Environmental organization urges gov't to declare Aegean Gökova Bay as 'absolute protection area'
A local environmental organization in Turkey's Muğla province has petitioned the Environment and Urbanization Ministry to re-allocate the Aegean Gökova Bay as an "absolute protection area." The region's protection status had been reversed back in 2017, allowing construction on the land.
Cihan Başakçıoğlu / DUVAR
An environmental organization has filed a petition with the Environment and Urbanization Ministry to revert the removal of an absolute protection order for Aegean Gökova Bay.
Aegean coastal settlements like Akyaka, Gökova and Akçapınar lost their absolute protection statuses in 2017, when the areas were rezoned to allow construction by the Environment and Urbanization Ministry.
Local environmental organization Muğla Environment Platform (MUÇEP) has recently inspected the Gökova Wetlands to observe the effects of human tampering over the course of the past three years and prepared a petition to bring back the absolute protection order for the region.
Noting the area's rich flora and fauna, the petition said that the absolute protection status would be crucial in preserving the endemic species and called for the reversal of the status.
"All human activity in the area should be limited to preserve the region ecologically," the petition noted.