Dr. Ezgi Ediboğlu Sakowsky

Edited Works

Aberdeen Student Law Review Vol. 8, Aberdeen 2018 (together with Kieran Buxton).

• https://www.abdn.ac.uk/law/documents/ASLR%20Volume%208%20PDF.pdf

Contributions to Collected Editions, Commentaries, Handbooks and Encyclopaedias

An Imported Problem? - Plastic Waste Effects on Türkiye’s Environment with Specific Emphasis on Relevant Multilateral Environmental Agreements, in: Sedat Gündoğdu (ed.), Plastic Waste Trade - A New Colonialist Means of Pollution Transfer, Springer, Cham 2024, 217 - 246 (together with Sedat Gündoğdu). DOI

• This chapter examines the impact of plastic waste on the environment in Türkiye, a major importer and generator of plastic waste. Poor waste management exacerbates the harmful effects of plastic waste on the land, the seas, and the air. We analyze whether waste management litigation and practices in Türkiye are in conformity with the country’s obligations under the Basel Convention. We further evaluate the impact of Türkiye’s waste management on plastic waste in Turkish seas according to regional sea regimes in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Lastly, we consider the emissions from plastic waste in Türkiye and argue that they are detrimental for air quality and for the achievement of the objectives of the United Nations climate change regime. Türkiye struggles to manage the large amount of plastic waste it generates and imports. This chapter indicates that Türkiye’s plastic waste management practices have serious environmental consequences. These practices also raise concerns about the country’s ability to fulfill its commitments and obligations under the aforementioned multilateral environmental agreements. Considering the country’s position in ongoing Plastic Treaty negotiations, a significant improvement in plastic waste management seems unlikely. We suggest that Türkiye withdraws itself from being a subject of the transfer of plastic waste pollution and improves its waste management practices by focusing on the execution of domestic regulations that comply with international standards.

Türkiye: A Climate Financing Opportunist?, in: Michael Kaeding, Johannes Pollak, Paul Schmidt (eds.), Climate Change and the Future of Europe. The Future of Europe (The Future of Europe (TFOE)), Springer, Cham 2023, 163 - 166. DOI

• Türkiye finally ratified the Paris Agreement in 2021, declaring that Türkiye ‘will implement the Paris Agreement as a developing country’, thereby continuing its ongoing battle to be recognised as such under the United Nations climate change regime, a development which would prompt considerable climate financing. It was probably no coincidence that Türkiye ratified this Agreement after the World Bank, Germany and France had promised some additional bilateral climate financing. Considering that climate change-related activities have amounted to a very low percentage of public spending so far, a legitimate concern for Türkiye’s efforts emerges: is the country merely a climate finance opportunist?

Karadeniz’deki Ekolojik Krizin Hukuki Analizi ile Türkiye ve Rusya’nın Duruma Etkileri (The Legal Analysis of the Ecological Crisis in the Black Sea and the Effects of Turkey and Russia on the Issue), in: Elife H. Kılıçbeyli (ed.), 100. Yılında Türkiye Rusya İlişkileri: Çok Taraflı Gelişmeler, Karşılıklı Etkileşimler, NIKA Yayınevi 2021, 55 - 91.

WTO's Environmental Goods: Technical and Legal Scope, in: Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Applied Informatics and Related Areas 2020, 52 - 56.

• http://ais.amk.uni-obuda.hu/proceedings/2020/AIS2020_Proceedings.pdf
• Event: 15th International Symposium on Applied Informatics and Related Areas, Székesfehérvár, Hungary, 2020-11-12

Journal Articles

The Paris Agreement: Effectiveness Analysis of the New UN Climate Change Regime, University College of Dublin Law Review 17 (2017), 164 - 201.

Ecosystem Rights in Respect of Ecologic Law, Union of Turkish Bar Associations 121 (2015), 257 - 276.

• Rights of environmental law are regulated in several legislations such as the constitution and other laws. However, the inadequacy of the scope and wide base of regulations of the environmental law and environmental rights bring about the need of reregulation. As a result of this need, ecosystem rights, which approach the ecosystem as a subject, and ecological law, which covers a wider scope than the environmental law, have become a topic in the area of law. This article addresses the existing regulations, which include judicial and non-judicial ways, and the expectations on future regulations on ecosystem rights in accordance with ecological law.
  
• http://tbbdergisi.barobirlik.org.tr/m2015-121-1530

Research Papers

The Legal Personality of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Regime Treaties (Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Research Paper, No. 23-24), 2023, 19 pp. DOI

• The Conference of Parties (CoP) serving the United Nations climate change regime treaties – the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement – is responsible for promoting the effective implementation of these treaties. Actions it has undertaken to fulfil this duty include cooperating with other legal persons via binding agreements, creating mechanisms for facilitating the compliance with obligations under the climate change regime treaties, and creating an international institution with legal personality – the Green Climate Fund. The diversity and the nature of its actions bring about an interesting legal question of whether the CoP itself possesses legal personality. This question is also linked to the effectiveness of the climate change regime as the CoP is tasked with the facilitation of the implementation of the regime treaties. This article analyses the legal personality of the CoP by three criteria extracted from the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Reparation for Injuries case, and the subsequent scholarly literature.

Paris Anlaşması Öncesi ve Sonrası İklim Değişikliğine Yönelik Bütçeler: Büyükşehir Belediyesinin Çevre Koruma ve İklim Değişikliği (ÇKİD) ile ilgili Performans Hedeflerinin Karşılaştırılması: 2021 - 2022 İzleme Sonuçlarının Karşılaştırılması (Budgets for Climate Change Before and After the Paris Agreement: Comparison of Performance Targets of 14 Metropolitan Municipalities on Environmental Protection and Climate Change (ÇKİD): Comparison of Monitoring Results from 2021-2022), 2022, 32 pp. (together with Nurhan Yentürk et al.).

• https://www.kahip.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CKID-171022.pdf

İklim Değişikliği ile Mücadelede Teknoloji, Türkiye için Öneriler, Bölüm I: Çevreye Duyarlı Teknolojilerin Transferi, Istanbul Policy Center, Istanbul 2022, 20 pp.

• https://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/Content/Images/CKeditorImages/20220909-14090883.pdf
• Also available in English language

Technology for Combating Climate Change, Proposals for Turkey, Part I: The Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies, Istanbul Policy Center, Istanbul 2022, 20 pp.

• The transfer of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) is universally recognized as one of the most effective ways to combat climate change. 1 These technologies contribute to our fight against climate change by lowering emissions and improving our resilience to climate change. 2 This series of papers will discuss the concept of ESTs, assess the compatibility of international laws and Turkish laws related to the transfer of ESTs, and propose new domestic laws and policies to create an environment conducive to their transfer.
  These proposals will also identify international projects, funds, mechanisms, and institutional frameworks that
  are available for Turkish actors to transfer ESTs. Since Turkey is planning to achieve its recently announced carbon-zero target by 2053,3 this paper series aims at bringing much-needed awareness to the issue of EST
  transfer and proposing regulatory and practical remedies. This paper is the first paper in the series and aims at setting the scene and clarifying the concept of the
  transfer of ESTs. First, the role of technologies in combating climate change is identified. Following this, the concept of ESTs and the transfer of ESTs are discussed. Subsequently, the relevant aspects of the United Nations (UN) climate change regime in the transfer of ESTs are outlined. The relevance of the international trading regime in the transfer of ESTs is then discussed. This paper argues that tension between the climate change and international trading regimes related to the transfer of ESTs will likely emerge. How Turkey can
  manage this tension and govern the issue domestically is the main question arising from the analysis. The last section provides a brief explanation of the future papers in this series, which will progressively answer this central question.
• https://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/Content/Images/CKeditorImages/20220518-11052689.pdf
• Also available in Turkish language

İklim Değişikliği ile Mücadelede Teknoloji, Türkiye için Öneriler, Bölüm II: Türkiye’de Çevreye Duyarlı Teknoloji Transferi (Technology for Combating Climate Change, Proposals for Turkey, Part II: Turkish Approach to the Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies), Istanbul Policy Center, Istanbul 2022, 14 pp.

• https://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/Content/Images/CKeditorImages/20220617-12065928.pdf

Further Publications, Press Articles, Interviews

Depremden öğren(eme)diklerimiz: İnşaat ve yıkım atıklarının yönetimi, İklim Masası 2024 (together with Sedat Gündoğdu).

• https://www.iklimmasasi.com/depremden-ogrenemediklerimiz-insaat-ve-yikim-atiklarinin-yonetimi/

Sürdürülebilir Gıda Sistemlerini Gerçekten Konuştuğumuz Bir COP Geride Kaldı - Interview, EKOIQ: Tarihi Kazanım Mı, Yeni bir Hezimet Mi? COP28 109 (2023), 75 - 77 (together with Bulut Bagatır).

• https://www.ekoiq.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ekoiq-yayina-109_web.pdf

COP 28’den neler beklemeliyiz?, İklim Masası 2023.

• https://www.iklimmasasi.com/cop-28den-neler-beklemeliyiz/

Türkiye, iklim değişikliği hedeflerini güçlendirmeli, İklim Masası 2023.

• https://www.iklimmasasi.com/turkiye-iklim-degisikligi-hedeflerini-guclendirmeli/?fbclid=PAAabMn51Nz1QlE20poTgPJZPcbICOdbPRLMse5OI7CTKAWxExPM5QqrRVilg

Uluslararası Çevre Hukukunun Kendine Has Yapısı, Gıdanın Durumu 2023.

• https://www.gidanindurumu.com/portfolio/uluslararasi-cevre-hukukunun-kendine-has-yapisi/

Avrupa Birliği’nin Yeni Genomik Tekniklere Yaklaşımında Yeni Tüzük Taslağı, Gıdanın Durumu 2023.

• https://www.gidanindurumu.com/portfolio/abygt/

Effectiveness Analysis of the United Nations Climate Change Regime, University of Aberdeen School of Law - Blog 2018.

• https://www.abdn.ac.uk/law/blog/effectiveness-analysis-of-the-united-nations-climate-change-regime/