İstanbul has lost 47 thousand hectares of forest land in 20 years

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The İstanbul Planning Agency Vision 2050 Office affiliated with the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality has completed its urban analysis report on the city.

As reported by Hazal Ocak from Cumhuriyet, İstanbul has lost almost 25 percent of its agricultural lands in the last 25 years. If the Canal İstanbul project is completed as planned by the central government, the agricultural land loss to be suffered by the city is estimated to be 40 percent.

According to the report, mega projects destroy 98.6 square kilometers of forest land and 143.3 square kilometers of agricultural land.

The city grows towards the north

The report has also shown that urban areas in the city have been growing towards the north since 1980, bringing rural areas under pressure.

According to the report, the total forest land of İstanbul was 285 thousand hectares in 1990; however, it has dropped by almost 50 thousand hectares to 238 thousand hectares. The "cultivated land per person" has also dropped by almost 35 percent in the 2004-2019 period.

Mega projects

With the construction of the 3rd İstanbul airport, a forest land of 61.9 square kilometers and an agricultural land of 2.11 square kilometers have been destroyed. With the construction of the 3rd Bosphorus bridge and North Marmara Highway, a forest land of 32.4 square kilometers and an agricultural land of 6.7 square kilometers have been destroyed.

If the Canal İstanbul project is realized as planned, 4.1 square kilometers of forest land and 134.5 square kilometers of agricultural land will be destroyed.

40 percent of shores are inaccessible

The report of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality has shown that while İstanbul has a coastal length of 690 kilometers, 40 percent of these coasts cannot be accessed. On the other side, the active green space per person was 2.67 square meters in İstanbul in 2019.

70 percent live in an earthquake zone

According to the report, 70 percent of İstanbulites live in an earthquake zone. The report has further noted that while almost 72 billion liras have been collected as private consumption tax since November 1999, this money has not been spent on reinforcement of buildings in districts and regions cited as high risk earthquake zones in scientific reports and examinations.

277 thousand university graduates seek a job'

The report has also addressed the unemployment in the city, underlining that youth unemployment has become permanent and the number of those who continue working after retirement has increased.

CLICK - '10 Times Increase in Number of Unemployed University Graduates in 15 Years'

According to the report, 277 thousand university graduates are actively looking for a job in İstanbul. When calculated in US dollars, the monthly household income is now less than the one in 2006 and it has been regularly dropping since 2013. Poverty has also quickly increased since 2017. (TP/SD)