Determination of land use changes in the International Anatolian Region by using collect earth methodology

In terms of land monitoring and evaluation systems, the classification of earth the changing from natural or anthropogenic influences to land use/cover is of very important for land management plan. Frequently used method that extraction of attribute information belong to land use /cover data via satellite and produced thematic map is the classification of ground data that have different characteristics. Different classification systems for land use/cover are being developed with remote sensing studies. In this study, Collect Earth methodology, which is innovative land use/cover classification method and new monitoring system was used. Collect Earth that use land use/cover, land use change, natural disasters, sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystem functioning has the big capacity. Collect Earth is a free and open source software for land monitoring developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In addition to, all of the auxiliary data and software that used with Collect Earth is a free and open source too. The study area, Central Anatolia region that has arid and semi-arid climate conditions is the poorest in terms of forest area in Turkey. In addition, the study area is the most important area in terms of grassland capacity in Turkey. The results of land use/cover changes of the study area are important In terms of the environmental problems of the region and policies. The 15013 plot area at intervals of 3200 m systematically determined in this study area. Land use and changes of these plot areas, current land use/cover trend and vegetation status have obtained and the results for plot area have interpolated to the whole area. In this study, the advantages of the Collect Earth methodology, that allows the determination of land cover usage changes and periodic monitoring, have evaluated. As a result of the study, 3.8 million ha pasture area, 6.7 million ha agricultural area and 1,6 million ha forest area were detected in the Central Anatolia Region. Land use/cover trend is as follows; 15 thousand ha agricultural land to other land, 14 thousand ha grass land to other land. Between 2001 and 2016, 150 097 hectares of land improvement / greening trend, 42 595 hectares of land degredation/desertification trend were observed in the Central Anatolia Region. In addition to, Land use/cover status, change&trend, monitoring, land use/cover, tree and brush, land improvement / greening trend, land degredation/desertification trend covers and rates were calculated in this study.