BALWOIS 2010 - Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia - 25, 29 May 2010 1 A Visual Assessment for Land Use Analysis at the Coastal Area of Beysehir Lake Cigdem Ciftci 1 , Sukru Dursun 2 , Sinan Levend 1 1 Selcuk University, Engineering & Architecture Faculty, City & Regional Planning Department, Konya- Turkey; 2 Selcuk University, Engineering & Architecture Faculty, Environmental Engineering Department, Konya-Turkey cigdemciftci@selcuk.edu.tr, sdursun@selcuk.edu.tr, sinanlevend@gmail.com Abstract: A lake strongly depends on its basin's geography through the headwaters. Lake Basin's land use affects the lake ecosystem via transport of materials carried by surface runoff which is caused from agriculture, urbanization and mining and forestry practices. All kind of land using contributes to nonpoint-source phosphorus (P) loading by approximating overland flow. All fluxes cause to cultural eutrophication of surface waters by increasing loading of phosphorus. Both land use practices and rapid land use changes in the watersheds are a serious threat to water quality. In the mean while biodiversity especially amphibian species also are positively correlated with forest cover and the size of wetlands on the coastal area negatively correlated with road density and water quality. The drought and providing water are also the most important issues of Beysehir Lake as with any place in the world. Beysehir Lake is both a wetland according to Ramsar Convention and freshwater lake which is the biggest one of Turkey. There are settlements, agricultural lands, marshlands, forest areas, shallow areas etc. in the coast of Beysehir. Some of settlements are caused to reduce the water sources with uncontrolled usage. Especially the affects of Beysehir Country Area's are important for negatively using the coastal areas. This research's goal is to analysis the current land using on riparian corridor at the lake of Beysehir Country Area depending on ecological parameters such as physical environment, geological and geomorphologic specifications, fauna and flora, soil types, water resources, climate and weather quality, topography, impervious surfaces, directional orientation and height via the Visual Riparian Assessment. Key words: Land use, Watershed, Visual Assessment Lake Beysehir, Beysehir City Center 1. Conceptual framework: Watershed planning and management plan and the land use of coastal areas at lakes– a system of interactions We all lately felt the implications of global climate change (GCC) arising from anthropocentrically behaviours. Everything we do affects the quality of natural features, especially deterioration of hydrologic cycle. In fact we all live in a part of watersheds, the area of land that drains into lake, sea, stream or wetland. We are using them too; they began to come under stress. These situations are less desirable because of continued accelerated degradation arising from land, water and air pollution. People want to stop this downward trend (Gössling, 2005). By managing this difficult problem-solving required, in the same time Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) was required. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development which is also known as Earth Summit in 1992 was highlighted this type of managing style. It is consist of resource management and land use planning in coastal area by stressing the priority actions such as population growth, human health, water quality, coastal hazards and biodiversity. (URL1). Kusler (1984) summarized under the six objectives a decade of local regularity experience in managing lands with special natural resource values or natural hazards. As a sensitive lands of costal areas are: 1. Requirements that public and private resource decision-makers evaluate the short term consequences of activities on these areas, while considering the reversibility of impacts and developing alternative strategies for land and water using, 2. Shifting incompatible uses to non-sensitive areas through land use control measures, 3. Prohibiting nuisance uses or uses which violate pollution standards, 4. Protecting renewable and non-renewable resources from incompatible uses through use and density restrictions, 5. Protecting essential water resources and related ecological systems through use restrictions and performance standards, and 6. Minimizing the impacts of permitted uses by regulating design, structure location, and construction materials, methods of construction and operation, tree cutting, dredging and other features of permitted uses.