I was terribly sad to see one of the most beautiful landscapes in the whole Mediterranean burn last summer. Especially because it was in Turkey, my country. When I arrived in Dalaman in August 2021, smoke was already rising over a village near the airport. 10 mins after I found myself at the top of the hill where villagers and firefighters were trying to stop the fire with very little air support, this is were I shot these photos. In July and August 2021, a series of 299 forest fires ravaged the Mediterranean region of Turkey in the worst-ever wildfire season in the country’s history. According to EFFIS ( The European Forest Fire Information System ), about 178 thousand hectares of Turkish forests have been lost due to fires.. These wildfires have left little behind, killing 8 people and turning green forests into ashen, barren hills. Especially in the Muğla region where people are now mourning the loss of their bees. Turkey ranks 2nd in the world honey production and indeed, bees are among the most affected by climatic fluctuations as they are %100 dependent on nature. In November, I was invited by @natgeomagturkiye turkiye for a joint project ‘Beeing Hope’ which brings 28 artists together aiming to collect money to save the bees and the biodiversity in the region through Turkey's first multidisciplinary Nft collection. Sale will start on Febr 11th and you can find more information here https://beeinghope.io/ @beeinghopenft I was able to go back to Mugla where I shot 299 detail photos showing the scars of this once vibrant but now burned nature. I assembled them all and created this piece where each image represents one of the 299 forest fires that have affected the region. (you can see in previous post) Thanks to all the people involved in this project, to the local initiatives quickly put in place and to the solidarity of the population, if we act now, we can still hope... ©️Emin Özmen @magnumphotos