Esra Kartal, our Communication Manager, has been working in many areas of civil society, especially nature conservation, since 2002. The interview about Esra's nature conservation journey was published together with the interviews of five women working in different countries for the implementation of the Threatened Geographies Programme. You can find all the interviews here.
Esra is the Communications Manager at the Mediterranean Conservation Society (MCS-AKD), the local implementing partner for the marine Gökova Bay – Cape Gelidonya project in southwestern Turkey. Her interest in conservation work began 25 years ago when she learned on the plight of the Endangered Northern Bald Ibis due to the high use of DDT in agriculture. In 2015, Esra and a friend set up Avukma Women’s Cooperative in 2015 to support women’s social and economic empowerment.
What interests you about restoration?
Bird watching
taught me that habitat degradation is directly linked to species’ welfare in
the immediate future. For this reason, I strongly believe that all conservation
work needs to have restoration and rehabilitation components to bring maximum
benefit to endangered species. Moreover, conservation work on critical marine
species like the Mediterranean Monk Seal and Posidonia oceanica need to be
complemented with consideration for traditional fishing activities and the food
and beverage sector at large, whose livelihoods depend on marine resources.
Taking a holistic approach in conservation/restoration work is essential for
the future wellbeing of the marine ecosystem and the small-scale sustainable
fishing practices.
Which of your achievements are you most proud of?
In 2015 I
started working on an MCS project that focuses on supporting fisherwomen. Since
then, I’ve witnessed first-hand that the perception of women in the fishing
profession changed for the better. In 2015, I believed that one of the biggest
challenges we had was the absence of fisherwomen in Fisheries Cooperative.
We’ve reached a point where, today, there is a fisherwomen commission at the
Fisheries Cooperatives’ Central Union which represents 30,0000 fishers. Back in
2015, women’s absence in fishing cooperatives also meant that there was no
official count on the number of women in the profession. MCS’s research on this
subject revealed that location and number of fisherwomen in the country – which
was much higher than previously estimated. Being a part of this project and
winning fisherwomen a ‘seat at the table’ are some of my proudest achievements.
This year’s theme is ‘choose to challenge’. What does that mean to you?
I challenge the
idea that some jobs are suitable only for men, especially fishing. I strongly
believe that labour does not have gender. I also think women’s issues are not women’s
issues but societal issues. Ignoring women’s significance in family and
societal settings leads to inconveniences that affect not only women but also
all humans and societal structures. For this reason, I challenge all
gender-based discrimination.