just two dimensions of the originally intended book: past and present. The learned
lessons no longer address the future aspect with its prospective academic perspective on how to advance and solve the challenges by well-argued new perspectives and alternative solutions whereby Turkey requires further assistance to
implement the future process. Additionally, it does not cover many key themes of
Turkish environmental law and policies that should be dealt with separately and
specifically, such as air pollution; marine pollution; water pollution; solid and/or
hazardous waste; the protection of flora and fauna including the matters of land
degradation, deforestation, wetlands, and biodiversity; agricultural policy; urban
planning and green/sustainable cities; Turkey’s energy strategy and its impact on
the environment; and new concepts like environmental security, environmental
governance, environmental diplomacy, and environmental peacebuilding.
In short, there is a need for further work on this topic for the editors to complete
the dimensions of the main objective of the book. But, many aspects of this huge
topic ‘Turkish environmental law and policies’ also need to be further studied by all
other scholars working on the subject as well. Given the fact that environmental
issues are becoming a matter of vital importance day by day all over the world, and
it is open to discussion whether the policies applied under Turkish environmental
law and politics are always examples of the most mature and well-established ones;
and also that environmental issues are not top of the agenda in the country because
of security concerns and political and economic fluctuations; it is extremely
important to produce qualified academic works on different aspects of the subject,
to propose solutions to the problems through them and to make them applicable in
practice, thereby informing and influencing decision-makers.
Through this book, we have achieved a very small part of our objective.
However, it still makes a useful contribution to knowledge, given the previous
absence of this kind of systematic book on Turkish environmental law and policies.
Indeed, providing a systematic comprehensive analysis of Turkish law and environmental policies through high-quality, interdisciplinary papers, which can be
used not only as a valuable source of information but also as tools to support
teaching and research and assist in decision-making, this book will hopefully be of
significant value to graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, and
policy-makers working on Turkish environmental law and policies.
While coming to the end of this process – full of challenges and tensions but also
full of motivation resulting from new avenues to explore – we hope this book will
be the precursor of new works dealing more explicitly with learned lessons, new
perspectives and solutions, and of specific works on fundamental themes of Turkish
environmental law and policies, such as air pollution, marine pollution, and water
pollution.
Konya, Turkey
July 2019
Zerrin Savaşan
Vakur Sümer
Editors
viii
Preface
lessons no longer address the future aspect with its prospective academic perspective on how to advance and solve the challenges by well-argued new perspectives and alternative solutions whereby Turkey requires further assistance to
implement the future process. Additionally, it does not cover many key themes of
Turkish environmental law and policies that should be dealt with separately and
specifically, such as air pollution; marine pollution; water pollution; solid and/or
hazardous waste; the protection of flora and fauna including the matters of land
degradation, deforestation, wetlands, and biodiversity; agricultural policy; urban
planning and green/sustainable cities; Turkey’s energy strategy and its impact on
the environment; and new concepts like environmental security, environmental
governance, environmental diplomacy, and environmental peacebuilding.
In short, there is a need for further work on this topic for the editors to complete
the dimensions of the main objective of the book. But, many aspects of this huge
topic ‘Turkish environmental law and policies’ also need to be further studied by all
other scholars working on the subject as well. Given the fact that environmental
issues are becoming a matter of vital importance day by day all over the world, and
it is open to discussion whether the policies applied under Turkish environmental
law and politics are always examples of the most mature and well-established ones;
and also that environmental issues are not top of the agenda in the country because
of security concerns and political and economic fluctuations; it is extremely
important to produce qualified academic works on different aspects of the subject,
to propose solutions to the problems through them and to make them applicable in
practice, thereby informing and influencing decision-makers.
Through this book, we have achieved a very small part of our objective.
However, it still makes a useful contribution to knowledge, given the previous
absence of this kind of systematic book on Turkish environmental law and policies.
Indeed, providing a systematic comprehensive analysis of Turkish law and environmental policies through high-quality, interdisciplinary papers, which can be
used not only as a valuable source of information but also as tools to support
teaching and research and assist in decision-making, this book will hopefully be of
significant value to graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, and
policy-makers working on Turkish environmental law and policies.
While coming to the end of this process – full of challenges and tensions but also
full of motivation resulting from new avenues to explore – we hope this book will
be the precursor of new works dealing more explicitly with learned lessons, new
perspectives and solutions, and of specific works on fundamental themes of Turkish
environmental law and policies, such as air pollution, marine pollution, and water
pollution.
Konya, Turkey
July 2019
Zerrin Savaşan
Vakur Sümer
Editors
viii
Preface