Turkey Mozaik Foundation in cooperation with the Support Foundation for Civil Society launched Turkey Wildfire Relief and Mitigation Fund following the wildfires that started on July 28, 2021 and spread to more than 100 areas in different provinces of Turkey. With the financial contributions of individuals and corporate donors, a total of 711.100 TL will be granted to 5 CSOs to support their work on relief and mitigation.
Below you can find the information on the grantee organisations and their projects:
The Nature Conservation Centre (Doğa Koruma Merkezi Vakfı – DKM)
DKM was established in Ankara by a group of experienced ecologists and nature conservationists to provide a centrally organised pool of expertise and technical capacity for conserving biodiversity in Turkey and the surrounding area. With the 98.300 TL grant support, the foundation will conduct environmental monitoring activities on the forest and maquis shrubland ecosystem as well as tracking the revitalisation of the forest life with the active participation of the citizens. The foundation will publicly share all the information obtained from these monitoring activities. Within the framework of these activities, DKM will determine the structural and floristic diversity of maquis shrubland and forests before the fire incidents in Antalya, Muğla, and Mersin areas by using improvement (amenajman) plans and remote sensing data. The foundation will also develop an expert team that will work on creating a system in order to monitor and report the processes on these areas at least for 10 years. On the other hand, the foundation will implement citizen science activities in order to develop a system for data collection. With this system, the foundation aims to include citizen participation in most of the steps of this monitoring process. Lastly, the foundation will create a web page where implemented activities, i.e., data collection procedures, will be shared with the public.
The Labour Is Mine Women’s Association (Emek Benim Kadın Derneği)
Established in Muğla, the association provides legal and psychological support to women who are victims of violence. They also determine the problems faced by women in the workforce and home-based women workers; proposing solutions for those problems. The association will use the 97.000 TL grant to support women who had to leave their villages in Turgutbayır – Marmaris, and Çökerme and Mazı regions near Milas due to the wildfires, by guiding them in receiving the available financial and in-kind support provided by public institutions and civil society in helping them resettle. At the same time, the association will cover the urgent needs of the women who were not able to reach existing support mechanisms in the areas of children’s education, clothing, and household goods. Within the scope of the project, the association will bring together women who were affected and unaffected by the disaster in order to enhance women’s solidarity between them. With this project, the association will reach 150 women and will cover the needs of 60 women.
Support to Life Association (STL – Hayata Destek Derneği)
STL is an independent humanitarian organisation founded with the principle aim of helping disaster-affected communities in accessing their basic needs and rights. Since 2005, STL conducts its activities with the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, and accountability. With the 170.000 TL grant, STL will provide cash and in-kind support to 40 families affected by the wildfires in Antalya, Mersin, and Adana in order to cover their needs and support their livelihood. Families to be provided with cash transfers will be prioritised according to family size, the registration status with the relevant professional chambers, and the level of difficulty they face in accessing the support provided by the public institutions.
Natura Nature and Culture Conservation Society (Natura Doğa ve Kültür Koruma Derneği)
Established in Ankara, the association carries out its activities on protecting sweetgum forests by way of creating a corridor between the sweetgum forests, assembling the fragmented forests, and reversing the destruction process of these forests. The sweetgum forests are found only in Southwest Anatolia and are on the verge of extinction due to fragmentation. With the 165,800 TL grant we provide, the association will carry out an inventory scan in the burned areas and will scan these areas with 10 camera traps in order to reveal the current situation of the wildcat population. Natura will carry out monitoring activities for 12 months in an area of 100 km2, will attach satellite transmitters to 2 wild cats to reveal the habitat use status of wildcats in the burned and unburned areas. In the meantime, the association will also install a satellite transmitter to at least 1 caracal near the region in order to reveal possible competition between the two species. At the end of the project, the association will organise a workshop with the relevant stakeholders to discuss the wildlife and biological diversity of the region and its possible relationship with forest fires. As a result of this workshop, the association will prepare a Wildcat Species Conservation Action Plan to plan necessary activities and protection measures.
Yuva Association (Yuva Derneği)
The association generates holistic and sustainable solutions to environmental problems, education, and social issues. YUVA also works to support the personal development of adults and young people through lifelong learning, raise their awareness regarding the environment, and contribute to eradicating poverty. With the 180.000 TL grant, YUVA will carry out its activities based on raising awareness about natural disasters caused by climate change, along with the measures and response methods for these disasters. Also, the association will implement activities that will ensure environmentally-friendly habits are adopted. Within this scope, YUVA will organise Climate and Nature Literacy training for 960 beneficiaries over the age of 18 with different socio-economic and demographic characteristics.
