Environment and Urbanization Ministry

The Gediz Delta in the western province of İzmir, home to 10 percent of the world's flamingo population, will be a "kindergarten" for the baby flamingos as the hatching season has started.

"Baby flamingos that are now a part of the flock will start flying around by September," Dicle Tuba Kılıç, the head of the Nature Association, told daily Milliyet on May 10.

Tavşan Island, one of the nine islands off the coast of Istanbul, has been registered as a "vulnerable area to be protected," according to a presidential decree, which was published in the Official Gazette on April 10 with the signature of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

A publishing house owner living in the northwestern province of Kocaeli's Gebze district who has been indulging in birdwatching activities for a decade at the Ballıkayalar Nature Park has revealed the joy of birdwatching while stressing the need to conserve wildlife.

Residents in the Dereiçi village in the northeastern province of Artvin, ravaged by a massive fire on March 13, have begged philanthropists to stop sending aids, saying that "the boxes have overflowed the village; send no more."

"After the fire, we required help, but now, we are at a point of disbursement of aid," locals told the Demirören News Agency on March 30.

Within the scope of measures taken by the Environment and Urbanization Ministry to protect Lake Salda in the southwestern province of Burdur, a limited number of people will be allowed to visit the lake's protected White Islands area, where 1.5 million people visit annually.

The Environment and Urbanization Ministry has put the final touch on a regulation that will make parking lots mandatory when buildings are being built, with requirements having been shaped according to the size of the apartments in the buildings.

Air quality dramatically improved in Turkey last year as people sheltered in their homes to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, says a report.

After the wreckage of the buildings destroyed in the İzmir earthquake on Oct. 30 last year was moved to another location, teams have begun a search to collect the personal belongings of the earthquake victims to safely return them to their rightful owners.

Around 1.5 million buildings in Istanbul need to be rebuilt from the ground up for structural integrity, Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum said on March 2.

This year Turkey will open a tender for the mega-project Canal Istanbul, an artificial sea route parallel to the Bosphorus set to connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, a senior Turkish official said on Feb. 26. 

"Canal Istanbul is truly a visionary project," said Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum during a speech in Turkey's central province of Kirsehir.