Page 301 - 7. State Of Environment Report Of Türkiye

Map 20 Türkiye Desertification Vulnerability Map

According to the ‘Türkiye Desertification Vulnerability Map’, approximately 22.5 percent of Tür-
kiye’s lands are highly susceptible to desertification. While Konya-Karapınar, Iğdır-Aralık and Ur-
fa-Ceylanpınar are seen as regions with a very high degree of vulnerability to desertification, the
Salt Lake basin, the Ereğli-Karaman region, the Urfa-Ceylanpınar-Mardin-Batman line and the
Eskişehir area are in the group with a medium and high degree of vulnerability to desertification.

Within the scope of the Türkiye Desertification Model Verification and Calibration Project, pilot
field studies were carried out in Aksaray and Mersin provinces in 2016, in Çorum-Amasya-Sam-
sun and Şanlıurfa-Adıyaman provinces in 2017, and in Bursa-Balıkesir-Çanakkale-Edirne-Tekir-
dağ-Kırklareli and Iğdır-Kars-Erzurum-Ardahan-Artvin provinces in 2018. In 2019, the Upper Sa-
karya Basin pilot field studies were carried out and all verification and calibration studies were
completed. As a result of the verification and calibration studies, 22.5% of Türkiye’s areal assets
are highly susceptible to desertification, while 50.9% are moderately and 18% are lowly suscep-
tible to desertification.

Project for Contributing to the Establishment of Land Degradation Neutrality (ATD) Targets by
Implementing the ATD Approach in the Upper Sakarya Basin for the Purpose of Spreading it
at the National Level: In September 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in New
York, sub-target number 15.3 (SDG 15.3) was accepted as “By 2030, combat desertification, res-
tore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and
strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world.” (UNSDG 15.3) In order to contribute to Tür-
kiye’s achievement of the ATD targets, the “Land Degradation Neutrality, Upper Sakarya Basin
Project” was put into practice during the GEF 6 period.

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