Making a speech at the event, First Lady Erdoğan praised the efforts to find solutions to environmental issues through gatherings in different regions of the world.
Drawing attention to the December 5 International Volunteer Day, First Lady Erdoğan said: “I hope that as volunteering gets more and more widespread, individualism will decrease and it will be understood that the humanity is actually one single family and the world is our common home.”
Highlighting the Climate Envoys Project implemented in Türkiye in a bid to raise young climate envoys and to develop eco-friendly campuses, First Lady Erdoğan noted that the Climate Change Action Plan is another project launched in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education.
First Lady Erdoğan said: “We organize Climate Change Workshops to help achieve sustainable development goals. We are preparing an Environment and Climate Change Dictionary to make sure that the terminology is easily understandable for all ages and education levels. The Sustainable World Area project, which is accessible for all students, features more than 200 different videos, games and interactive contents and visuals. I believe that the more equipped we raise our children, the more capable they will be in resolving the problems of the world they will be inhabiting.”
ZERO WASTE PROJECT
Touching upon the Zero Waste Project, First Lady Erdoğan stated: “The Zero Waste Project, which I launched in 2017 with the aim of ensuring that waste is not left in the nature unless it is disposable, is actually a movement which rises on the shoulders of volunteers. As the project has been increasingly embraced across the country, recycling rate has increased from 13 percent to some 30 percent, with the economy winning an additional 3.5 million dollars. What is more, we have prevented exactly 4.9 million tons of green gas emission, which is the equivalent of over 1 million vehicles’ removal from traffic annually.”
Describing the Zero Waste philosophy as an important step towards the solution of the climate crisis, First Lady Erdoğan recalled that March 30 was declared as the International Day of Zero Waste as a result of the proposal Türkiye submitted to the United Nations General Assembly.
First Lady Erdoğan further stressed that the Advisory Board of Eminent Persons on Zero Waste was formed and that the Global Commitment to Zero Waste was opened for signature as part of the Path to the Global Zero Waste Movement in cooperation with UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Also pointing to the plight of the innocent civilians in Gaza, First Lady Erdoğan said: “We see that countries which have never lost their connection with soil also face crises for which they have no responsibility. It is inevitable to implement a fair climate action plan in order to persuade Asia and Latin America, and Africa in particular, to take part in this universal struggle. I also would like to stress that we have no rights whatsoever to leave next generations a world stained with another genocide. While a child is murdered every 10 minutes in Gaza, is it possible for our call for intergenerational justice to find a response in the consciences? A world, where the international law and humanitarian values are valid for the entire humanity without any distinction of religion, language, race and ethnicity, will indeed be worth saving.”
1/12/2023
