Author(s)

B. Üstün & B. Celep

Abstract

The ecosystem encompasses both social and natural systems. There is a permanent relationship between these two systems based on their impacts on each other. These impacts are a result of social, political, economical and cultural conditions in society. These factors are also important for the determination of the environmental awareness in any region. In order to show the relationship between environmental awareness and these factors, a study of questionnaire has been made in Küçükçekmece Watershed. This area is the basin of one of the most important water resources, called Küçükçekmece Lake, in İstanbul. The majority of people coming to live in Istanbul have chosen to settle in this area. Today, the watershed is under a very serious pollution load. The results of the study made in the region have showed that socio-economic and cultural structures of the people affect their environmental awareness and their impacts on the region. Keywords: environmental awareness, socio-economic factors, cultural structure, natural system, social system. 1 Introduction Ecosystem is a whole covering different kinds of biotic organisms and their abiotic environment [1]. This main system covers both social system which is formed by human based groups such as families, communities and several institutions [2], and natural system which is formed by the relationships of non-

Keywords

environmental awareness, socio-economic factors, cultural structure, natural system, social system.