Agricultural land in Antalya paved to make parking lots for COP31 summit

Agricultural land next to the exhibition grounds in Antalya where the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) will take place from Nov 9-20 is being converted into a parking lot.

Filling and paving work has been completed on about half of the roughly 300,000-square-meter area near the EXPO Center exhibition site, while ground preparation continues on the remaining section before asphalt is laid, local newspaper Antalya Körfez Gazetesi reported.

The parking area is being built to accommodate vehicles used by delegations and visitors attending the conference.

Earlier reports said construction in the same area included prime agricultural land belonging to the Western Mediterranean Agricultural Research Institute (BATEM).

A presidential decree published in the Official Gazette on May 8 authorized the Housing Development Administration (TOKİ) to carry out urgent expropriations for “parking lots and other infrastructure works” related to COP31 in and around the EXPO site.

The expropriation covers 64,635 square meters of agricultural land in Solak neighborhood the Aksu district.

Authorities reportedly plan to turn the EXPO site into a venue for national and international fairs after COP31.

'You cannot protect the climate without protecting the soil'

Professional organizations criticized the conversion. Ertuğrul Taştekin, head of the Antalya branch of the Turkish Association of Agricultural Engineers, said turning about 300 decares of prime farmland into parking space contradicted the goals of climate action.

“It is unacceptable for an event organized with the stated aim of protecting the climate to be prepared by destroying fertile agricultural soil that took thousands of years to form,” Taştekin said. “You cannot protect the climate without protecting the soil."

Cuma Mercan, head of the Antalya branch of the Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Workers’ Union, also previously called for agricultural land to be protected. “What befits COP31 is greenery, not concrete,” he said. (HA/VK)