TÜRKİYE'DE 

SÜRDÜRÜLEBİLİR  KALKINMANIN 

EKONOMİK BOYUTU

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is responsible for decision making on international cooperation and assistance in coordination with other relevant ministries and agencies. Sustainable development and environmental management issues are mainly considered by the Ministry of Environment. Other Ministries, institutions and organizations such as the State Planning Organization (SPO), the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Turkish Agency for Cooperation (TÝCA), the General Directorate for State Hydraulic Works (DSI) are involved in their relevant capacities.

    The activities of the Ministry of Environment cover issues such as appropriate land use, protection of natural resources, plants and animal species, prevention of pollution and raising public awareness. Setting environmental policies and strategies, co-ordinating environmental activities on local, national and international levels, issuing environmental licenses, collecting information and organizing training activities are among other duties of the Ministry. All these activities are conducted in close cooperation with other ministries, related institutions, local governments and non-governmental organizations. A total of 800 and 500 people are currently being employed by the Ministry of Environment at the headquarters and in provincial offices respectively.

Government of Turkey has formulated legislation and regulations to address matters concerning sustainable development. Major components of Turkish environmental legislation are as follows:
 
Environment Law No 2872 and its folowing by-laws:

• Fund for Prevention of Pollution (1985),
• Protection of Air Quality (1986),
• Noise Control (1986),
• Fines to Be Imposed on Ships and Other Seagoing Vessels (1987),
• Control of Water Pollution (1988),
• Solid Wastes Control (1991),
• Environmental Impact Assessment (1993),
• Environmental Impact Assessment (1997),
• Medical Wastes Control (1993),
• Hazardous Wastes Control and Management (1995),
• Control of Harmful Chemical Substances and Products
• Non-hygienic establishments

The Eighth Five Year Plan covering the period 2000-2005 also addresses the concept of sustainable development. The Plan emphasizes the necessity of striking a balance between ecological equilibrium and the economic growth.  

Turkey receives a limited amount of official development assistance (ODA). The total net ODA received was 302 million USD Dollars in 1995 (0,13 % of GNP) which substantially diminished over the years, in the year 1999 reduced to negative value–9.7 million USD Dollars as can be seen from the following table:

TABLE 1: DISTRIBUTION of BILATERAL AND MULTILATERAL FINANCIAL FLOWS TO TURKEY BY OECD COUNTRIES AND MULTILATERAL AGENCIES
              

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
II. TOTAL ODA NET
BILATERAL	173.7	50.6	-59.0	-80.5	-66.4
MULTILATERAL	128.4	190.5	54.9	92.9	56.7
GRAND TOTAL	302.1	231.2	-4.1	12.4	-9.7

                            Source: "Geographical Distirbution of Financial Flows to Aid Recipients", OECD, 2001

Turkey is considered an emerging donor and Turkish ODA have steadily increased over the past years as shown in Table-2.
              

Type of Transaction	1997 Value (Million US $)	1998 Value (Million US $)	1999 Value (Million US $)
Official Grants	83.3	55.3	42.8
Payments to Multilateral Organizations	23.4	23.9	83.5
Other Official Flows	276.6	321.5	320.2
Official Flows, Total	383.3	400.7	446.5

 

Turkey prepares for for full membership for the European Union and  implementing a National Programme  to adopt the rules of the Union. Issues regarding  the purpose of sustainable development takes place in this National Programme.. (See The Turkish National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis at  www.abgs.gov.tr)

Turkey envisages to increase and maintain the amount of  ODA at a satisfactory level for the purpose of becoming a DAC member.

Information and data on bilateral, sub-regional,regional, or multilateral/international cooperation can be accessed via the Internet at the following World Wide Web Sites.

The proportion of GNP spent on ODA, which  was 0.05 in 1996, has become 0.23 in 1999. As sectoral breakdown figures say, the share of outflows on environmental cooperation is inconsiderably small.

In the 1990s, Turkey has strengthened her bilateral environmental co-operation with a large number of countries, mainly in its region, and has signed, ratified and implemented many international environmental agreements. Numerous initiatives have been taken to increase co-operation with other Black Sea and Turkish-speaking countries. Limited official development aid has been received; at the same time, technical assistance has been provided to other developing countries. Problems associated with pollution of coastal waters in the Mediterranean area have been reduced, and new waste water treatment facilities have been installed. In this regard, more efficient progress has been made when it involved action by the private sector than when State or municipal funding was involved. Transfrontier movement of hazardous waste has been halted. Turkey has been very successful in improving maritime safety in the Turkish Straits, and in reducing use of ozone-depleting substances ahead of schedule. In these two cases, positive results have been achieved in co-operation with social partners and with the support of NGOs. With regard to conventional air pollutants (e.g. SO x , NO x , VOCs), Turkey is taking into account technological capacities and the relevant UN-ECE protocols (e.g. Helsinki, Sofia, Oslo, Geneva) when revising its air quality regulations, although it is not a party to these agreements. Despite progress at the end of the 1990s, compared with the early part of the decade, some international environmental problems remain to be solved. First there are many environmental agreements which Turkey intends to ratify,  and other agreements which she envisages to  ratify along with other European countries. Among these, particular attention are being given to a number of UN-ECE agreements which are pertinent to a rapidly industrialising country. Second, actions concerning several measures needed to cope with maritime and terrestrial emergencies will be materialized. Third, construction of sewerage and treatment plants for municipal waste water shall be progressed at a rate sufficient to abate pollution of coastal waters to a satisfactory extent.

Turkey is signatory to the following international treaties/aggreements  in the field of environment.

No information is available.

No information is available.

The main objectives of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (1991-1995) have been implemented, including accelerating industrial growth, bringing down the chronic inflation rate, increasing the role of the private sector, giving priority to investments in resources allocation, all within a structure open to international competition. The functions of the State to set and supervise rules with regard to the realization of economic activities through market mechanisms in order to raise welfare were the other objectives during the period. But the country was not ready to withdraw the State from economic activities, such as production and distribution.