ASSESSING THE IMPACTS OF COAL MINING ON RURAL LANDSCAPES: THE CASE OF YATAĞAN, MUĞLA

Date

2023-12-07

Author

Kaplan, Melda

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Extractive activities such as mining, oil, and gas have adverse impacts on cultural properties. According to World Heritage state-of-conservation reports, the threat represented by extractive industries has globally increased since the 1990s. They currently rank as the 7th most significant factor affecting World Heritage properties. In Turkey, rural landscapes, including villages in Yatağan, Muğla, have been adversely affected by extractive industries since the 1980s. There is an urgent need to develop transparent, inclusive, and informed decision-making processes and assessment tools to prevent further damage to rural landscapes. Therefore, this study aims to focus on impact assessment for mining activities. Yatağan has been selected as the case study area for this research due to the ongoing impacts of mining activities on its cultural and natural values. Since the region has been inhabited continuously since the Bronze Age, its rural landscapes possess tangible and intangible values. Some of these values have been lost due to existing coal mining activities. It is essential to identify these heritage values and assess the impact of mining activities on them through a systematic approach. In this context, the study was conducted in several stages. Firstly, the national and international context of rural landscape conservation and coal mining was addressed. Secondly, regional-scale research aimed at understanding the impacts of coal mining in Yatağan. Finally, in the settlement-scale research, Yeşilbağcılar village was examined as a village damaged by mining. The Heritage Impact Assessment framework was implemented in Turgut village to estimate a worst-case scenario. The assessment results show that Turgut village's natural and cultural heritage values might be adversely impacted by coal mining activities.

Subject Keywords

Rural Landscape, Impact Assessment, Coal Mining, Yatağan, Cultural Heritage

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/107795

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis