National and international nature protection criteria and Natura 2000

Protection of nature is conserving natural environment and it?s components in a wide-ranging scale aiming to secure the balance of life sources and beings of men, animals and plants. The rapid increase of world population and environmental problems after the industrial revolution caused a big consumption pressure on natural areas and natural resources and raised the loss of biological diversity. Thereby, protecting nature became a priority necessity. Due to the vagueness of physical boundaries of natural systems and the assets it shelters (flora and fauna), a cross-border holistic approach in nature protection acitivities was embraced. As a country which is proceeding in the European Union membership process, Turkey has to internalize EU policies. On this account, Natura 2000 which is nature conservation policy of the EU, is a great matter for Turkey. The aim of this research is to display the present condition and problems of national nature protection criteria which has to be amenable with EU nature protection law. For this purpose, international criteria for nature protection has been examined in detail, then the state of play for Turkey about nature protection criteria has been presented. Information about Natura 2000 and where Turkey stands in this context has been given for a better understanding of what needs to be done about nature conservation in the EU membership process. In the conclusions and suggestions part of the research, a general overview and a problems chart for national natural protection criteria has been submitted and suggestions to overcome these problems were proposed. Keywords: Nature, nature protection, nature conservation, biological diversity, Natura 2000, nature conservation criteria, nature conservation on Turkey?s national programme, nature conservation in EU