B
NARRATIVE VALUE
Certainty
●●○ medium
ABCDEFG
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (B). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
As of: 2026-Q3Status: ActiveCeiling reason: No confirmed −
History2026-Q3BHistory grows each quarter
TEMA Foundation (Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion): Holding back the topsoil as it washes away, with citizens' hands. The letter is B; certainty is medium. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q3; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
About 90% of Türkiye's land area is affected by erosion, and some 750 million tonnes of topsoil wash away each year. Because it is hard to see and belongs to no one, soil stayed off the centre of the policy agenda for a long time.
Hayrettin Karaca ran a textile business while building an arboretum from wild plants collected across Türkiye. Walking the country on those collecting trips, he saw the soil and vegetation disappearing. In 1992, together with the businessman A. Nihat Gökyiğit, he founded TEMA, dedicated to combating erosion, to reforestation and to protecting natural assets. The aim was less the projects themselves than making soil a national policy question.
TEMA is structured around provincial representatives, district officers and university student branches, with volunteers carrying out planting, monitoring and petitioning. It has run 501 projects — including roughly 350 reforestation projects and more than 60 demonstration projects in sustainable rural development and biodiversity — and planted 14 million saplings and 700 million acorns. Farmer training has reached 10,000 people in 168 villages.
Children called Karaca "Toprak Dede" ("Grandpa Soil"). He received the Right Livelihood Award in 2012 and died in 2020, aged 97.
One person’s story (N1)
+ A single story
Here the subject is the soil itself. Türkiye loses some 750 million tonnes of topsoil a year, and about 90% of its land area is affected by erosion. TEMA has planted 14 million saplings and 700 million acorns, across roughly 350 reforestation projects. In the countryside it takes another form: 10,000 farmers in 168 villages have been trained in soil analysis, erosion control, fodder crop production, livestock, beekeeping and fruit growing. Fifty-seven stables were built in six villages, holding 542 cattle and 2,135 sheep and goats. Protecting the soil and being able to keep living on it have become two sides of the same work.
Source nature: TEMA Vakfı / P5 programme-official. Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- Founder Hayrettin Karaca received the Right Livelihood Award for a lifetime of work joining environmental activism with entrepreneurshipP1 international award / Right Livelihood Foundation
- Carried out 501 projects, including roughly 350 reforestation projects and more than 60 demonstration projects in sustainable rural development and biodiversityP5 own tally / TEMA Vakfı
Watching (unconfirmed; not counted in the assessment)- Divergence between sources on volunteer numbers and planting counts
- independent verification of outcomes in planted areas
- the environment for civil society
Looking ahead (not included in the assessment)- Continuing policy advocacy and expanding demonstration projects in sustainable rural development.
A second look
Planting counts and volunteer numbers are TEMA's own tallies and vary by source (volunteers are variously described as 450,000, 600,000 and 1.25 million). There is limited independent long-term verification of sapling survival rates or of the biodiversity and soil-conservation effects of planted areas. Fourteen million saplings is a measure of input, not of outcome. As an advocacy-centred organisation, changes in the environment for civil society bear directly on its room to operate.
Sources
+N1TEMA Vakfı｜About us / Corporate｜2026｜🔗 + effectRight Livelihood Foundation｜Hayrettin Karaca – Laureate 2012｜2012｜🔗 + effectTEMA Vakfı｜Foundation story / Corporate｜2026｜🔗
How to read this assessment
A Independently verified +, with no confirmed −
B Leans +, with independent backing
C Mixed. A confirmed − sets the ceiling, or much is unverified
D A serious confirmed − sets the ceiling
E A serious − reaches the core of the organization
F Serious and systemic, with little redeeming +
G Only extreme cases
Out of scope An entity whose core purpose is illegal
On hold Independent evidence is scarce on both + and −
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the narrative an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q3 | Back to top