Status: ON-GOING

Project Duration: August 2024- July 2025

 

Challenge

The project addresses the environmental challenges of isolated islands, particularly Gökçeada and Bozcaada in Türkiye’s North Aegean region. These islands are ecologically fragile due to their high endemism rates and face threats from climate change, including increased drought and intensified fire regimes. These factors endanger local biodiversity and require urgent ecological management and conservation efforts.  

 

Solution

The project aims to enhance the resilience of these island ecosystems against climate change and fire risks through nature-based solutions. It proposes evaluating climate change impacts on vegetation and developing post-fire ecological restoration strategies. The project seeks to implement resilient forestry and conservation practices tailored to the islands’ unique environmental challenges by conducting vegetation surveys, ecological modelling, and comparative ecosystem dynamics analysis.  

 

Project’s deliverables

• A literature review will be conducted to compile existing studies and obtain forest management plans from the General Directorate of Forestry. Remote sensing techniques will be used to classify and map the vegetation mosaic of the islands. The team will prepare a detailed report on the area’s vegetation ecology.
• To assess vulnerabilities, a 15-day field survey will be conducted to examine plant diversity and richness. The resistance capacity of the vegetation to fire and climate change will be analysed, and future changes will be modelled using R program species distribution models, resulting in detailed maps.
• The findings will inform a workshop with participation from forestry and conservation authorities, local NGOs, and academics. Recommendations for climate-resilient forestry and conservation practices will be developed, focusing on post-fire restoration for different vegetation structures. A comprehensive report summarizing these recommendations will be prepared. 

 

About the organisation: The Eastern Mediterranean Research Association, established in 2016 by young scientists conducting research in natural sciences. The association aims to protect biodiversity, develop solutions to ecological problems, and promote a life shaped by ecological principles.   In 2022, it received support from the United Nations GEF Small Grants Programme for two successful projects aimed at ecological restoration and forest fire communication workshops. In 2023, supported by the RUFFORD Foundation, the association studied the role of tree microhabitats in nature conservation at Yedigöller National Park.