A Turkish researcher has said that Türkiye could have the same climate characteristics as Egypt in the near future and emphasized the need to accelerate efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Ilker Eroğlu, a faculty member at the Department of Geography at Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, told Anadolu Agency (AA) in an interview on Wednesday that climate change affects all living organisms negatively worldwide.
Eroğlu underscored that everyone should take this issue seriously, as the effects of global warming will impact the entire world. He highlighted that due to climate change, the subtropical zone is expanding northward.
Pointing out that the warm area is spreading further north, Eroğlu provided the following information: "Türkiye's seas are warming up, and because of this warming, invasive fish are moving toward our seas, both in the more southern seas and toward the Mediterranean and the Black Sea."
"For example, anchovies are moving further north. They are migrating toward colder regions. These cause our biological populations and biological richness to decrease, leading to the disappearance of habitats here."
Eroğlu drew attention to the fact that 12,000 plants in Türkiye, including 3,000 endemic ones, are affected by global warming.
Eroğlu stressed the need to further increase efforts to reduce the effects of climate change, stating: "Climate change, especially the increase in temperatures, decrease in rainfall, and drought, leads to the disruption of ecosystems and a decrease in agricultural productivity. It is important for us to take necessary precautions. Policies need to be developed on this issue."
"In the future, we need to determine how much the temperature will increase, how much rainfall will decrease or increase, if any. In other words, we need to determine the current situation first," he said.
The Turkish expert warned that "Based on this, we need to make projections for the future."
"For example, if rainfall decreases and temperatures increase, more emphasis should be placed on plant species that can adapt to this climate rather than plants that require a lot of rainfall," he said.
"The efficient use of water resources is also important. We need to be careful not to waste water, as Türkiye is already among the countries facing water scarcity or water stress in this regard."
