657,000 trees to be cut for Istanbul’s third airport

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

The airport is planned to be located in Istanbul’s northern part along the Black Sea on an area of 7,659 hectares. Some 6,172 hectares of this area is forest land. DHA photo

A total of 657,000 of trees will be cut down for Istanbul’s third airport construction, according to a report published on the Environment and Urban Planning Ministry’s official website.

The Environmental Impact Assessment’s (ÇED) report said the total number of trees in the area is 2,513,341 and 657,950 of them will need to be cut indispensably while 1,855,391 of the trees will be moved to new places.

However the exact number of the trees to be cut and moved will be revealed after the airport’s project is completed, the Ministry of Forestry told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday.

The same report also said if the plans are implemented forest destruction is in danger of being irreversible.

The 6.7 billion-Turkish Lira airport project, which will be used by 150 million passengers per year, is planned to be completed by 2038 but will be partially operated after 2017 according to officials.

The airport is planned to be located in Istanbul’s northern part along the Black Sea on an area of 7,659 hectares. Some 6,172 hectares of this area is forest land.

 “In case of the project’s implementation great destruction will cause the loss of habitat and biomass in sense of floristic life. Excavation works planned for the units like the landing field, apron and other structures will annihilate the natural ecosystem,” the report said.

An academic from Istanbul University’s Department of Forest Industry Engineering, Kadir Erdin, said this area was now used for mining and this was irreversible destruction but with this new airport it will harm Istanbul irreversibly, according to daily Milliyet.