SUSTAINABLE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND FORESTRY

HANİFİ AVCIAGM DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL

MARCH 2007ANKARA

DEFINITION OF A WATERSHED – Broken by a river,– Surrounded with mountains and hills,– Having its own natural resources, – Discharging its water to the same sea, river or

lake.

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT

Watershed management is planning, developing and managing of sustainable use of natural resources to provide social, cultural and economic development of the community by considering the main principles of ecology in a watershed.

SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT IN WATERSHEDS

• Sustainable management of forests and wooded tracts

• Sustainable management of rangelands• Sustainable management of agriculture• Capacity building

In order to realize these objectives, integrated watershed rehabilitation projects are necessary.

WATERSHED REHABILITATION

Watershed rehabilitation is the work in order to take technical, cultural and administrative precautions to sustain natural balance between soil, water, and vegetation in the watershed, and to increase social, cultural and economic development of the community, living in the watershed.

A DEGRADED WATERSHED

A REHABILITATED WATERSHED

SOIL DEGRADATION

Soil degradation is the reduction of the soil quality as a result of the misuse of the people, which leads to degradation of physical, chemical and/or biological characteristics of the soil and to the reduction of the soil productivity.

LAND DEGRADATION

- Water and wind erosion ;- Reduction of the physical, chemical, biological

and economic characteristics of the soil,- Long run loss of the vegetation;

As a result of these natural or human activities, the sustainability of the natural and ecologic or economic function cannot be very long due to the damage.

DESERTIFICATION

Desertification is soil degradation in the arid, semi-arid and semi-humid areas due to several factors such as climate change and human activities.

COMBATING DESERTIFICATION

includes activities such as;- Prevention and/or reduction of land

degradation,- Rehabilitation of semi-degraded land, and- Recovering of desertified land.

Land degradation is both one of the main reasons of the rural poverty and one of the results of it.

GENERAL PROBLEMS OF WATERSHEDS

• Erosion• Destruction of natural resources• Over- and irregular pasturage in rangelands • Poor vegetation• Destruction and over-use of forest lands• Herd livestock• Dispersed settlement• Over-population• Low level of efficiency in animal production• Shallow and infertile soil• Misuse of lands and agricultural techniques• Insufficient farmlands• Insufficient water resources• Insufficient modern agricultural techniques• Insufficient organic substance in farmlands • Rural poverty• Lack of training and awareness in the use of natural resources

REASONS OF LAND DEGRADATION IN WATERSHEDS

• Erosion• Deforestation• Degradation of rangelands• Climate change• Loss of organic substance in soil • Physical degradation of lands• Misuse of lands• Reduction of available water• Aridity• Agricultural medicines• Soil contamination• Reduction of natural vegetation and biodiversity

RESULTS OF LAND DEGRADATION IN WATERSHEDS

• Increase of Erosion• Increase of Salinity in Soil • Reduction of Agricultural Production (Quantity+Quality)• Increase of Quantity of Insects and Illnesses

(Vegetable+Agriculture)• Reduction of Grass Efficiency in Rangelands • Reduction of Biological Diversity• Reduction of Water Capacity• Increase of Forest Fire• Plant Deceases• Reduction of Water Resources• Increase of the Necessity for Water • Increase of the Degradation of Natural Resources• Increase of the Floods• Poverty and Migration

• Protection, Rehabilitation and Management of Natural Resources

• Integration of Income Raising Activities and Protection, Rehabilitation and Management of Natural Resources

• Improving Human Resources• Sustainability and Expandibility

POLICIES OF WATERSHED REHABILITATION PROJECT

Integrated projects should be prepared on a community-based approach to sustainable natural resource management.

The project provides the participation of all related and interested community groups, who shall take part on the management including decision-making, planning, implementing, monitoring, evaluating and auditing.

WATERSHED REHABILITATION PROJECTS

WORK FIELD OF THE FORESTRY ENGINEERING

• Building natural and artificial forests,• Afforestation, • Combating erosion• Controlling flood and avalanche • Watershed management• Integrated watershed rehabilitation• Planning of rural development• Project making and implementation work• Maintenance and the rehabilitation of the forests and development of the

degraded forests • Seed production, vaccination, tree improvement • Establishing forestry nursery• Rangeland rehabilitation and planning• Study and analyzing of the forestry soil• Hunting planning and management• Improvement of the forestry water resources • Combating forestry fire and its damages • ……….

Average altitude : 1232 m Average precipitation : 632mm

56% of the country is middle-high mountainous land,62,5% of the country is with the slope more than 15%.

TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF TURKEY

FORESTS OF TURKEY

27% OF TURKEY IS COVERED WITH FORESTS

FERTILE FOREST : 10 621 220 HECTARE %50,1

INFERTILE FOREST : 10 567 626 HECTARE % 49,9

TOTAL AREA : 21 188 746 HECTARE % 100

Forest%27

Farm-land%36

Other10%

Range-land27%

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY-PROJECT WORK• Turkey has very different eco-systems due to

climate, topography and soil characteristics.

• Study-project works are very important because growing environment conditions change in very short distances.

TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF TURKEY

SITUATION OF RURAL POPULATION

• 35% of Turkish population live in rural areas. • 33% of rural population live in the forests or next

to the forests. • In 20.000 villages of these areas in or next to the

forest land, currently 7 million people live. Population of the forest villages is 11% of whole Turkish population.

• Migration from rural to urban areas continues.

% 33

% 12

% 15

90 + cm

50-90 cm

20-50 cm

0-20 cm

% 40

DEPTH OF THE SOIL

• Water erosion• Wind erosion• Avalanche erosion• Landslide erosion• Wave erosion• Glacier erosion

In the watersheds, there is both natural erosion and accelerated erosion as a consequence of human activities.

KINDS OF EROSION

EROSION

EROSION

• One of the most important problem related with watersheds is erosion. • 54% of the forest lands, 59% of the farmlands, 64% of the rangelands are

under the effect of moderate and intense erosion. • In Turkey, around 500 million tone soil is being carried to seas and lakes

annually.

A FLOOD STREAM AND CATCHMENT

6.1 Million marginal land is used for farming activities.

MISUSE OF LANDS

Use of the Land

Slope with 15%S.Flow S.Loss

% tone/ha/year

Slope with 28%S.Flow S.Loss

% tone/ha/year

Slope with 45%S.Flow S.Loss % tone/ha/year

Corn 27.8 6.98 34.7 9.59 42.5 12.55

Wheat 27.0 5.56 34.3 7.74 42.1 10.18

Fallow 33.6 6.78 39.4 7.77 47.4 10.36

Hazelnut 10.2 1.32 14.2 2.16 20.4 3.36

Forest 0.5 No 1.3 No 2.9 No

RELATION OF THE USE OF THE LAND, SLOPE AND EROSION

Surface Flow and Soil Loss in Darıyeri (Düzce) and Bakacak (Bolu) according to Different Slopes and Land Uses (Aydemir 1973; Karagül,1998)

The most important reason of the floods is the destruction of the natural balance between soil-water-plant in the upper parts of the catchments, where water is collected.

The most effective and permanent method to

prevent floods is taking precautions in the water collecting region in order to reestablish the destructed natural balance.

REASONS OF THE FLOOD

Relation of the Forest Destruction and Flood

EROSION, FLOOD, OVERFLOW

Establishing forests through taking erosion precautions, in the water-collecting catchments of the stream and rivers, where precipitation-flow regime is destructed, in the hillsides, where vegetation is destructed; transforming degraded forest lands to fertile forest lands or improving vegetation; regulating water flow in the upper parts of the streams and establishing natural balance through this would prevent floods and overflows.

PREVENTION OF FLOODS AND OVERFLOWS

STONE CORDON FENCE

TERRACE WITH BUSHES

EXAMPLES ABOUT EROSION CONTROL WORK

EROSION CONTROL WORK

Implementations on erosion control projects with the aim of flood prevention and afforestation have been achieved for long years by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. By the end of 2006, afforestation, erosion control, rehabilitation etc. works have been completed in 4.546.000 ha. area. 594.000 ha out of this belongs to erosion control works. Afforestation, erosion control, rehabilitation etc. works are planned in 400.000 ha area for the year of 2007.

WORKS COMPLETED

WORKS COMPLETED FROM THE BEGINNING TILL THE END OF THE 2006 (AGM-OGM)

AFFORESTATION 1.935.349

REHABILITATION 428.185

EROSION CONTROL 593.966

GREEN BELT AFFORESTATION 138.204

PLANTATION 724.080

BUILDING OF ENERGY FOREST 621.911

RANGELAND REHABILITATION 109.791

PRIVATE AFFORESTATION 64.007

TOTAL………………………………………………4.546.013

SEEDLING PRODUCTION 10.995.000.000 UNIT

HECTARE

AFFORESTATION WORKS

In order to make the works more common and successful,integrated watershed rehabilitation projects should be implemented with a participatory understanding from all the institutions, working in the watershed, civil society organizations and people living in the area.

RESULT

EVERYTHING IS FOR A LIVABLE ENVIRONMENT…