Activities 1.1 Determination of the current situation in Turkey regarding the technical, legal and social aspects of nitrate pollution and related preventive actions

In this context, the relevant resources in the European Union and Türkiye will be examined and reported. In addition, the relevant European Union and Turkish legislation will be compared and the differences between the two will be revealed and recommendations will be made about the necessary legislative changes. In order to reveal the technical and social effects of nitrate pollution, 10 basins will be selected among the 25 existing river basins in Turkey, and face-to-face interviews will be held with about 50 farmers and related stakeholders operating in these areas. At the end of these studies, a situation analysis of nitrate pollution in Türkiye and its technical, legal and social implications will be presented.

Activities 1.2 Based on the perspective of implementation of Nitrate Action Plans, prioritizing the most effective, economic and voluntary actions in Nitrata Sensitive Regions and realizing sample practices for monitoring the effect of Nitrate Action Plans

Within the scope of this activity, the most effective, economical and voluntary priority actions to be taken by farmers in Nitrate Vulnerable Zone by reducing the risk of nitrate leaching through following good agricultural practices in line with Nitrate Action Plans will be revealed. In this framework, demonstration studies will be carried out in 2 agricultural business to be selected in the Gediz basin, and the results will be shared with other farmers and experts through organized field and business visits. One of these demonstrations will involve appropriate animal manure storage techniques.

Activities 1.3 Developing a methodology for Turkey to monitor the effectiveness of the Nitrate Action Plan

Within the framework of this activity, a methodology will be developed for monitoring and reporting 25 Nitrate Action Plan activities in Turkey. For this purpose, a working group consisting of relevant experts will be formed, and a suitable monitoring method for Turkey will be put forward by this working group by taking into account the experiences and practices in the European Union countries. Guidelines for the implementation of the methodology will be prepared and necessary training will be provided.

Activities 1.4 Preparation of annual and quarterly national monitoring reporting templates for Nitrate Action Plans

Within the scope of this activity, annual and quarterly national reporting templates will be prepared for monitoring the Nitrate Action Plans. For this purpose, the report templates, which will be prepared by taking into account the reporting examples from the European Union countries, will be tested according to the data obtained from the pilot implementations. The tested report templates will then be integrated into the methodology developed under Activity 1.3.

Faaliyet 1.5 Developing the monitoring interface on NIBIS to integrate the Nitrate Action Plan monitoring methodology and report templates

This activity includes the development of a monitoring interface that will integrate the Nitrate Action Plan monitoring methodology and report templates into the Nitrate Information System (NIBIS). Within the framework of this activity, the Nitrate Action Plan monitoring methodology prepared within Activity 1.3 and the report templates prepared within Activity 1.4 will be converted into electronic versions and integrated into NIBIS through an interface.

Faaliyet 1.6 Monitoring the implementation of Nitrate Action Plans in the pilot basin

Within the framework of this activity, it will be ensured that the personnel from Provincial Directorates of Agriculture and Forestry test the nitrate monitoring methodology developed within Activity 1.3 in the field. For this purpose, training of relevant personnel will be completed in seven provinces located in the Gediz basin that is selected as the pilot area. The personnel whose training has been completed, will continue the monitoring activities in the pilot area and necessary revisions will be made in the monitoring methodology in line with the experience gained.