Environmental non-governmental organizations and the natural environment–human interaction in Türkiye: A qualitative case study

Abstract

Climate change, whose impacts are increasingly evident worldwide, is a global problem that affects both the natural environment and human societies. Although environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) are expected to address these challenges, the environmental–human intersection within their activities remains underexplored. The aim of this research, designed as a qualitative multiple case study, is to examine the human–natural environment interaction in the activities of seventeen ENGOs in Türkiye and to make recommendations based on ecosocial work practice to overcome the obstacles they face. A reflective thematic analysis showed that a group of ENGOs from Türkiye encounter institutional and structural barriers that prevent them from prioritizing the natural environment–human relationship in the implementation of their activities. This research highlights how social workers can strengthen ENGOs’ services in ontological, epistemological, and methodological contexts to overcome these barriers. This study emphasizes the importance of collaboration between ecosocial workers need to collaborate with ENGOs in addressing global environmental problems that generate social inequalities.