Effective water management policies are essential to tackle drought in the country, environmentalists have said, Yeniduzen reports.
Photos showing a virtually depleted Gönyeli reservoir spread on social media, pointing to complacency about climate change.
There has been no official statement from the authorities about the drying up of the reservoir, and environmental organisations have pointed to the images in Gönyeli being the visible tip of the iceberg.
Environmentalists told Yeniduzen that since water was piped to North Cyprus from Turkey, it has been consumed recklessly. And there has been no maintenance of the country’s own natural resources.
They reminded everyone that the supply from Turkey could eventually run out.
Former president of the Association of Biologists, Hasan Sarpten, emphasised that climate change is not taken seriously in North Cyprus, saying, “There are not enough initiatives in this regard. Bringing water to the country with pipes will not solve the water problem. Many experts have expressed their opinions on this. Simply transporting water with pipes will not solve the water problem in this country; it is evident that we will face a serious drought problem”.
President of the Association of Biologists, Hatice Benan, said that unusually high temperatures, and the delay in seasonal changes, leading to drought and desertification, are all indicators of climate change.
“As a country, we need an environmental policy”, she said.
Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the Green Peace Movement Doğan Sahir said:
“Yes, global climate change used to be a scenario; now we are living in it and are in a crisis.
“We have not produced any political decisions on this issue, nor do we make any conservation efforts. We are consuming as much water as we want, thinking that water comes from Turkey anyway. Therefore, there is also a lack of control in the management of water”.
Sahir pointed out that the reservoirs in the country are not being replenished because policies to conserve water have not been developed. He said, “Because we couldn’t develop policies to retain water. We couldn’t maintain our reservoirs. We couldn’t manage them”.
