Wetlands in Turkey: Past, Today and Future: Identification of Wetland change during the 20th Century.
Project no. 540 · Status: Kapanmış · 2015
Summary
The aim of this project is to determine wetland in Turkey during the 20th century. Wetland loss over a hundred years in Turkey was determined by comparing cartographical maps made during the years 1910s and 1920s with the CORINE data updated with 2014 satellite images. About 100 years ago, the total area of natural wetlands in Turkey was 1,376,505 hectares (ha) and has decreased to 1,085,166 ha in 2014, corresponding to a loss of 291,339 ha in size, a decrease of 21.17%. Wetland drying activities in Turkey first started as a result of laws enacted to combat malaria and have been continued to gain new farmlands. Subsequently, with the operation of the dams and the consequent increase in the irrigated areas, the amount of water in the wetlands decreased, and intense wetland losses occurred, especially in closed basins.