Determination of Land Uses in the Serçeme Basin and Examination of Optimal Land Use

Uncontrolled land use causes serious problems for ecosystems. Sustainable development and proper land use require planning that takes into account natural and cultural characteristics. In the Serçeme Basin of Erzurum, the aim is to determine the most suitable land use by considering seven different land uses: pasture, meadow, agriculture, forest, conservation areas, tourism-recreation, and settlement. Ecological suitability maps were created for these seven land use types, and these maps were overlaid. The optimum land use map was generated as a result of overlaying maps supported by Geographic Information Systems (ArcGIS 10.8). When evaluating the study area based on land use types, it was found that 15.46% is suitable for meadow, 2.92% is suitable for conservation areas, 42.65% is suitable for pasture, 32.31% is suitable for forest, 4.07% is suitable for agriculture, 1.62% is suitable for tourism and recreation, and 0.96% is suitable for settlement.