Natural Resource Problems and Suggestions for resolving these problems in Fırtına Watershed

Abstract

One of the most important socio-economic problems in rural areas is inequality in income distribution and poverty, which is also the cause of conflicts in direct resourceuse. There is no doubt that struggling with poverty is not an effort to increase incomes alone. The fight against poverty, of course, including protection of natural resources as well as the use of natural resources, requires planning with integrated and longrange applications. In other words, especially if natural resource management does not include sustainable implementations of basin-based integrated plans, resources are entering the process of extinction. Fighting poverty and raising rural prosperity in the rural area, of course, it is necessary to use natural and cultural resources. On the other hand, it is the most basic problem that resource management needs to solve the use of natural resources should be kept at a level that does not jeopardize the existence of resources and the natural resource management should be based on an approach which emphasizes protection. If natural resources are to be used to provide job and income opportunities in an area, the sustainability of these jobs and revenues will, of course, be limited to the power of resources protection. The most important dilemma in today's resource management plans is the conflict between use and protection of natural resources. Conflicts; It may be due to the excessive use of natural resource by the people living in a region and some times by the opposition of the local people against the investments for development, that is their motivation of resource conservation. Two goals have been identified in working with these assessments. These are; To identify of natural resource management problems and to create strategies and solutions to solve these problems in Fırtına Watershed. Data used in the study were obtained from field studies carried out since the long run in the Fırtına watershed; face to face interviews with local residents, public and private sectore presentatives; information obtained from the applied surveys and studies conducted by different researchers related to the Fırtına Basin. According to this study: Despite the significant investments being made, the planning and strategies of natural resources management to support the rural development is not well enough; The necessity for the innovative research works to provide multiple use of forest and pasture resources in Fırtına valley is inadequate and should be initiated immediately; Kaçkar Mountains National Park, which has a great potential for tourism and which is located in the Fırtına basin, does not have sufficient number and quality stuff to protect it sresources; The consequences of developing inadequate or inadequate capacities of institutions in administrative activities in the Fırtına basin have emerged, and the strategies and evaluations for resolving these problems have been put forward.