Coal Mine in Antalya Might Destroy Feeding Area for Thousands of Sheep and Goats

Photos: A Platform

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A planned coal mine in the Mediterranean province of Antalya might harm animal husbandry in a large area, a regional environmental group has warned.

The mine is planned to operate in a 1970-hectare land in Dereköy Plateau in Korkuteli district, where hundreds of families do animal husbandry.

Sheep and goats in the plateau are fed only with grass for nine-and-a-half months in a year, the Antalya Isparta Burdur Denizli Kaş Platform (A Platform) noted in the statement. Also, 1,250 kilograms of straw are obtained from an acre in the plateau and this provides feeding stuff for animals, it said.

It requested the Antalya Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry to carry out the necessary work to prevent mining operations in the area and notify the ministry about the matter.

Ramazan Koç, a shepherd from Dereköy village, where 26 families have about 6,000 sheep, said, "Now the mine has come. I also have 400 small livestock animals, they won't have a place to pasture."

Özal Büyüksaka, a shepherd from Küçükköy village, said, "We don't want a coal mine that would harm the animals or the grass. As a seven-people family, we make a living through the hamlets here with our 600 small livestock animals. In March, we go to the hamlets on the plateau. In November or December, we go down to the village."

There are 40 shepherd families and 26,000 livestock animals in the village. In Sülekler, another village, there are about 5,000 goats and sheep.

There is also cattle husbandry in the region, said Eyüp Özdemir. Dereköy and Sülekler villages have more than 750 animals and produce two tonnes of milk in a day, he added.

"Shepherd families must be protected"

"It is not right for families who have been traditionally breeding livestock for hundreds of years to be harmed because of the coal mine," said Hediye Gündüz, the spokesperson of the A Platform.

Saying that the mine shouldn't be allowed in the area, she remarked, "The coal mining to be done here will damage the hamlets in its immediate vicinity. Dust from mining will pollute the soil, and animals will get sick as they eat dusty grass. Polluted water will blend into both groundwater and streams, and from there to the dam, from the dam to the orchards and from there to the public, a chain of pollution will occur."

"In the case of mining, animal husbandry will suffer greatly, families engaged in animal husbandry will suffer economic losses, and animal husbandry will be almost finished. Mining cannot be done right in the middle of the area where animal breeding is carried out, and if it is done, regional farming and livestock farming will end. The price of this will be huge," she added.

Agriculture and water resources

Agriculture is the most important means of income in Dereköy as thousands of tons of apricot, sour cherry, peach, plums, wheat and chickpeas are produced in nearly 10 hectares of fields in various villages in the area.

Also, the planned mine area is only two kilometers away from Kartal water spring, the platform said. (TP/VK)