Karatay District

Karatay District

Karatay Sustainability Report 2023 Voluntary Local Review

Insights of the Report

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, agreed upon by world leaders at the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, was adopted with the signatures of 193 countries. The 2030 Agenda, which recognises the elimination of poverty as a part of sustainable development and combines combating climate change with economic and social development, is a continuation of the Millennium Development Goals, implemented in 2000, and was prepared as an agenda that further advances these goals. The 2030 Agenda aims to involve all societies in reducing poverty and increasing prosperity worldwide, protecting cultural values, and preventing social and environmental damage. As Karatay Municipality, we were aware of the importance of working in line with the United Nations Development Goals, and started a restructuring initiative. After forming our project team, we made the necessary arrangements in the administrative structure in order to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and continue to do so. As Karatay Municipality, our mission includes the following statements: “a city that has completed its urban transformation and has become a centre of attraction with its historical and cultural texture...” and our vision includes the following statement “... within the framework of a service approach of heartfelt municipality that is sensitive to the environment and cultural texture...”. Standing behind our mission and vision and getting our strength from the ancient traditions of the past, we pay the utmost attention to protecting the environment that we borrow from the future. For a more livable and sustainable ecology, we have undertaken numerous projects to clean water, safely dispose of liquid and solid waste and to recycle wasteThese initiatives will continue in the coming years. We attach particular importance to Zero Waste, which is an important target. In this regard, we held a “Zero Waste Collection Competition” in our schools. We put recycling bins inside our municipality service buildings and we created “Waste Collection Centres” at certain points in our district. Our teams aimed to reach every house, workplace, school and public institution in our district. While drawing attention to Zero Waste with all these exemplary projects, we have succeeded in creating a deep awareness in our society and we will proceed with the same energy going forward.

We also have carried out important work to create a green environment across the whole of Karatay. With Turkiye’s largest Karatay Lavender Garden, Mevlana Rose Garden, dozens of new green belts, and large and small neighbourhood park projects, we endeavour to entrust a different Karatay to our young generations who are our future. We have established two solar power plants and beyond that, we are also equipping the new market areas we have brought to our district with solar energy panels. In this way, we both protect our world and meet our energy needs using natural methods. We also carry out many activities as a Social Municipality. For example, we reach out to our citizens with many projects in cooperation with our governorship, district governorship and municipalities. We can now provide hot meals to 2,500 citizens on a daily basis, and can provide up to 10,000 meals in emergencies due to the new soup kitchen building. Similarly, we aim to provide our fellow citizens with care in “Compassion Houses” across Karatay Municipality. Education is one of the most important issues for us, therefore we make significant investments in education. We have developed six educational facilities in those neighbourhoods in need of schools in the last four years, and the construction of two more schools is ongoing. In this way, we believe that Karatay Municipality has played an important role in reflecting the 17 SDGs at the local level.

We have adopted an approach to contribute to the SDGs with every step and service and have even exceeded these goals in many cases. Within the scope of the Karatay Voluntary Local Review, we consider the 2030 vision and agenda of cities extremely important. We would like to thank all our stakeholders who contributed to the Karatay Sustainability Report, which we prepared on a voluntary basis.

City Profile

The Municipality of Karatay carries out projects within the framework of a participatory understanding under the theme of “Another Karatay”. There is local awareness about the historical and cultural values of the district, with its great potential in various fields including tourism, industry and agriculture, ensuring a much higher quality of life to those living in the district today. Karatay undertakes different projects and various activities in line with the vision of being a district that has completed its urban transformation and has become a centre of attraction in a historical and cultural context.

The Report and more

The VLR report is available here:
Karatay Sustainability Report 2023 Voluntary Local Review
Karatay Sustainability Report 2021 Voluntary Local Review