A systemic approach improved the enforcement structures and cooperation mechanisms of environmental authorities at national, provincial and communal levels towards sustainable environmental management.

The objective of the programme was to improve the efficiency of Turkish environmental management capacities by ameliorating co-ordination and co-operation of environmental authorities at national, provincial and communal levels. The counterpart agency on political level was the Ministry of Environment. The support included the assessment of Turkey’s national environmental legislation and regulations with regard to its alignment with the requirements of the EU environmental acquis.

In the three pilot provinces Ankara, Bursa and Mugla, the programme closely co-operated with all relevant public and private actors to achieve the envisaged systemic impact. Highly successful pilot projects in all three provinces (in the fields of hazardous waste management, treatment of sludge, environmental training for SME, sustainable tourism, treatment of contaminated soils, etc.) demonstrated technical and managerial options for the improvement of environmental parameters in selected fields.