Turkey
Nicole Lee

Relations of Environmental Issues and IT in Turkey

Turkey has a distinctive location between the crossroads of Asia and Europe. Due to this unique location, the country has one of the highest annual growth rates in the world for the past several years. However, rapid population increase leads to higher environmental issues because of their increased number in population and economic development. After experiencing high levels of economic growth during the 1990s, Turkey's prosperous industrial production only resulted in greater hazards to the country's environment. As expected, the rapid development of energy consumption and production has initiated several environmental issues at global, regional, and local levels. Besides air pollution, being one of their main environmental concerns for the country, Turkey is also facing environmental issues regarding water pollution and deforestation.

One of the most significant problems Turkey is suffering from is air pollution. Air pollution is a leading environmental issue for the reason that air pollution could cause damage to the human health and the ecosystem because of their exposure to toxic pollutants. The main sources of air pollutants found in Turkey are ÒSOX, NOX and PM10 generated by many anthropogenic effectsÓ (ÒAir Pollution (Turkey)Ó). Most of the air pollution in this country is caused by their rapid increase in population over a short period of time, higher fuel demand for motor vehicles, and the consumption of energy due to industries and households. More than 80% of the population lived in rural areas before industrialization; however, over 60% of the population now lives in the city, or near industrial centers (ÒAir Pollution Profile of TurkeyÓ 190). This statistics proves that the populace of Turkey is now more open to being negatively affected by air pollution. Yet, only Ò6.3% of existing plantsÓ installed needed equipment to stop the problems of environmental pollution produced by industrial installations (191).

Industrialization, urbanization, and rapid population increase in Turkey is causing the water around them to be polluted. Water pollution is considered to be the next leading environmental issue, besides air pollution, due to the fact that Turkey is not a prosperous nation in terms of water resources. Only 4 out of the 25 rivers correlate with the 37% of annual precipitation, meaning that the availability of water resources does not reach the demands on the appropriate time and location. Lakes and rivers are essential in Turkey for drinking water supply and irrigation. Thus, the potential of their water resources and the quality of it are critically important in Turkey. However, the release of domestic and industrial wastewater into the rivers has a negative affect on the quality of water because it causes the Òdeterioration of the nitrogen-phosphorus balance in contrast to normal standardsÓ (ÒFresh Water (Turkey)Ó). Water pollution is also caused by soil erosion, where solid material containing phosphorous are transferred from agricultural parts of the country and deposited to the surface of their waters. This then causes eutrophication, inducing diminutions in certain fishes because of the reduction of oxygen available in the water (ÒFresh Water (Turkey)Ó).

Deforestation plays a key role in threatening the biodiversity of Turkey. Compared to the other two, deforestation is considered to be the third order of importance for Turkey because air pollution and water pollution has an immediate effect on the environment, where as deforestation has a butterfly effect and later influences other factors of the ecosystem. Maintaining biodiversity is essential in bearing healthy environments that offer food and cleaner water and air supply (Stockstill). Turkey is a growing country that is suffering from smog and air pollution because of their rather quick industrialization. Through deforestation, this means that the trees that can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen would not be available to give clean air to the growing population of Turkey. Also, trees can no longer evaporate groundwater because of deforestation, which is harmful for Turkey since this country already lacks water resources influenced by water pollution. Forest degradation accelerates soil erosion since there are reduced protections of soil from the trees. Overall, the impact deforestation plays on cleaner air and water supply affects the biodiversity of Turkey because the contamination and riddance harms the entire environment.

Due to the fact that Turkey is becoming industrialized as the years pass, this means that the information technology available at the country should be able to help with the critical environmental issues. For instance, one of the main sufferings of this country is air pollution because of motor vehicles. In this case, instead of taking public transportation or other motor vehicles that emits gas or oil, when can use a cell phone device to make a phone call or text. Also, in order for there to be less deliveries of mail, sending e-mails may actually be a lot more useful and helpful to the environment in the long-run. Advancement in hardware and software devices can make computers run efficiently, using less power. This can be seen not only in desktops, but in handheld devices and cars as well; which is another benefactor that may help with air pollution.

Information Technology opens up possibilities to investigate the environmental issues of Turkey. For the reason that deforestation is harmful to the country because it influences biodiversity, experimenters can find solutions of not ridding the trees for industrialization, but rather finding ways to build a city around the forest. One can use computers to input and analyze data and use the phone to have surveys over the phone to ask the population of Turkey how they would feel about getting rid of forests. Biodiversity is crucial for the reason that it provides cleaner air and water ÒNature Protection and Biodiversity (Turkey).Ó This is the reason why one would need information regarding what would be better to get rid of the surroundings that could take up land for productive use, or keep it. In general, one would need computers and hand held devices to store data and find solutions to keep the environment cleaner and healthier for the inhabitants.

Discovery solutions to the environmental issues are crucial. Environmental issues in Turkey, such as air pollution, water pollution, and deforestation, serve as extreme threats to the human's health, safety, and productivity. Due to the fact that these environmental problems affect the future of the ecosystem, it is important to address these harms and make an effort to find solutions.

References:

1.ÒAir Pollution (Turkey).Ó The European Environment. European Environment Agency, 23 Nov. 2010. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.
2.ÒAir Pollution Profile of Turkey.Ó Air Pollution. Chemistry International, 1997: 190-191. Web. 19 Feb. 2013. < http://www.iupac.org/publications/ci/1997/november/pollution.pdf>
3.ÒFresh Water (Turkey)>Ó The European Environment. European Environment Agency, 23 Nov. 2010. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
4.ÒNature Protection and Biodiversity (Turkey).Ó The European Environment. European Environment Agency, 23 Nov. 2010. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
5.Stockstill, Ellen. ÒEcology and the Environment.Ó Discovery. Discovery Communications, 2011. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.