Assessing and Monitoring Geoecological Status of West Turkish Landscapes for Sustainable Development: Processes, Activities and Problems

The presentation concerns certain issues of the environmental situation around Izmir region, Turkey. The region of Izmir is a highly dynamic and rapidly developing region of western Turkey. The urbanization rate is high, increasing from 18.5% in 1950 to 62% in 2000. The urban areas located on the coastal area of the Aegean Sea with ca 4 M people have impact on the environment through enormous demographic, cultural and economic pressure. There are ongoing processes of urbanization in westernTurkey. Besides natural population increase, there is a tendency of local population migration coming from eastern regions westwards (for education and employment). Such migration leads to the congested, overpopulated quarters in large western metropolises with dense construction of multi-storied buildings. During the last decades a large number of studies have been reported on the environmental, physical, chemical and biological properties of Izmir Bay. Inner Izmir Bay surface sediments are seriously polluted and contain significant concentration of heavy metals. Monitoring changes in the landscape - important tool for assessing ecological stability Spatial analysis of multi-temporal satellite images using GIS is the most effective tool Research demonstrated how landscape changed in a given period (1987-2000). These include satellite images of Landsat. Image processing was performed using classification. Results showed landscape changes which proofs anthropogenic impacts. The described above anthropogenic and climatic factors impact environment and cause destruction or loss of landscape elements. Landscape changes are detected in Izmir area It is therefore necessary to increase measures on nature protection and environmental monitoring of the Aegean Sea area.