Climate Change and Impact of Desertification or Soil/ Land Degradation in Turkey, Combating Desertification

Ülkemizi ve Dünya kara parçasını, geldiğimiz gün hesabıyla çölleşme (toprak/ arazi bozulumu) ve iklim değişikliğiyle tüketme konusunda bir karmaşayla birlikte düğümledik. Günümüzde Dünya arazi varlığının yaklaşık %28’i kuraklıktan etkilenmektedir. İnsan aktivitelerinin öncelikli neden olduğu arazi bozulumu (çölleşme)’nun yayılım alanı yaklaşık 2 milyar ha’a ulaşmıştır. Buna karşın tüm karasal ekosistemde bölgelerinin en mahsuldar toprakları toplam alan olarak yaklaşık 350,790x106 ha’dır. Ülkemizde arazi bozulumunun boyutları kara ekosistemimizde yaklaşık %90’lar düzeyindedir. Buna karşın ekolojik bölgelerinin en verimli toprakları yaklaşık 5,08 x106 ha’dır ve toplam kara parçamızın %6,5’idir. Dünya’da orman ve ağaç sektörünün yaklaşık %18’i; otlakçılık sektörünün yaklaşık %21’i ve tarım sektörünün de yaklaşık %38’i çölleşmeye neden olan etmenlerin baskısı altında arazi bozulumuna uğramıştır. İklim değişikliği sorunlarına çözüm arayan önemli bir faktör: Arazi kullanımı, arazi kullanımındaki değişiklikler ve ormansızlaşmadır. Günümüzdeki çevre sorunlarının en başında demografik yapının oluşturduğu baskılar ve popülist yaklaşım gösteren kesimlerin, spekülatörlerin, rantçıların vb. gibi tarafların oluşturduğu arazi baskıları sonucunda gündeme gelen, yanlış ve amaç dışı arazi kullanımlarının baskısıdır. Çölleşme ile mücadele teknikleri aynı zamanda iklim değişikliğine karşı da iyileştirici özelliklidir. Ülkemiz, 21 Ekim 2003 tarih ve 25266 sayılı resmi gazetede Bakanlar Kurulu kararı ile yayınlanan “Birleşmiş Milletler İklim Değişikliği Çerçeve Sözleşmesi” ne 189. üye ülke olarak taraf oldu. 9 Mart 2005 tarih ve 25750 sayılı resmi gazetede Çevre ve Orman Bakanlığı’nın genelgesi ile “Çölleşme İle Mücadele Türkiye Ulusal Eylem Programı” nı açıklayarak 191. Ülke olarak Birleşmiş Milletler Çevre Programına da bu konuda taraf oldu. Çölleşme ile Mücadele Türkiye Ulusal Eylem Programı’nda yer alan ilkeler ve amaçlar doğrultusunda öngörülen düzenlemeleri, plan ve uygulama programlarını; öngörülen sürelere bağlı kalarak kamu kurum ve kuruluşları, üniversiteler ve sivil toplum kuruluşlarının hayata geçirmesi ve uygulaması mutlaka gerekmektedir. Bunun içinde karasal ekosistemimizi, uygulanması gereken amenajman yöntemleri doğrultusunda, doğal nitelik ve yetenekleriyle kullanmak için toprak serileri düzeyinde yapılacak 1/25.000 veya daha büyük ölçekli Ayrıntılı toprak haritalarının temel veri tabanı esaslı çalışmalar ile oluşturulacak Bütünleşik Sürdürülebilir Havza Planları ile yönetmemiz önkoşuldur.The total arable land of Turkey is about 28,054,000 ha. The main income of the country is agriculture and agriculture based industry. However, the prime soils cover only 17.5% of the total land surface and the productivity of the rest of the soils is limited by topographical, chemical (e.g. high calcium carbonate content, alkalinity and low organic matter), and physical (e.g. water logging, texture) attributes. The diverse topography along with deforestation and unsuitable tillage and irrigation management has been inducing the rate of erosion in the country for centuries. The majority of the country’s soils (76.5%) are prone to erosion risk due to the dominant steep slopes (>6%), and 72% of the soils are more or less affected from water and wind erosion. Alongside these unsuitable conditions, the misuse of lands, i.e. soil sealing, soil exploitation, over use of fertilizers and irrigation, improper use of indigenous environmental friendly, agro-ecosystems, constantly degrade the soils of the country. Soils with high production capacity and with a wide range of agricultural uses, cover 7% (about 5 million ha) of the total land area (77.9 million ha) of Turkey. This proportion is equal to about 1/5 of the potential agricultural soils of the country. The highly to moderately productive soils (soils of Land Capability Class I, II, III) comprising an area of 19.1 million ha, with none (LCC I) to one or more moderate to severe limitations (LCC II and III) for some uses, require some kind of conservation practices to assure stability and sustainability of production as the essential part of the management system. Permanent limitations as water logged conditions as well as salinity would demand expensive investments in land management particularly for LCC III soils. This is almost equal to 1/4 (25%) of the country's land. However, there are 7.4 million ha land which is marginally productive (LCC IV), where parts of this is currently used for cultivation, pastures, forests and settlement areas, which cover about 4.9 million ha. About 573 000 ha of land is occupied by various industries and urban settlements, most of which is of Prime Quality (LCC I) and larger than the cultivated soils of many townships. Land with increased erosion due to misuse -unplanned- is about 6.2 million ha and the total non-arable (unsuitable for cultivation) (LCC V, VI, VII) land is 6.3 million ha Land/soil degradation and natural resources degradation should be included in the concept of “desertification”. In this framework, there are three major causes for the occurrence of desertification, these are namely the natural, technical, and socio- economic, administrative and legal causes. Erosion is the major impact of desertification, which is caused by the mismanagement of the land. It is a land degradation phenomenon accelerated by unplanned land management- the human impact- rather than natural causes. Deforestation, an on-going process for centuries in Anatolia, is the major driving force of land degradation reached by the unplanned and illegal cutting of forests to provide materials or fuel for heating, along with improper settling policies and overgrazing

Water retention and irrigation characteristics of Vertisols in northwestern Turkey

The study comprised the analyses of 105 soil samples, located across the Thrace region of Turkey, collected from the horizons and sub-horizons of 16 soil pedons, classified as the Haploxerert and Calcixerert Great Groups of the Vertisol Order. Fundamental soil hydraulic and irrigation management properties, such as water retention and infiltration rate of the soils were evaluatedd along with the content and type of the dominating clay mineral. Re-sults obtained for the major properties related to irrigation management such as the total total water holding ca-pacity (TWHC), total available moisture (TAM) and the final infiltration rate of the studied soils, showed close dependence on the varying clay contents and clay types, and varied in the ranges of 393 and 635 mm/100 cm; 128 and 244 mm/100 cm; and 1.0-80.0 mm/h, respectively. In addition, it was determined, that values of the studied hydraulic characteristics are influenced also by the relative abundance and crystallinity degree of the dominant and accompanying clay mineral; availability of cracks, hard pans, self-mulching (pedoturbation) and gilgai formation. The diversity of the morphological, physical and/or chemical properties revealed that the stud-ied soils required distinctive approaches and techniques in terms of irrigation management. The Turkgeldi Vertisol (Turkgeldi State Farm D11 and D12 locations) is an appropriate example for decreased pedoturbation and/or maturation in physical pedogenesis and in turn development of a stable soil structure, despite the high clay size particle and ssmectite contents throughout the profile. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The Management and Classification of the Typical Soils of the Yıldız Forest Ecosystem

Yıldız dağında Poyralı, Yeniceköy, Demirköy, İğneada ve İğneada’nın kuzeybatı yöresinde yer alan kireçli kum çökelleri, klorit şist, değişik nitelikteki pliosen çökeller ile alüviyal çökeller üzerinde oluşmuş Entisol, Mollisol, İnceptisol, Ultisol ve Spodosol Ordolarına giren topraklar incelenmiştir. Ayrıca Kırklareli’nin kuzeyinde yer alan orman arazilerindeki Kırklareli- Koruköy- Dereköy- Bulgaristan sınır kapısı hattı boyunca metagranit, kuars- kuarsit çökelleri, klorit şist, talk şist, dolomit, siyenit ve arduaz üzerinde oluşmuş Entisol ve Mollisol Ordolarındaki topraklar topluca ve orman arazileri arasında ki topraklar da tarımsal potansiyelleri açısından irdelenmiştir. Yıldız dağlarının batı kesimindeki toprakların kil mineralojileri de saptanmıştır ve farklı oranlarda belirlenen illit, vermikulit, smektit, klorit ve kaolinit kil mineralleri toprakların verimliliklerini de yönlendirmektedir. Yöre topraklarının çok dikkatle uygulanması gereken amenajmanlara gereksinimleri vardır. İncelenen toprakların tipik özellikleri: Tuzsuz olmaları; tamamına yakınının kireç içermemesi; genellikle organik madde düzeylerinin yetersiz olması; asidik yıkanma nedeniyle bir kısmının faydalı fosfor ve potasyum oranlarının kültür bitkilerine yetmeyecek düzeyde olması; tekstür sınıflarının ağırlıklı olarak hafif ve orta bünyede olması; zayıf asitten son derece kuvvetli asit arasında toprak reaksiyonlarına sahip olmasıdır. Bu toprakların dikkatli gübreleme programı uygulamasının yanında; kireçlemenin de özenle yapılması ön koşuldur. Ayrıca bazı toprakların dip patlatma denilen, dip kazan veya riper ile derin sürüm işlemine de gereksinimleri vardır.The soils of the Yıldız Mountain, namely Entisols, Mollisols, Inceptisols, Ultisols, and Spodosols, from Poyralı, Yeniceköy, Demirköy and northwest of Igneada that were developed on calcareous sandy sediments, chlorite schists, Pliocene sediments and alluvial materials were studied in this paper. Moreover, the Entisols and the Mollisols located at the Kırklareli, Koruköy, Dereköy and the land up to the Bulgarian border developed on metagranites, quartz-quartzitic sediments, chlorite schists, talc schists, dolomites, cyanites, have been studied as the soils in between the forest areas for their agricultural potentials. The clay mineral assemblages of the soils located at the west of the Yıldız Mountains revealed the presence of illite, vermiculite, smectite, chlorite and kaolinite that have indicated their influence on the fertility of these soils. Thus, the soils of the area are in need of appropriate management plans. The typical properties of the soils studied are: the absence of salinity and carbonate contents, the low amounts of organic matter, the deficiency in P and K which most probably is due to the leaching under acid conditions, the dominantly loamy textures and the pH varying from weakly to strong acid. The priority in the management of these soils should therefore be the application of an appropriate fertilization programme along with soil liming. In addition, some soils may need deep ripping and tillage

The Anthroscape Approach in Sustainable Land Use

The final outcomes of the approach of the anthroscape, seeking to develop a powerful tool for use by the local communities/administrations and relevant bodies for a bottom to top approach, as a quantified entity, means to direct the future land and water use decisions to be taken at lower levels - as farm domains etc. - leading to the development of an Anthroscape Land Quality Class map and the relevant Ideal Land Use Patterns of the Seyhan Anthroscape. These two final products of quantification are sought to be capable in revealing the magnitude and the distribution of the degradation of the selected area, as well as allocating the ideal land use types given for the percentages of the distributions of land except their specific location. In this context, the downstream part of the map will show the abundant degradation arising via the intensive cultivation practices where the class stated in the map reveals the urgent need of an integrated SLWM Programme to revert the lower class C and D ALQCs to higher ALQCs to meet the requirements of the sustainable use of the land. Whereas, the higher ALQC land in the transition or upstream zone stands for higher resilience and lower input requirements to meet the ideal use of the land. The Net Primary Production (NPP) - The remainder of photosynthesis and respiration which has significance in the global and regional carbon budgets and is a function of the standing biomass (an important component of the carbon cycle and a key indicator of ecosystem performance) was utilized via land cover and management to serve as a supplementary indicator of the Anthroscape and the Anthroscape Land Quality

Soil atlas of Europe

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