Evaluation of coastal landscapes in terms of cultural ecosystem services: The case of Trabzon city center

Coasts are very important areas for human beings in terms of the social and economic opportunities they offer. For this reason, the interest in shores throughout the world has not diminished, but people have tended to be close to the shores as an indicator of prosperity. People benefit from the shore by using various ecosystem services. These services are provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. In order to determine the ecosystem services offered to the people by the coastal areas and to ensure their sustainability, protection-use balance, management issues should be given necessary importance. In this study, the temporal change of the benefits provided by ecosystem services from the coastal areas of Trabzon city was investigated. For this purpose, the old and new condition of the city coasts were investigated and compared by applying field survey methodology. In order to support the research, the temporal change of major land use classes between 1984 and 2011 was demonstrated by using remote sensing technique. As a result of the study, it has been determined that there are decreases in ecosystem services due to the changes occurring in Trabzon central coast for the last 30 years. Furthermore, when the cultural ecosystem services of the coast are evaluated, it is determined that especially historical and cultural elements provide important services. Suggestions have been made for the protection and sustainability of coastal ecosystems.