Page 143 - Çevre, Şehir ve İklim Dergisi - Sayı 1

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PASTURES IN CLIMATE CHANGE
MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION PROCESSES

Dalya HAZAR KALONYA

ABSTRACT
Agriculture sector has been the forefront economic sector in Turkey in the historical process and is vi-
tally important for rural development and food security. However, because of the climate crisis, malp-
ractices, inadequate rural policies, and the conflicts in the rural areas, agricultural sector is weakening,
and young population is migrating from rural to urban. Disabled pastures are irreversibly lost by allo-
cation to other land uses such as quarries, power plants and mines due to the transformative effects of
enclosure movements. Pastures, which are our natural assets and rural-ecological commons in terms
of rich biodiversity, erosion prevention, rural development, and rural tradition, are also crucial carbon
sinks. It is seen that pastures, which are important for the husbandry applications that produce most
agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, have a significant carbon absorption capacity. In the study, it
is aimed to reveal the role of pastures in climate change mitigation and adaptation processes and the
policies that should be developed from this perspective. For this purpose, a pasture indicator set was
created by focusing on the ongoing conflicts in the pastures through literature review, media analysis
and field studies and adapted to the DPSIR causal analysis model. Protection and improvement of
pastures through ecologically sensitive rural planning, holistic grazing management and improved
rural policies are crucial for the sustainability of natural assets, rural development, and climate change
adaptation strategies.
Keywords: Climate Change, Carbon Absorption, Carbon Sink, Pastures, Commons, Rural Planning.

Dr. Öğr. Üyesi, Pamukkale Üniversitesi, Mimarlık ve Tasarım Fakültesi, Şehir ve Bölge Planlama Bölümü
Mail: dalyahazar@gmail.com
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/ 0000-0003-0075-0234

Makale Atıf Bilgisi: Hazar Kalonya, D. (2022). “İklim Değişikliği Azaltım ve Uyum Süreç-
lerinde Mera Alanlarının Önemi”, Çevre, Şehir ve İklim Dergisi. Yıl: 1.
Sayı: 1. ss. 128-157.
Makale Türü: Araştırma
Geliş Tarihi: 19.01.2022
Kabul Tarihi: 03.02.2022
Yayın Tarihi: 20.02.2022
Yayın Sezonu: Ocak 2022

Çevre, Şehir ve İklim Dergisi
İklim Değişikliği | Ocak 2022 | Sayı: 1