Protected Areas

Abstract

Protected areas are land and sea parts that are managed and protected in situ (InSITU) within the framework of national and international laws and agreements and other effective means in order to ensure the continuity and protection of biological diversity, natural and cultural resources at a local, national and universal scale. For this reason, areas with protection status have a natural and cultural heritage value that is universal and concerns all humanity. The protected areas by law in our country constitute approximately 7.24 % of the area of Turkey. The number of areas with protected status is steadily increasing. It seems that there are many laws, decrees, regulations and directives that involve the protection of natural and cultural resource values. Today, the country-wide nature conservation policy for protected areas is not sustainable, the existence of a wide variety and different legislation, the number of protected areas increasing day by day, the confusion of authority and responsibility between different institutions and organizations, the protected areas are evaluated under different statuses and more than one protection status effective and competent protection and sustainable management of protected areas are not realized as desired due to the changing and diversification of demands and needs for protected areas, problems in planning, management and implementation dimensions. This situation has also led to consequences such as the inability to protect the protected areas in scientific and technical dimensions, the inability to meet the demands and needs of the society for use, the social and economic pressure and problems at the local scale, the insufficiency of financial resources, and the insufficiency of the inspection and control mechanism of the areas. There is definitely a need for a new legal and organizational regulation within the scope of the current legal and administrative dimension of protected areas in our country. In this context, it is of great benefit to enact a framework law named “Protected Areas Law” and to include all areas with protection status. There is a need to classify protection statuses in accordance with International (IUCN) conservation statuses and to define the powers and responsibilities. An ecological network must be created between protected areas, and it will be of great benefit to ensure an ecological and organic connection between other terrestrial and marine natural areas. Handling the legal, planning/ design, management and implementta tion processes of protected areas in integrity and with sustainable policies and transferring them to future generations should be accepted as a national responsibility and duty.