The Turkish Zero Extinction Fund will carry out priority conservation actions in the 305 Key Biodiversity Areas identified by Doga Dernegi.

The official launch has taken place on 4 June 2006 on CNN Turk, one of the main media sponsors of the campaign. CNN Turk has promoted and will continue to promote the fund and its ten highest priority projects through a series of television broadcasts.

The projects that will benefit include: threatened orchid species conservation in Southern Turkey; the rediscovery of the Anatolian leopard; the conservation of the Sultansazlığı wetlands; and the preservation of the country's last remaining Demoiselle Cranes and globally threatened Great Bustards.

"We are very pleased to launch the Turkish Zero Extinction Fund, one of the first national initiatives dedicated to halt biodiversity decline. Turkey, one of most biodiversity-rich countries in the world, has a global responsibility for halting species extinctions - a united goal of the contracting parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the European Union. We hope that this partnership will trigger larger support from the private sector for biodiversity conservation,” said Güven Eken, Doga Dernegi's Director General.

UNDP Turkey’s Deputy Representative Sarah Poole said, “As UNDP, we are very happy to be involved in this campaign, since we give great importance to sustainable development and protection of biodiversity. UNDP supports the sustainable management of agriculture, fisheries, forests and energy, and a pro-poor approach to conservation and protected areas, biotechnology and the development of viable, new markets for ecosystem services. And we invite the public and especially private sector to join us in this cause.”

The Turkish Zero Extinction Fund is funded by the Dutch Government and by the British and Dutch partners of BirdLife International, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Vogelbescherming Nederlands. Sponsorship was provided by CNN Turk and Atlas magazine, a prominent Turkish travel and geography magazine. Motorola was one of the first private sector enterprises in Turkey to invest in the fund.

For more information – kampanya@sifiryokolus.org