15.2.1 Materials
The effects of ecotourism activity carried out by the GEF-II Project on the societal values (social, economic, educational, cultural, technological), environmental values, and communication values of the villagers living in this village and other villages in the Camili Basin in Borcka district of Artvin Province, adjacent to Georgia, were examined. Face-to-face interviews were performed to examine the socioeconomic effects in the study area. These acquired data, related to the socioeconomic characteristics of the countrymen, provided the primary information for this study.
Secondary information includes Camili GEF-II Project records, the studies conducted by Turkish Foundation of Struggle with Erosion, Forestation and Protection of Natural Beings (TEMA), interviews held with GEF-II and TEMA managers, and other resources related to ecotourism activities. Other resources are all kinds of books, articles, conference papers, and theses written or published on such subjects as rural development, forest villagers, tourism, and ecotourism.
To examine the socioeconomic impacts on the study area, face-to-face interviews were held with villagers who were determined with the method of complete inventory. In the interview forms distributed to the countrymen who took part in ecotourism activities, we tried to measure such variables as personal information of the interviewees, their views and levels of information about ecotourism activities, the phenomenon of migration from the country to the city, road intensity, production levels in stockbreeding for pre – and post-ecotourism activities, its impact on honey production, the amount in annual average agricultural products, change in land size, change in local handcrafts, annual levels of income, changes in living standard, and change in fuel consumption, etc., in terms of their level both before and after ecotourism.
