Land use/land cover change modelling of ergene river basin in Western Turkey using CORINE land use/land cover data

Abstract

Land use planning is a useful tool to find a balance among the competing and sometimes contradictory uses in order to achieve food security, economic growth, energy supply, nature conversation and other objectives. In this study, modelling land use/land cover change of Ergene River Basin in Western Turkey between the years of 1990 and 2012 was investigated. The CORINE land use/landcover data and ArcGIS software were used to detect land use/land cover change between the years, 1990–2000, 2000–2006 and 2006–2012. As a results, the artificial area (including settlement area and industrial zone) and water bodies increased by 39.4% and 47.9%, due to industrial development and new reservoirs construction, respectively, while wetlands and agricultural areas decreased by 1.1%, 1.0% and 32.1%, respectively. The change in the agricultural areas into industrial area corresponds to about 13,000 hectares, which is considered threatening not only natural resources but also food security since the basin has the most productive arable land of Turkey. © 2017, Eesti Pollumajandusulikool. All rights reserved.