World Wide Fund for Nature

The Living Planet Index, which measures trends in thousands of vertebrate species populations, shows a decline of 52% between 1970 and 2010, according to the latest edition of WWF's Living Planet Report.

In other words, the number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish across the globe is, on average, about half the size it was 40 years ago.

By Nikos Xydakis

The government’s decision to submit draft legislation on key environmental issues during the Parliament’s summer session has raised a fair amount of controversy. Most prominent are the bills on coastal development and construction on forestland.

A group of villagers has risen against the establishment of mines to extract gold, silver and copper in Artvin after a court gave the green light to a mining company by controversially approving the mandatory environmental impact assessment (ÇED) report for the project.

Struggling to pair urban and industrial development with environment, the Turkish government’s wild energy policies are threatening the ecological balance in dozens of protected areas across the country.

By Manina Danou