Strategies to Enhance Sustainability of Land Resources in Arid Regions

The ability to effectively maintain the functions of the ecosystem is closely related to the assessment of land resources within a conservation-utilization balance. Land degradation is one of the most significant environmental treats on arid region ecosystems in terms of the use of these resources. In this chapter, the aim was to attract the attention to land degradation processes in Turkey and analyze the current conditions in the context of policy-science interaction by performing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis and develop the effective strategies for sustainable use of land resources. Thus, anthropogenic effects on sustainability of land resources and its relation with drought and productivity, and insufficient legal regulations were analyzed for developing strategies to enhance sustainability of land resources. Results showed that Turkey is at the point of breaking for sustainability of its natural resources. Insufficient topographic and soil conditions, administrative problems and negatively changing climatic conditions made the condition adverse. Therefore, the significant strategies were defined for sustainable resource management under the integrated approach from ecological, economic, political and sociological perspectives. In this context, assessments have been made in order to prevent weaknesses and possible threats to the sustainable use of this resource.