Analysis of E-EIA reports with geographic information systems: The gümüşhane example

The protection of natural elements and ensuring sustainability are becoming increasingly important in the planning and implementation processes of investments and activities. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has become a strategic tool not only in Turkey but also worldwide. Because natural, ecological, and socio-economic environmental impacts largely have a spatial dimension, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) stand out as a powerful tool that can be effectively used in all stages of the EIA process, including project site selection, impact estimation, alternative assessment, and monitoring. This study aims to analyze the data from EIA reports covering Gümüşhane province, found on the e-EIA Portal managed by the General Directorate of EIA Permits and Supervision of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, by transferring them to a spatial database with GIS support. An examination of the e-EIA Portal data reveals that approximately 111,000 EIA reports for Turkey from 2013 to the present are accessible in PDF format. For Gümüşhane province, this number is 594. In the e-EIA Portal, EIA reports are classified under 14 sectors. For Gümüşhane, the top two sectors with the most EIA reports are mining with a total of 394 reports and energy with a total of 94 reports. Analyses have shown that 12% of the total project area for all projects is allocated from forest areas, and 58% of the province's population lives within 1 km of a mining area. Thanks to GIS support, the spatial distribution of all projects requiring EIA reports across Gümüşhane province is shown, and spatial queries and analyses enable more informed decision-making in site selection for new projects. The current e-EIA Portal can be transformed into a map-based structure, and similar applications can be implemented for all provinces in the future.