GIS-Based Site Suitability Analysis of Afforestation in Konya Province, Turkey

Abstract

In order for the land management to be applied correctly and effectively, importance should be given to the location selection studies. Determining the most suitable area according to the purpose and initiating studies will provide social and economic gain for the countries. As forest areas occupy large lands, it is actually a necessity to determine the areas to be afforested by site selection. In the study, suitable afforestation areas are selected by using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method in Konya province, which has an arid and semi-arid climate. For this purpose, within the scope of the study, land use capability (LUC), large soil groups (LSG), rainfall, slope, aspect, and erosion were used as criteria. Using these criteria in GIS, suitable areas for afforestation map for Konya province was obtained. According to results, 15% of the study area is the most suitable area, 25.52% is suitable, 28.95% is medium, 12.76% is low and 17.77% is found very low for the afforestation. The fields obtained were presented to the public with the help of the website created. It is expected that tree planting activities will increase thanks to the website showing the suitable areas for tree planting.