Public awareness key in fight against climate change: UNDP

The fight against climate change has dominated global attention for many years, but public awareness is lacking in terms of action in Turkey, according to an official from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Moves to "improve the awareness of citizens and, especially, young people" are missing from Turkey's climate action plan, Claudio Tomasi, the UNDP's Turkey resident representative, recently told the Hürriyet Daily News.

For countries around the world, climate change is no longer just a future threat, as the globe feels the profound effects of events such as the Australian fires, which have burnt more than 5 million hectares of land and killed 17 people and hundreds of thousands animals.

Global warming has also displaced millions of people in Central Asia and raised alarms all over the world - even in Antarctica, which has been experiencing record-high temperatures.

The issue could become more critical, with scientists noting the longer countries wait to cut emissions, the harder it will be to meet the temperature target agreed in the Paris climate accord.

Without question, climate change, pollution, erosion, land degradation and the loss of biodiversity have also seriously impacted Turkey.

That's why it is critical to increase public awareness in the country, Tomasi said.

"It is only by creating and raising this awareness that citizens and young people will become knowledgeable about what this global commitment is or, more importantly, what his or her personal specific role in that is," he said on the sidelines of an event marking a memorandum of understanding between the UNDP and the Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF).

The deal marks the first time the UNDP has brokered an agreement with a...