Landscape character assesment of tea planted areas

Developing economies have negatively affected sustainability of natural resources. Developing world economy and technology have negatively affected sustainability of natural resources. Increasing environmental pollution, global climate change and deforestration are some examples of those impacts. Therefore some leading countries seek for a solution to overcome these problems. Within this frame, ?European Landscape Convention? which is also signed by Turkey, foresees to describe and characterize of landscapes in Pan-European region by applying protection and promotion principals for management and planning those areas in a sustainable way. Therefore there is an urgent need to describe and characterize our national landscapes available in any scale and location. In this study landscape character assessment for the city center of Rize and adjacent rural vicinity was applied. Character areas, landscape units and landscape value were evaluated by incorporating visual perception and tourism value for the area. The results of the study revealed that the area can be described by 5 different landscape character and 544 landscape units. Spatial analysis carried out in precisely built geodatabase showed that the area is under influence two main vegetation types which are tea plantation areas and coppice cover. Expert questionnaires based on quantitatively obtained character areas indicated that landscape character 2 which can be described by ?wide coppices with single trees and extensive tea gardens? formation was the most preferred one. In terms of plant and vegetation composition, 60 different woody species were registered in the study area. Alnus glutinosa was the second dominating specie after Camellia sinensis in the region. It can be concluded that tea planted areas have a tourism value and agricultural tourism can be used as an alternative tool to improve welfare of local inhabitants and development of rural areas. Finally, two alternative scenarios were proposed based on results and findings of the study and the second scenario that is suggesting ELC as a first step was found the most suitable for the planning, management and protection of landscape in the region.