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1. Green volunteering

2. Green production and consumption

Green volunteering

Within the context of the National Youth and Sports Policy Document (Ulusal Gençlik ve Spor Politikası Belgesi), the target of spreading the love for nature to the youth and increase the number of activities organised in the nature, and based on this target, the following goals are accepted and implemented:

 • To perform works on raising and improving environmental awareness in the youth by encouraging nature sports.

• To ensure building of environmental education parks that will enable the youth to be in touch with, spend time and love the nature.

• To organise activities in the youth centres, youth camps and projects for youth to enable them to know and spend time in the nature.

• To ensure more youth enjoy the youth nature camps by increasing their numbers.

• To encourage scouting, mountain climbing, cycling, skiing, orienteering etc. branches.

TEMA (Turkish Foundation for Soil erosion, for Reforestation and the Protection of Natural Habitats) Foundation (TEMA Vakfı) is one of the most common nature volunteering organisations. Ecological literacy works, Awareness Raising Campaigns for Combating Erosion, works aimed at inspiring children and youth with nature and green volunteering, memorial forest projects, cooperation activities on green volunteering are among the main activity fields of the TEMA Foundation.

Within the context of ecological literacy, TEMA carries out works with many organisations, the Ministry of National Education, Turkish Armed Forces and Ministry of Internal Affairs in particular. The “Ecological Literacy Teacher Training” has been the first comprehensive nature education program in Turkey aimed at teachers which was carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education (MoE). In the scope of District Governorship Courses of the Education Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, seminars on “Soil and Combating Erosion” were organised. Through Secondary School TEMA /10-13 years old) and High School TEMA (14-18 years old) programs, works on introducing the youth with the ecological literacy and bringing them in green volunteering were carried out. Within the scope of TEMA “Memorial Forest Project”, memorial forest works created in cooperation of the Forestry General Directorate and donations are ongoing.

TEMA Foundation carried out Turkish coordination of the ENV.net Project realised by Western Balkans and Turkey in the international green volunteering arena and international secretariat of the Drynet Network that is acting in dry-lands in 15 countries. TEMA Foundation is a member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Global Environment Facility GEF Network (GEF-NGO), Climate Action Network Europe (CAN-Europe). Being a member of the IUCN Turkish National Committee, our Foundation assumed duties in Dry-lands Group, Pastoral Working Group, Education and Communication Committee in 2014.   TEMA is executive board member of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE) organisations. TEMA Foundation has three memberships within the body of United Nations: In the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adviser NGO, in the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) the accredited NGO member, in the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) accredited NGO member.

Green production and consumption

In the 2013-2017 Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock (2013-2017 Gıda Tarım ve Hayvancılık Bakanlığı Stratejik Planı), application, incenting and improvement of environment-friendly production techniques is set as a strategic target. In the said Plan, it is stated that practices of plant health, animal health and welfare is one of the most important factors affecting the public and environmental health and plant and animal health practices that are grounded on protecting human and environmental health and supplying safe food are accepted as the main approach.

Within the context of the 2017 Performance Program of the Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock of the Republic of Turkey (T.C. Gıda Tarım ve Hayvancılık Bakanlığı 2017 Yılı Performans Programı), the following performance targets and goals are determined on the environment-friendly production and consumption.

Target: To increase environmental sensitivity and awareness of the society during economical and social improvement.

• To ensure green growth by seizing the opportunities aimed at new job opportunities, income resources, production and technology developments contained by environment-friendly approaches in the energy, industry, agriculture, transportation, construction, services and urbanisation fields.
• To support environment-friendly practices like renewable energy, eco-efficiency, clean production technologies in production and services, to develop new environment-friendly productions and to encourage branding.
• To preserve the quality and increase plant production through environment-sensitive and effective plant health measures.
• To raise awareness of the farmers producing in sensitive areas that require environmental protection to make recorded and controlled production by using production models that do not damage the environment and the soil structure, and of the producers on agriculture-environment.
• To secure that the agricultural production is in the nature that does not harm the environmental, human and animal health.