Participatory approach to identify problems in integrated watershed planning (the case of Karanfilli River Watershed)

This study includes the watershed of the Karanfilli River, one of the sub-watershed of the Western Mediterranean Basin which is one of Turkey's 25 major basins. There are two main approaches of the study. The first is to determine the natural and social-economic problems and revealing constraints in the watershed, and the second is to find out how the people living in the watershed benefit from the existing sources. Thus, a sustainable basin planning is aimed by evaluating the sources, problems and possibilities in the Karanfilli River watershed. The aims, opinions and suggestions of the people living in the watershed were taken as the basis for providing these objectives. In this way, options / propositions that can be used by the decision-makers in possible studies on the watershed in the future process have been created. Some watershed features such as land use, slope and elevation have been revealed by using GIS. After the meetings of the people living in the watershed, some natural problems and also social-economic problems in the watershed were determined. Soil erosion and the presence of damaged forest areas are the most important natural resource problems detected in the watershed. The scarcity of land that has the ability to make agriculture is another important natural resource problem. Less than 15% of the watershed is suitable for agriculture without creating a natural resource problem. On the other hand, the primary problem of the people in the watershed was the lack of irrigation water and irrigation infrastructure. The most important social and economic problems are migration. In the last 30 years, the amount of people living in the watershed has decreased by more than 23%. As a result of the triggering of migration phenomenon, it was determined that agriculture and livestock activities were affected negatively. In the Karanfilli River watershed, it is possible to emphasize that livestock and honey production alternatives can be highlighted for sustainable planning. In addition to this, considering the constraints of the use of agricultural land, it is foreseen that local and product oriented agriculture can be done within the watershed. So it is possible to control the soil erosion which is a serious problem in the watershed.