Istanbul Environment Friendly City Award: The winner is the city of Izmir! – Dec 19, 2017
The “Istanbul Environment Friendly City Award” was conferred to Izmir (Türkiye) during the high-level session of the 20th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention which is being held in Tirana, Albania, on 17-20 December 2017.
Mr Gaetano Leone, Coordinator of the Mediterranean Action Plan, introduced the “Istanbul Environment Friendly City Award” and the procedure followed for the nomination and selection of the winner. H.E. Ornela Cuci, Deputy Minister of Environment of Albania presented the commemorative plaque to the mayor of Izmir, Mr Aziz Kocaoglu. The municipality was congratulated on its exemplary implementation of an urban political agenda in the region. The other candidate-cities for the award were also congratulated for the high quality of their applications.
The Istanbul Environment Friendly City Award aims to recognize and reward the efforts of local authorities to improve the environment and the quality of life and promote sustainable development in Mediterranean coastal towns and cities. It also aims to encourage local authorities to move towards a more environment friendly future and enable them to act as a role-model to inspire other towns and cities.
A sustainable coastal city is “A coastal city in harmony with the sea, utilizing its resources efficiently, equitably and sustainably, reducing its impact on marine and coastal environment and climate change, and managing the environment for the benefit of current and future generations”. Therefore, an environment friendly city is a coastal city in which people enjoy a high quality of life and where sustainable development takes place within the carrying capacity of healthy ecosystems.
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