectric Power Plant in the Zilan Valley have resumed taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic, despite the decision of the Council of State which had ruled to stop the construction.
• 'The AKP destroys nature', says HDK on World Environment Day 

  The HDK called on everyone to “act and organise in order to build a new and more ecological life.”
• AKP mayor orders to cut down poplar trees in Edremit 

  The AKP mayor of Edremit ordered the cutting down of poplars in the region cleared under the pretext of increased allergies from the pollen.
• 13 percent of environmentalist activists end up dead, report says 

  The Environmental Justice (ENVjustice) scientists analyzed 2,743 cases of environmental conflicts from around the world.
• Water is not a weapon, water is life! 

  A new campaign named “Water for Rojava” has been launched two weeks ago aiming at rising funds to help women’s co-operatives and democratic local municipalities in Rojava and other parts of North-East Syria.
• Van Lake basin is being destroyed 

  There are dozens of HPPs (Hydroeletric Power Plant)  and dams on the Van Lake basin, which has a very diverse population. More than one HPP and dam has been built on almost every stream and water basin.
• Women demand an end to environmental destruction at Cudi 

  Activists of the women's movement TJA protested on Mount Cudi against the destruction of the tree population by village guards. The women demand: "Don't continue on this wrong path, don't become a tool of the dirty machinations of the government."