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Other Measures for the Protection of Plant
and Animal Genetic Resources
 Turkey
has started taking effective measures in order to protect
certain endangered species among its rich diversity of flora
and fauna. We can summarize these measures as follows;
1. A red data book was published in 1989 indicating the
levels of endangerment faced by Turkish plants according
to international IUCN classification. A similar study was
conducted for species of birds.
2. Two gene banks have been established. One is located
in Izmir, Menemen and is devoted especially to preserving
the seeds and reproductive parts (diaspore) of cultivated
plants in Turkey. Recently, they have also started collecting
the seeds of non-agricultural wild plants for purposes of
preservation.
A second gene bank, fonuded in Ankara in 1990, has as its
purpose to collect and preserve the seeds of native plants
which constitute the wild ancestors of cultivated plants.
This bank started operations by securing the seeds of plant
species in the Gramineae and Leguminosae families found
in the valley which will be left under water upon completion
of the GAP (South-eastern Anatolian) project. It is probable
that a large number of field crops had originally evolved
in this area.
3. In accordance with the Bern Convention, to which it
is a signatory, Turkey has added approximately seventy plant
species which are in need of protection, both at the level
of seeds and habitats, to the convention list in 1990-91,
and the necessary measures are now being taken for their
protection.
4. In addition to the Bern Convention, Turkey is also a
signatory to the Barcelona Convention concerning the pollution
of the Mediterranean and the Paris Agreement on the protection
of Birds.
5. Although Turkey has not yet become a signatory to the
RAMSAR Convention (it is expected that Turkey will sign
this agreemnet in 1992), work is being undertaken to protect
wetlands both by the state and by voluntary environmental
protection organizations and with the participation of concerned
scientist. As a result of such work, operations and with
the participation of concerned scientist. As a result of
such work, operations which had been designed to drain the
wetlands, and which in fact resulted in the total drying
of some areas, have stopped. The conversion of wetlands
into agricultural land has also been halted. Serious measures
are now being taken in order to prevent the pollution and
degeneration of such areas.
 6.
Turkey has applied for membership, in December 1991, to
CITES. The purpose of this convention was to protect endangered
animal and plant species which are subject to commercial
trading, and to bring under control their export and import.
Turkey has imposed restrictions on the removal from their
natural habitat of certain bulb plants, plants with rhizome
roots, and tubers (geophlytes) which have been increasingly
endangered since the 1970s. More importantly, efforts are
being made to restrict their sales abroad. The decree published
in 1989 and revised in 1991 allows for the supervision by
the state and by scientists (mostly botanists and agricultural
scientists) over the cultivation, harvesting, and exporting
of these plants. The export of Galanthus elwesi, which is
the most important of such plants under close control, has
been reduced by stages during the last three years. While
its exports had reached 40 million bulbs during the first
half of the 1980s, this trade was restricted to 30 million
in 1990, 20 million in 1991, and 15 million in 1992. Two
projects have been initiated in 1991 and 1992, the first
with the Netherlands, the second with Britain, which aim
to cultivate G. elwesi and other species in fields. Restrictions
have also been imposed on the export of Vipera kaznakowii,
and of several species of predatory birds.
Activities
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