Status: ON-GOING

Project Duration: September 2024- August 2025

 

Challenge

Turkey’s coastal and marine areas face significant threats despite existing legal protections, including the Coastal Law, Barcelona Convention, and Bern Convention. These laws need to be more widely understood and utilized among critical stakeholders, leading to the ongoing degradation of sensitive habitats for endangered and protected species.  

Solution

The project aims to strengthen the legislative capacity of key stakeholders (NGOs, advocates, lawyers, law enforcement, and decision-makers) regarding coastal and marine conservation laws. Through a series of tailored training activities—both online and in-person—the project will address knowledge gaps and empower stakeholders to advocate effectively for the protection of coastal and marine habitats.  

 

Project’s deliverables

• An online survey will be conducted to evaluate knowledge gaps and capacity needs among key stakeholders in coastal and marine conservation laws. The findings will be used to create an analysis report and develop a targeted training program. 
• The training program aims to enhance the understanding of the legal framework for protecting marine and coastal areas among key stakeholders such as NGOs, advocates, lawyers, and planners/decision-makers. The program will include three meetings held in Balıkesir, İzmir, and Muğla, encompassing both online and in-person training sessions. Each training session will accommodate up to 30 participants and will be led by three expert trainers.
• A structured email network focusing on Coastal and Marine Protection Area in the Aegean Region will be established to facilitate ongoing dialogue and share best practices and knowledge. The project aims to enable dialogue among parties and increase stakeholders’ capacity through peer-to-peer knowledge exchange. 

 

About the organisation:

Law, Nature, and Society Foundation addresses human rights, democracy, justice, disaster risk reduction, and environmental rights. It is a member of the UN Disaster Risk Reduction Office Stakeholder Mechanism. The foundation has actively participated in key international meetings, including the UN Sendai Framework, Biodiversity Convention, and UN Climate Summit. The foundation has published influential works, and its lawyers provide expert environmental legal support to various NGOs and citizen groups.