📩 22/06/2023 10:40
Only a few days left until the London Climate Action Week, which takes place from 24 June to 2 July. This year events will focus on four main themes: Accelerating the global clean economy; ensuring equitable climate transitions; growing networks of action; creating a greener environment.
Turkish artists; Fatma Kadir – “Water Bird Watching”, Mehmet Kuran – “Nowhere”, Selva Özelli – “Love Someday”, “Reef Dwellers”, “Orcas&Reefs”, Günsu Saraçoğlu – “ReBirth of Water Birds” and İlhan Sayın – “Flowers of Hope” ” represents our country at the London Climate Action Week.
The artists published a joint statement for their exhibitions at this event.
“Biodiversity is essential to the existence and proper functioning of all ecosystems, and they are the pillars on which we build civilizations. Without nature we have nothing. A significant impact of climate change on biodiversity is the increase in the intensity and frequency of fires, storms or periods of drought. As global temperatures rise, wildfires are expected to increase in size, frequency and severity in the coming years, degrading air quality globally. These natural disasters, fires affect both resident and migratory birds, and while the fire is active, they are removing that area for bird use. This pushes birds to other areas, triggering early migration or migration from new areas.
The loss of nature and biodiversity is the fourth most serious threat we will face in the next 10 years. This has a high cost to the oceans, as around 10% of global marine species are found to be threatened with extinction, according to the latest report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Over the next century, climate change is predicted to profoundly affect coastal and marine ecosystems, including whales and reefs. Whales are at the top of the food chain and play an important role in the overall health of the marine environment. The orca whale (Orcinus orca) is a toothed whale belonging to the family of oceanic dolphins, of which it is the largest member. They are known for their black and white patterned bodies and can be found in all the oceans of the world, in a variety of marine environments from the Arctic and Antarctic regions to the tropical seas.
Whales play a vital role in the marine ecosystem, where they help provide at least half of the oxygen we breathe, fight climate change and sustain fish stocks. Each large whale seizes an estimated 33 tons of CO2 on average, thus playing a role in the fight against climate change. Increasing ocean temperature can cause reef-forming corals to bleach, stress and eventually die. Ocean acidification can slow or stop the calcification of various calcareous species, including coral, coral algae and mollusks, and dissolve calcium carbonate structures in reefs, which are essential for about 25 percent of all marine life.
But the good news is that, according to last year's United Nations conference on biodiversity, COP15, countries agreed on the historic Open Sea Agreement to place 2030% of the world's oceans in protected areas by 30. Nations also agreed to develop a legally binding agreement to reduce plastic pollution by 2024.”
With their exhibitions, our artists draw attention to the efforts to restore biodiversity around the world and to start reducing plastic pollution in our oceans during London Environment Week.