#NiceToMeetEU Merve Akman

Title of the story: “#NiceToMeetEU: 26 May-2 June 2021 (Virtual Programme)

Name: Merve AKMAN

Country: Turkey

Function & responsibilities: Freelance Journalist (Environmental and Climate Journalism) and Project Specialist

Organisation: Founder of Climate Anatolia (Web portal in preparation)

About me … I am an independent journalist working on climate and environmental issues in Turkey. The climate area is a very broad issue, but I work especially in the fields of agriculture, wildlife, illegal hunting, ancestral seed, mine sites, drought, food, environmental archaeology. I prepare the work done in these areas in the form of file reporting. I am also the founder of Climate Anatolia, a project that was awarded first place by UN. (Eskisehir Tepebasi Municipality Social Entrepreneurship Competition donated by the United Nations International Labour Organization) The website, which will soon be established will focus on ecology workshops.

In addition, I am a Project Specialist for companies working in rural development cooperatives, environment and climate change throughout Turkey.

My best memory of the EUVP programme … The valuable experts of the European Parliament and the European Commission answered every question about environmental studies sincerely and the information they provided ensured that the sessions were very productive. It was an honour to have common ground on environmental and climate crisis issues. Wherever we are, the work we can do is common to our planet and we must always focus on doing what's best. That is what I am going to do in my country.

I would welcome connection requests from the Alumni who…. I would love to be in touch with those who work on the environment, climate crisis, migration, human rights.

I would be happy to discuss the policies of governments on climate crisis, the environmental problems in each country and what needs to be done to do so, issues such as climate migration. Of course, I would love to talk about everything that is relevant, not just these.

The challenges that I/my organisation face(s) and would like the support of other Alumni are… I would especially like to see women reach out to me in societies where women's voices are not heard enough and where men dominate every sector. I would like to publish their articles about the problems they have experienced and the problems they see in their countries on my web portal (Climate Anatolia), which I founded.

Contact me in… English

Connecting EUVP Alumni is relevant because... It is invaluable to listen to the work done all over the world, especially on environmental and climate crisis issues, from various thoughts.

My hopes for the EU relations with my country are… More environmental projects and various educational programs. I want the work done on the EU side, especially on climate crisis issues, to be applied and developed in my country.

Story published by: Merve AKMAN