In 1994 , Nassia disaster happened in the Bosporus straits ( oil tanker ships accident ). It resulted in spilling large amount of oil in the straits and it affect the aquatic environment by killing around 30 seamen . Another problem can affect the ecosystem is releasing contaminated water from the oil and natural gas ships . Clean up mechanisms is very costly and it estimated to be as high as $ 15 billion ( EIA 2000 ).
Ground water pollution sources in Turkey divided into two parts ; the natural activities and the anthropogenic activities . The anthropogenic activities include the underground septic tank , waste from industrial activities and mining , agriculture and improper construction . The natural sources include geothermal fluids , geological formation and seawater intrusion . These are found in the Central and Mediterranean regions and arsenic in Aegean region . Geothermal fluids can harm the bones , skeleton and dental . Leakage of surface water can also increase the pollution level of the ground water . Thus , sea water intrusion can contaminate the ground water especially in the coastal areas ( Baba & Tayfur 2011 ).
Water Pollution and its Social Impact : Some rural areas use the groundwater as drinking water . So , this will cause dangerous diseases for them . Lakes , rivers and sea pollution will give uncivilized image of the sea , affect its aesthetic value and alienate the sea visitors . Direct contact to the polluted water can cause infectious hepatitis , diarrhea , bacillary dysentery , skin rashes , and even typhoid and cholera ( Sheavly and Register 2007 ).
Green Land Degradation Studies shows that 90 % of the forest in Turkey is natural and it have a huge number of trees and shrubs in different species . Over grazing , cutting , fires and clearance of agriculture reduce the forest areas from 60 % -70 % to 26 % and increase the steppe areas from 10 % -15 % to 24 % ( Mayer and Aksoy 1986 cited in Colak and Rotherham 2006 ).
Forest areas started to be threatened by the unsustainable agricultural expansion and damaging the wild plants by the forest villagers and commercial collectors . These activities increase the social and economic pressure on the forest resources . Excessive use of herbicide because of the intense farming cause a soil erosion ( Colak and Rotherham 2006 ). Lack of management of forest harvesting and grazing in the past and present make also problems in destroying the forests areas . Thus , increasing the areas for industrialization and urbanization has a huge impact especially in the mountain zones . Uncontrolled and unsustainable tourism development in coastal and mountain areas in Turkey affect the ecosystem in these areas . Thus , it affects the economic growth in these zones . Intensive construction activities occur to accommodate the increasing of tourism number ( Colak and Rotherham 2006 ).
Green Land Degradation and its Social Impact :
Lack of green lands in Turkey will reduce the natural aesthetic value and affect the psychology of the habitats . Thus , it will have an impact on the tourist influx to the country , which will reduce the economy . Green land degradation affect the air quality in negative way , increase the pollutants and increase the risk of the climatic change . People in rural areas will affected more than the others because it cause malnutrition for them and even reduce their income . Therefore , diseases , health risk and poverty will be increased ( UNCCD 2013 ).
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