Environment and Sustainability

As a member of the InterAcademy Panel for International Issues (IAP) since its foundation (1995), our Academy has shared the sensitivity of this global organisation towards problems of environment and sustainability, from the perspective of science and technology. TÜBA hosted on 31 May-1 June 1996 the IAP “Forum of National Science and Engineering Academies” within the framework of the UN Habitat II Conference on Human Settlements held in Ystanbul. The ensuing IAP statement entitled “Science and Technology and the Future of Cities” was endorsed by 72 of the world's academies of sciences.The General Conference of IAP held between 15-18 May 2000 in Tokyo was on "Transition to Sustainability in the 21 st Century: The Contribution of Science and Technology”. The ensuing common statement of the world academies was published by IAP under the same title. This statement was translated into Turkish and published by our Academy, it is also available on this web site.

The UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD, Rio+10) was held between 26 August- 4 September 2002 in Johannesburg as a sequel to the 1992 UN World Summit in Rio de Janeiro. IAP called upon its member academies to contribute to their National Reports from the perspective of science and technology. In this context, TÜBA set up a Working Group on Environment which prepared its first report on “Priorities in Sustainable Development for Turkey: The View of TÜBA for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Rio+10” in 2002.

The work of this Group was not limited to the WSSD: Keeping in mind the mission of TÜBA to act as an advisor to the Government and to inform the public on socially important science and technology issues, the Environment Working Group has decided to determine what kind of data is being collected on the environment and the areas where data is missing, since data collection is the first step to develop adequate environmental policies. In this context, the first study was “Quality of Life Indices : A Data System Proposal for Turkey”, published in March 2004. The reason this subject was given priority is that the realisation of quality of life criteria gains an increasing importance each day, from the perspective of human rights, economic policy making, health policy management, urban policies etc.

“Turkey's International Commitments for the Environment” is the third report completed by this Project Group. Since environmental problems cannot be confined within the borders of a country, international agreements gain a critical importance for their solution. Türkiye has made a commitment to the international community by signing a large number of these agreements, and they are legally binding for her. This report aims to question vis-à-vis the authorities and the public whether Türkiye has complied sufficiently with these international agreements on environment.

Publications:
Priorities in Sustainable Development for Turkey: The View of TÜBA for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Rio+10 (2002)
Quality of Life Indices : A Data System Proposal for Türkiye (2004)
Turkey's International Commitments for the Environment (2005)