A structural and current view of ecological communities

A wide range of formations from ecological farmhouses to collective life forms and urban food communities to new and creative collective experiences rapidly spread all over the world carrying great hope. Turkey is also located in a geography that is part of this expansion.

Numerous factors such as the socio-political uncertainities of the country, particularly the condition of widespread precarity with respect to food, the transformation of the ecology and economy and their evoling relationship, and the rapid growth of the movement focusing on having access to healthy food. However, the substantial obstacles facing this movement, and the lack of knowledge or culture with respect to collective life have an impact upon the formation and development processes of all these communities.

As a contribution to this process, of which it is an active part, the Foresthouse Sustainable Rural Future Association (Ormanevi Kırsalda Sürdürülebilir Gelecek Derneği) finally implemented its project this year. The project had been planning for phase for some time and was realized with HBSD’s support: The Inventory of Ecological Communities. Up until now, the stories of many organizations have been told in oral or written forms, and in disorganized or organized fashions. However, it was a significant problem that there were not any data-based structural studies carried out on the basis of coherent definitions and concrete indicators. The Foresthouse designed its project according to these guidelines, focusing this time not on only on the structure– of course, without neglecting the spirit.

At the start of the project, a set of systematic and concrete indicators was formed, along with a research framework corresponding to approximately sixty questions in total. Under the voluntary consultancy of Güneşin Aydemir, this study covered not only those collectives producing on different scales and with various methods, but also those food collectives “consuming” the food in question at the urban level. And the person assuming the role of carrying out the research was Naime Sürenkök, a volunteer/candidate collective member, who carried out interviews with over fifty collectives and organizations all over Turkey. She managed to accomplish this arduous and tough job in a quite short span of time, collecting and compiling an approxiate amount of a 200-hour audible material and written materials over 400 pages.

Following in the footsteps of pioneering works, this study is the first in terms of its structure. The information compiled and presented will serve as guidelines for the steps that should be taken by the ecology movement and various ecological communities and for what can be done to popularize the movement.

The process of compiling raw information material for the project finished at the end of 2015, and continued with the editing process later on. You can access ensuing the e-book at: http://www.ekotopluluk.org. This e-book will be updated at certain intervals with editions that have new content.