YAŞAR ANTER
MUĞLA – Doğan News Agency (DHA)
The Marine and Coastal Protected Areas Training Center, or DKKA, will begin operations in Akyaka town in the Ula district of Muğla next month. Moreover, it was announced that the center would serve in the international arena as well.
Güner Ergün, manager and project coordinator, said DKKA’s activities would be carried out with the support of Akyaka Municipality and would be accelerated from 2012 on. Ergün said the center would work for the development of the capacities of marine and coastal protected areas both in Turkey and internationally.
Ergün said stakeholders in the project’s six areas and officials and local administrators in relevant public institutions and organizations would be informed about introductory training available for protected marine areas and biodiversity. He also said academics as well as officials from the Private Environmental Protection Agency, or ÖÇK, would support the training.
Together in Ankara
Within the framework of the project to developing Turkey’s marine and coastal protected areas, which has been conducted in five environmental protected areas and natural parks in Turkey, the DKKA center was being planned to be established in Akyaka town. Last January, national and international organizations came together in Ankara for this reason. A total of 32 representatives including national institutions such as the ÖÇK Institution Directorate, central and provincial agencies, Nature Protection and Natural Parks General Directorate and Muğla University as well as the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP, office in Turkey, the U.S. National Oceanography and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, International Marine Protected Areas Capacity Development Programme and World Wildlife Foundation, or WWF’s, Mediterranean and Turkey offices.
(Source: www.hurriyetdailynews.com )