Environmental issues in Turkey

Turkey hosts more than three thousand endemic plant species, has high diversity of other taxa, and is mostly covered by three of the world's thirty-five biodiversity hotspots. Although some environmental pressures have been decoupled from economic growth, the environment still faces many threats, such as coal and diesel fuel emitting greenhouse gases and deadly fine particulate air pollution. There is no fine particulate limit and coal in Turkey is subsidized. Some say the country is a pollution haven.

The wildlife of Turkey is diverse, due to its wide variety of habitats and unique position between three continents and three seas. "Ill-considered development projects are threatening biodiversity, but a new wildlife corridor offers hope for further conservation progress." Turkish montane forests face major threats to their genetic diversity associated with over-exploitation, forest fragmentation, air pollution, and global climatic change. The European Environment Agency has identified three biogeographic regions in Turkey, the Black Sea, Mediterranean and Anatolian regions, which should be protected under the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, to which Turkey is signatory.

Forest in Turkey had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.39/10, ranking it 75th globally out of 172 countries.

Air pollution is particularly significant in urban areas; the problem is especially acute in Istanbul, Ankara, Erzurum, and Bursa, where the combustion of heating fuels increases particulate density in winter. Almost all the urban population is exposed to particulate matter emissions higher than the EU and World Health Organization limits. Especially in Istanbul, increased car ownership causes frequent urban smog conditions. "Air pollution in urban centers, often caused by transport, and the use of small-scale burning of wood or coal, is linked to a range of health problems." "PM10 levels are 36.7 micrograms per cubic meter, much higher than the OECD average of 20.9 micrograms per cubic meter, and the annual guideline limit of 20 micrograms per cubic meter set by the World Health Organization." Although there is some monitoring of air pollution compared with other European countries, many air pollution indicators are not available. Regulations in Turkey do not contain any restrictions on the pollutant PM 2.5, which causes lung diseases. Greenpeace Mediterranean claim that the Afşin-Elbistan coal-fired plant is the power plant with the highest health risk in Europe, followed by the Soma coal-fired power plant, also in Turkey.

As of 2016^[update] many municipalities use substandard dumps to dispose of waste.

Environmental noise data is not reported.

Summer temperatures have increased and are expected to continue to increase due to climate change. Coal in Turkey emits a third of the country's greenhouse gas.

Untreated waste water is a cause of marine mucilage in the Marmara Sea. Organic pollution of streams is a problem. There is a potential for spills from the 5,000 oil- and gas-carrying ships that pass through the Bosporus annually.