Abstract
Cittaslow Policies and Sustainability of Recreational Water Resources in Tourism Areas: An Evaluation Based on Uzundere (Erzurum)
The main purpose of Cittaslow is to use natural, cultural and social resources in a balance without corrupting tourism and to ensure its sustainability. Cittaslow advocates sustainability and sustainable tourism with its criteria.
Tourism has three primary source values: natural, social and cultural. Water is one of the natural resource values of tourism. Water serves tourism as a resource of drinking water – general use and recreational activities. Tourism has a great number of environmental impacts and also has a negative impact on water resources.
The aim of this study is to determine the negative effects of tourism on recreational water resources in the example of Uzundere, and to evaluate the policies of the Cittaslow Union for the protection and sustainability of recreational water resources. In this context, the direct and indirect effects of tourism on recreational water resources were determined in the Uzundere example by taking expert group opinions. According to the results of the study, it has been seen that the Cittaslow has more than ten policies that can directly or indirectly affect the conservation-use and planning of recreational water resources. However, it has been evaluated that the Cittaslow does not have any policy to control the construction around recreational water resources, damage to the water ecosystem, solid waste pollution in and around recreational water resources, not calculating the carrying capacity (increase in human density) and human pressure on flora and fauna.
Keywords
Cittaslow, Recreational Water resources, Sustainability, Tourism, Uzundere
