Coal-fired plant project threatens endangered sea turtles on Turkey's Mediterranean shores

Caretta Caretta (Photo: Michael Gunther/WWF)

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Tomorrow is World Sea Turtle Day. Turkey's Mediterranean shores are among the nesting areas of two of the seven species of sea turtles: green sea turtle (chelonia mydas) and Caretta caretta.

Both species are in the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

A coal-fired power plant currently being constructed in the southern province of Adana is threatening nesting areas of green sea turtles, according to World Wildlife Fund Turkey.

Photo: Emirhan Karamuk/WWF

The project will have land and sea constructions on Sugözü Beach, a nesting area for turtles, the WWF says. However, according to a circular by the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks (DKMP), this is a protected area. In other words, construction is prohibited on the beach.

"The pier built for the project divides the turtles' habitat into two," says Aslı Pasinli, the director of WWF Turkey.

"Construction on the beach poses a great risk for turtle nests. The water coming out of the facility, which will use one-and-a-half billion tons of cooling water per year, will be 7 °C higher than the seawater temperature. Fatal consequences are likely to emerge with increasing temperatures in the summer.

"Green sea turtles feed on sea meadows, maintaining the oxygen and nutrient balance in the seas, making us have healthy marine ecosystems. The seas, which are also a source of clean air for us, in a sense, breathe thanks to the sea turtles, the oldest seafarers in the world."

International conventions

According to Pasinli, the Hunutlu Thermal Power Plant project violates three articles of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity because it prevents the protection of the habitat of a threatened species. It is also against articles 4 and 6 of the Bern Convention, she adds. Turkey is a party to both conventions.

In December 2019, Hatay 1st Administrative Court canceled another coal-fired plant just 20 kilometers away from the Hunutlu project due to the presence of endangered species such as Caretta Caretta and Schreiber's fringe-fingered lizard/

Launching a campaign on change.org, WWF Turkey, along with 18 other environmentalist groups, have so far collected more than 22,000 signatures against the project. (EMK/VK)