S.S. Gölmarmara ve Çevresi Su Ürünleri Kooperatifi v. Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Manisa Directorate of Provincial Agriculture and Forestry

The Marmara Lake which is in the city of Manisa, Turkey, was announced as a wetland of national importance in 2017 and it has been under the protection of Regulation on Conservation of Wetlands. The lake is an alluvial barrier lake and an important carbon sink. To supply water to the city of Izmir, the government designated the water resources to the Gördes Dam, which resulted as a loss of resource for Marmara Lake and to it drying up within the last ten years, loosing almost ninety-eight percent of its surface area. Although the lake is almost dried up, the Manisa Directorate of Provincial Agriculture and Forestry has requested rent from the Claimant, a cooperative union of fishermen active in the Marmara Lake, for the fishery license and issued an order of payment. The Claimant, alleging that the reason for the drought is the wrong policies and inaction of the administration and stating that their income has decreased, and some members even left the fishery, requested the annulment of the order of payment. After the drought, many families that fished had to migrate. The Claimant asserts that the administration failed its duty to protect the Marmara Lake and other wetlands as carbon sinks with inadequate policies and insufficient environmental impact assessments for projects, which resulted in it drying up. Considering the obligation to mitigate climate change under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, which are immediately enforceable under the Turkish Constitution, the government has failed to fulfill its international obligations. As a result, annulment of the payment order issued by the administration is requested. The claimants are a fishing cooperative and its members who fish on Lake Marmara. They were required to pay license fees for fishing rights even though the lake had dried up due to administrative mismanagement and flawed water policies, preventing them from earning a livelihood. The case concerns their request for an annulment of a payment order for these fees, raising arguments about the environmental and climate impacts of the Administration’s actions, emphasizing the lake’s importance as a wetland and carbon sink. In the first instance, the Manisa 1st Administrative Court granted a preliminary injunction to suspend enforcement and, on 02.11.2022, Case No: 2022/545, Decision No: 2022/1084, annulled the payment order. The annulment was based on procedural grounds—requiring general judicial procedures for debt collection—and did not address climate change issues. The court found the unilateral use of public authority in issuing the payment order unlawful. The İzmir Regional Administrative Court, Sixth Administrative Litigation Chamber finalized the decision on appeal of the Defendants on 23.02.2023, Case No: 2022/2938, Decision No: 2023/411, confirming that the Administration’s claim is subject to general provisions and must be pursued via a collection lawsuit. Main Legal Arguments: Breach of contract termination rights: The Cooperative requested termination of the lease because fishing became impossible due to the lake drying up; the Administration rejected this, citing no legal provision allowing termination. Illegal collection procedures: The Administration issued a payment order unilaterally instead of filing a lawsuit under general provisions for debt collection, violating Law No. 6183. Environmental and climate obligations: The drying of Lake Marmara, a Wetland of National Importance under the Ramsar Convention and national regulations, constitutes mismanagement affecting carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. International law obligations: The Administration’s policies allegedly violate Turkey’s commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement (ratified in 2021) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as domestic environmental law. Post-Judgment Developments: An amendment to the Regulation on Leasing in Aquaculture Production was published in the Official Gazette on 11 February 2023, allowing the Cooperative to retroactively terminate the lease without compensation if water reduction or drying is confirmed via technical report. A special provision was added for Marmara Lake, enabling retroactive debt relief for the Cooperative. Although the climate change and carbon sink arguments were not legally addressed, the case achieved significant outcomes: it prompted regulatory reform, received wide media attention, and highlighted the importance of wetlands in climate change mitigation.