Türkiye, France to develop nearly $690M project to combat sea snot

Türkiye will develop a project with the French Development Agency (AFD) to combat “sea snot,” or marine mucilage, under a new financing package worth approximately 600 million euros ($688.38 million), Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum said Friday.

The remarks by Kurum, who also serves as president of this year’s U.N. climate summit COP31, came after he met Thursday with AFD Director-General Christophe Lecourtier in Paris.

Türkiye in the past faced a plague of sea snot, a thick, slimy layer of organic matter known as marine mucilage, in the Sea of Marmara, posing a threat to marine life and the fishing industry.

The inner Sea of Marmara, which connects the Black Sea through ⁠the Bosporus to the Aegean Sea through the Dardanelles, lies in the middle of the most industrialized region of Türkiye.

Türkiye earlier this month signed a cooperation agreement with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that will support environmental investments and climate change efforts.

The first phase of the deal will focus on environmental projects in the Marmara region, including the fight against sea snot, through an investment package worth ⁠around 400 million euros.

Kurum said Friday that the AFD was an important part of the COP31 process, stressing that access to financing was essential for implementing climate goals.

He praised the agency for supporting major projects in Türkiye and around the world.

“Together with the AFD, we will develop a project to combat sea mucilage under a new financing package worth approximately 600 million euros across Türkiye,” Kurum said.

The project will include increasing the share of renewable energy, improving the quality of wastewater treatment plants discharging into the seas and reducing nitrogen and phosphorus levels, he said.

“These steps will help restore oxygen levels and revive marine ecosystems,” Kurum added.

He said Türkiye was preparing for COP31 with strong support from the AFD and that the two sides would work together to implement the summit’s action agenda.

“We want to achieve together the targets set out on the road to Antalya,” Kurum said, referring to the southern Turkish city that will host COP31 in November.

Technical-level meetings

AFD’s Lecourtier said the momentum created by the COP summits since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 was important for France and the agency.

The agency’s main objective is to finance more than 6 billion euros worth of projects annually around the world, particularly in areas such as the transition to renewable energy, he said.

Lecourtier said Thursday’s meeting was important because these issues were already on the agenda of France-Türkiye relations.

“Minister Kurum mentioned adaptation efforts in the Sea of Marmara, the transition of Turkish industry to clean energy and the protection of biodiversity,” Lecourtier said.

A delegation led by Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum (C) meets with a delegation led by French Development Agency (AFD) Director-General Christophe Lecourtier (not pictured), Paris, France, Sept. 17, 2026. (AA Photo)

He added that the AFD had invested heavily over the past 15 years in projects fully aligned with the spirit of COP31.

“We will be able to take to Antalya the need for action represented by the minister and expressed with great determination,” Lecourtier said.

He added that the two countries would arrive at COP31 with concrete examples of bilateral cooperation, while also creating opportunities to address other partners and countries on additional issues.

“Bilateral cooperation between our countries will allow us to come to COP31 in Antalya with more to offer, both for France and Türkiye and for the rest of the world,” Lecourtier said.

“This is an extremely important moment, and it is a great honor to have been able to prepare for it together with the minister,” he added.

“Of course, many technical-level meetings will continue until COP31.”

COP31 Action Plan

Kurum said the global average temperature had risen by 1.43 degrees Celsius (2.57 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels, warning that floods, droughts and other disasters were becoming increasingly widespread.

He stressed the need to implement targets aimed at tackling the climate crisis.

Kurum said the COP31 Action Plan was being addressed under 10 headings, adding that access to financing and technology would be crucial to implementing the targets.

He said a meeting Thursday with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Geneva had once again highlighted the importance of early-warning systems in responding to disasters.

A project on early-warning systems will also be developed as part of COP31, he added.

Kurum also said he had held talks with World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, during which they discussed the importance of trade, production and employment, as well as the need to establish the rules of the game around efforts to combat climate change.

He also reiterated that a strategic partnership had been established between the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and COP31.

He also highlighted Türkiye’s reconstruction efforts following the devastating February 2023 earthquakes.

“Türkiye has demonstrated its determination in every field and put that determination into practice,” Kurum said. “The latest example was in the earthquake zone. We completed and delivered 455,000 homes to citizens in two years.”

“We want to share Türkiye’s experience and accumulated knowledge with the entire world,” he added.

DAILYSABAH