Wetlands play a key role in preserving biodiversity and have valuable carbon storage capacities. Turkey is home to 135 of these areas, but recent years have seen many of these wetlands degraded as a result of non-sustainable use. Drainage of wetlands for land reclamation and extraction of groundwater to irrigate agricultural land have had an extremely negative impact.
On Lake Yenicaga in northern Anatolia, attempts are being made to stem these developments in the form of a project focused on the necessity of sustainable management of peat bogs, including rehabilitating land where extraction activities have been carried out. Not only does the continued degradation of these areas threaten local animal and wildlife, it also results in significant social and economic disadvantages to the local population. So it's in their interest to protect the wetlands.