Syrian war bears environmental cost: foundation

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

A fisherman casts his net into the waters of the Euphrates river in Raqqa province, east Syria, May 15, 2013. The ongoing war in Syria is taking an environmental toll on the region’s water outlets, according to the Waste Free Oceans Foundation (WFO). REUTERS/Hamid Khatib

The ongoing war in Syria is taking an environmental toll on the region’s water outlets, according to the Waste Free Oceans Foundation (WFO), an initiative aimed at efficient waste management to prevent marine pollution.

The organization released a statement to highlight the environmental hazard carried by the uncollected garbage of Syria’s Latakia, which consequently causes litter to build up on nearby Mediterranean shores, including near the southern Turkish province of Hatay’s Samandağ district.

Some 53 percent of all Turkey’s marine litter is caused by foreign sources, the WFO said, adding that the lack of services had resulted in “mountains of garbage” to appear on the streets of Latakia.

“The destination of all that garbage ends up being, unfortunately, the sea. The waste put to sea pollutes all our Mediterranean shores, starting with Hatay,” the statement said, adding that the area was one of the key habitats for Caretta Caretta and Chelonia Mydas sea turtles.

“The turtles can’t make it to the beaches to lay eggs due to the waste, and the eggs that are hatching on the beach fail to make it to the sea,” WFO Middle East and Africa Director Yavuz Eroğlu said. “We can’t, however, take up any initiatives due to the ongoing war.”