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International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B7. Istanbul 2004
Amount of
Rate of LULC change
Land Land area LULC change
use/land (ha) (ha yr!) (%)
cover
1972 1987 2000 1972-1987 1987-2000 1972-2000 1972-2000
Amik lake 5325 - ^ - - - -100
& wetlands
Croplands 46,658 92,098 127,883 3029 2753 2901 174
Evergreen 110,417 141,904 125,964 2099 -1226 SSS 14
forests
Shrublands 74,057 12,193 41,130 -4124 2226 -1176 -44
& orchards
Settlements 2090 2276 4297 12 155 79 106
Bareground 154,424 144,500 93,696 -662 -3908 -2169 -39
Total area” 392,970 392,970 392,970 392,970 392,970 392,970 -
- Figures may not give the totals due to rounding.
Table 1. Detection of 28-year changes in land uses/covers (LULC) in the province of Hatay, based on time series satellite images of
1972, 1987, and 2000 (negative values indicate a decrease)
surrounding wetlands covered 5325 ha in 1972 and were
annihilated completely by 1987 (Figure 2). With the initiation
of a large-scale campaign to increase the amount of croplands
used for food production in the Amik plain in the 1940s, the
Amik lake was channeled into the Orontes river. The increase in
croplands took place at the expense of the irreversible losses of
the lake and its related wetlands. The destructions of the Amik
lake and its related wetlands have led to the losses of vital
ecosystem goods and services ranging from biodiversity to
regulation of hydrological cycle used to be provided for the
region. When the structures and functions of the Amik lake and
its related wetland ecosystems were destroyed, the emerging
ecological impacts have decreased some species in abundance,
altered the identity of species and caused local extinctions of
some species, some of which are keystone species.
01972 B 1987 02000
18
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Amik lake- — Cropland Evergreen — Schrubland- — Settlement Bareground
wetland forest orchard
Figure 2. Changes in land use/cover (LULC) between 1972 and
2000 in the province of Hatay
In both periods, croplands and settlements increased in parallel
to the decrease in bareground. Settlements and baregrounds
were negatively correlated (r = -0.9; p < 0.05). The increase in
settlements occurred mostly to the detriment of croplands.
There was a significantly negative correlation between
evergreen forest-orchards and shrublands (r — -0.9; p « 0.05).
Between 1972 and 2000, the land area of croplands increased
315
by 174% at the rates of 3029 ha yr! between 1972 and 1987
and of 2753 ha yr! between 1987 and 2000. The area of
settlements almost doubled in the period 1972 to 2000, at rates
of 12 ha yr! between 1972 and 1987 and of 155 ha yr! between
1987 and 2000. Forest area increased by 29% in the period
1972 to 1987 and decreased by 11% at a deforestation rate of
1226 ha yr' in the period 1987 to 2000. The increase in
evergreen forest in the first period can be attributed to the then-
accelerated rates of afforestation and reforestation plantings
conducted. The area of shrublands and orchards decreased by
44% during the entire period, with an 84% decrease between
1972 and 1987 and a 237% increase between 1987 and 2000.
Bareground area decreased by 39% from 154,424 ha in 1972 to
93,696 ha in 2000 (Figure 3). One of the major LULC changes
as detected from the imagery in 2000 was the construction of
Yarseli Dam and the formation of its reservoir of ca. 4 km”.
4. CONCLUSIONS
Rate- and stock-limitations of ecological goods and services for
human uses, historical reconstructions of ecosystem disturbance
dynamics, irreversibility, time lags, interdependency,
temporal/spatial scales, and uncertainties constitute the most
important components of understanding land-transformation
processes, and ecosystem structures and functions worldwide.
Today, urbanization, population growth, and consumption
growth are the dominant local forces which cumulatively lead
to global environmental change. For example, slightly less than
half (2.9 billion) of the world's population resided in cities in
2000, but this proportion is projected to rise to 60% by 2030,
and the largest cities, and the largest growth in city size are
projected to occur in developing nations (UN, 2001). LULC
changes have produced about 36% of CO, emissions since
1850, the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, thus
contributing to global climate change. The integration of
ecosystem management and economic development can only be
achieved by a holistic, interdisciplinary, goal-oriented and
participatory approach. This approach should aim at having
people recognize that their well-being is dependent upon the
sustenance of ecological goods and services and at improving
coordination among related administrative and institutional
bodies. The magnitude of uncertainties associated with the
