Environmental Concerns

An increase in oil tanker traffic in the Bosporus Strait is cause for concern about the impact that catastrophic oil spills might have in this area. In fact, the Bosporus is now the world’s busiest maritime passageway, with three times the traffic of the Suez Canal. Currently, several tankers carrying cargo of more than 200,000 tons pass through every hour. This poses significant environmental hazards, particularly since Istanbul, with a population exceeding that of  most Western European cities, is bisected by this narrow waterway. The country also suffers the effects of deforestation and soil erosion due to overgrazing of livestock, which in turn intensifies the impact of flooding.