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ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING OF
LAND-USE AND LAND-COVER CHANGES IN AMIK PLAIN, TURKEY
: cre a, * . A ; 5 ;
S. Kilic^ ', F. Evrendilek®, S. Berberoglu®, A. C. Demirkesen®
* Department of Soil Science, Mustafa Kemal University, Antakya-Hatay, 31034, Turkey - skilic@mku.edu.tr
? Department of Landscape Architecture, Mustafa Kemal University, Antakya-Hatay, Turkey - fevrendilek@mku.edu.tr
* Department of Landscape Architecture, Cukurova University, Balcali-Adana, Turkey - suha@mail.cu.edu.tr
? Dept. of Geodesy & Photogrammetry Engineering, Niëde University, 51100, Nigde, Turkey - ademirkesen@yahoo.com
Commission VII, WG VII/3
KEY WORDS: Change Detection, Ecosystem, Land Cover, Land Use, Monitoring, GIS, Sustainable, Mapping
ABSTRACT:
Unprecedented rates of changes in land use/cover (LULC) on the local and regional scales lead to alterations of global
biogeochemical cycles, and loss of productive ecosystems and biodiversity. Driving forces behind LULC changes mainly include
rapid growth rates of population and consumption, lack of valuation of ecological services, poverty, ignorance of biophysical
limitations, and use of ecologically incompatible technologies. One of the major ecological tragedies of the commons in the province
of Hatay is the case of the loss of the Amik Lake, which reveals the urgent need for adoption of sustainable and adaptive ecosystem
management strategies if escalating land use conflicts are to be avoided and environmental degradation is to be reversed in the Amik
plain of the southeastern Mediterranean region of Turkey. In the 1940s, the Amik lake was started to be discharged into the Orontes
river by a large-scale campaign launched to increase the area of croplands. The study quantified LULC changes and explored
constraints and opportunities for future LULCs in the study area. Land use/cover changes were detected from a time series of
satellite images of Landsat-MSS in 1972, Landsat-5 TM in 1987, and Landsat-7 ETM+ in 2000 using remote sensing and geographic
information systems (GIS). The study revealed that the increase in croplands between 1972 and 1987 took place at the expense of
the irreversible losses of the Amik lake and its related wetlands of over 53 km” used to provide vital ecosystem goods and services
for the region. In the period of 1972 to 2000, croplands, settlements, and evergreen forests increased by 174%, 106%, and 14%,
respectively, in parallel to the decreases in shrublands-orchards, and bareground. The increase in settlements occurred mostly to the
detriment of croplands. The prospects for halting environmental degradation and destruction, rehabilitating damaged ecosystems,
and developing sustainable ecosystem management practices need to be dealt with in light of the institutional and economic
constraints facing Turkey.
1. INTRODUCTION
About 80% of all wetlands in some areas of Europe, and ca.
50% of all wetlands in the United States have been lost or
Human-induced disturbances such as land use/cover (LULC) destroyed. For example, more than 100 million ha of U.S.A.
changes, pollution of air, water and soil, and losses of wetlands have been filled, tilled, or channeled (Gibbs, 2000).
productive lands and biodiversity are increasingly threatening Globally, ca. 1000 bird species many of which are particularly
ecosystem productivity and health on the local, regional and ^ dependent on aquatic habitats including wetlands are on the
global scales (Wali et al., 1999; Evrendilek and Ertekin, 2002; verge of extinction (Lemly et al., 2000; Amezaga et al., 2002;
Evrendilek, 2004). Land use/cover changes are the most Ellison, 2004). Introduction of agricultural activities into
common cause of loss of biological productivity and Mexico's Sonora desert, for example, has diminished 9794 of
biodiversity in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Changes in the region's water resources, thus decreasing the migratory bird
LULC are defined broadly to include the conversion of lands populations from 233,000 in 1970 to less than 100,000 recently
into croplands and pastures, the abandonment of agricultural (Davis et al., 2002). The nearly complete destruction of the Aral
lands, deforestation, reforestation, afforestation, shifting Sea of 64,000 km? in Central Asia, once the fourth largest
cultivation, and urban sprawl (Evrendilek, 2004a; 2004b; inland sea in the world, is one of the most disastrous human-
Evrendilek and Wali, 2004). The worldwide trajectory of LULC induced LULCSs, which resulted from the diversion of the two
changes over the last 300 years has been to decrease the area of feeder rivers (the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya) of the Aral
forests and increase the area of agricultural lands (Houghton, Sea for irrigation of cotton fields and rice paddies. This
2003). For the period 1850 to 2000, atmospheric CO, diversion resulted in loss of the surrounding wetlands of over
concentrations have increased by ca. 175 Pg C (ca. 85 ppmv) in 530,000 ha, 135 mammal species, and 215 migrant bird species
association with the CO, emissions from combustion of fossil (Lemly et al., 2000).
fuels (275 Pg C) and LULC changes (155 Pg C) (Houghton, ^ Sustainable management of natural resources requires that
2003). The annual terrestrial flux of carbon (C) from LULC ecological goods and services be used to meet both current and
changes to the atmosphere was estimated at 2.2 (+ 0.6) Pg C yr” future generations’ needs by recognizing and adapting to the
‘in the 1990s (Houghton, 2003). inevitable biophysical limitations and interdependences
) Corresponding author: Phone: +90 326 2455825; Fax: +90 326 2455832; E-mail: skilic@mku.edu.tr
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