Page 283 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 2

Hilal Tulan Işıldar - Özge Yalçıner Ercoşkun

Introduction

Coastal areas are important attraction centers that have an important role in
sources of income, recreation and cultural activities, tourism facilities, ecological
riches, and international trade as well as the increased transportation and logistical
conditions due to maritime commerce. For all these benefits, the development
and use of coastal areas have increased greatly in recent years. Coastal areas
exhibit different population profiles and development patterns in relation to
global growth and urbanization trends (Balk-Montgomery et al, 2009; Small-
Nicholls 2003). Today, over %40 of the World population live in coastal areas, and
due to the changes in global demographics, the tendency to migrate to coastal
areas is increasing incrementally. The population increase and growth are the
main impetus for the change in coastal areas (www.un.org, Accessed: 02.06.2022).
The threat posed by climate change and anthropogenic activities on the
coasts, and the biophysical and socioeconomic results of this situation have
turned the preference to live in coastal area a highly dangerous choice. Recent
research shows that average rise in sea levels may reach 1 meter or above by
2100, which will have serious effects on coastal areas and ecosystems. Climate
change leads to environmental and ecological problems such as floods and
overflows, increase in groundwater salt levels, coastal erosion, changes in
coast lines, decrease in precipitation, drought, forest fires, increase in sea
water temperatures, destruction of natural habitat, and loss of biodiversity.
Additionally, due to anthropogenic activities, disorganized settlements,
industrial and touristic facilities, coastal land reclamation practices, and
investments in infrastructure such as transportation and logistics pose a direct
threat to coastal areas (Wong- Losada et al, 2014: 361-409; Nicholls-Lowe et
al, 215: 129-150; Nicholls- Cazenave, 2010: 1517-1520).
The effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities; It is extremely
important to conduct a vulnerability analysis in coastal areas in order to
determine the level of impact on coastal areas and to increase resilience.
Turkey, which has a coastline of 8333 km located in the Southeast Europe and
the Eastern Mediterranean geography; Is the most fragile country in Europe,
according to the report "Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and
Vulnerability" by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this
study aims to conduct a vulnerability analysis on 28 coastal cities in Türkiye.
As part of the study, a coastal information system consisting of physical,
spatial, economic and social indicators was created for 28 cities of Türkiye. In
the set of vulnerability indicators, certain points were assigned to parameters
depending on their effects. With the help of the Weighted Overlay Module
of ArcGIS 10.7.1, parameters were overlaid. Particularly in coastal cities that
turned out to be highly vulnerable, certain suggestions were made on how to
increase the resilience of the coastal cities of Türkiye.

269 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate