Turtle Dives

Turtle Dives, Issue 3, April-May 2007

Green Turtles in the Mediterranean
AKAMAS, CYPRUS AND KAZANLI, TURKEY STILL REMAIN ON WAITING LIST FOR CONCRETE CONSERVATION MEASURES

At the 26th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention) at Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, on the 27th-30th November, 2006 the cases of the highly endangered green turtles nesting at Akamas in Cyprus and Kazanli in Turkey were discussed.

MEDASSET first brought the issue of the protection of Akamas to the Convention in 1996 and a case file was opened in 1997. Sadly the Akamas Peninsula Sustainable Management Plan, proposed in 2004 by the Council of Ministers of Cyprus, was still awaiting a final Ministerial decision. The EC Delegate stated that they are worried by the lack of effective protection for this important area.

Kazanli nesting beach: 1.5 million tons of toxic waste

The representative of the Cyprus Conservation Foundation (Terra Cypria) and MEDASSET stressed that the proposed Management Plan was more aimed at development of the area rather than its conservation and requested for the follow-up Case file on Akamas to remain open; the Standing Committee agreed.

The case of Kazanli was first brought to the Bern Convention by MEDASSET in 2001 with a case file opened in 2002 which was then "provisionally" closed in 2004 after the Turkish Delegate assured the Committee that concrete conservation measures regarding the nesting beach had been implemented. We emphasised that there were still several outstanding problems in the area that remained unmanaged, which due to the absence of the Turkish Delegation for the second yearly Standing Committee Meeting could not be addressed. During the course of the Meeting, we showed 'The White Ghosts of Kazanli' PowerPoint presentation, which due to its alarming visual content evoked a strong reaction from some Delegates.

Red Hot News!

An increase in temperature of just 1°C from global warming could eliminate the birth of male sea turtles, according to the recent study from the University of Exeter. A rise of 3? could lead to extreme levels of infant mortality and declines in nesting beaches across the USA and globally.

The Delegate of Monaco proposed, that due to the seriousness of the issue, the Bern Convention should consider reopening the Kazanli case file and liaise with the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention, UNEP/MAP), to evaluate the extent of the danger of widespread marine pollution from the stockpile of 1.5 million tons of toxic waste located on Kazanli nesting beach, alongside the sea shore. The Committee took note of this information and instructed the Bern Convention to consider the possibility of reopening the Kazanli case file.

Horizon 2020

A Positive Step Forward for the Mediterranean region

To reduce marine pollution, build capacity and to develop greater knowledge of environmental problems in the Mediterranean, Euro-Mediterranean Partners of the EC launched the Horizon 2020 initiative. Aiming to increase regional dialogue and cooperation, NGOs including MEDASSET, were invited to attend a Mediterranean NGO Meeting to discuss and document recommendations for the proper implementation of sustainable development. These recommendations were then presented to the 3rd Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on the environment in Cairo on 20 November 2006 to decide on the Declaration and timetable of Actions to tackle the top sources of Mediterranean pollution by the year 2020