Mountain areas are economically, socially and culturally important geographical units with unique natural resources, where living creatures survive. Today, problems such as the lack of a legal definition of mountain areas, unconsidered economic activities and uncontrolled settlements affect the protection of natural resources in mountain areas and the sustainable development process of these areas. In this context, it is becoming increasingly important to inform and raise the awareness of communities living in mountain areas about the natural environment they live in, sustainable alternatives in economic activities and cultural values that need to be protected in the development process. The research will use fieldwork and semi-structured interviews to identify the needs of a mountain area for sustainable development and the potential of nature education. Based on the data obtained, a nature education model will be developed and applied training will be carried out. As a result of the data obtained after this process, it is aimed to evaluate the effects of nature education in mountainous areas on the sustainable development of the area. This evaluation is important for the sustainable development of mountain areas in terms of raising the awareness of the local population, carrying out nature education for mountain communities and emphasising the need for this to meet the objectives of the development plans to be drawn up.

The data obtained from the fieldwork and semi-structured interviews conducted in the research will be SWOT analysed and the strengths and weaknesses of the implementation of nature education for development in mountainous areas will be revealed. The nature education model created from these results will be implemented in the research area as an applied training. During the training, a pre-test/post-test application will be made for the participants. The data will be analysed using SPSS software to measure the effectiveness of nature education in improving the awareness of mountain communities. The results of the research will be shared at the conference and the use of a mountain area for nature education in the context of sustainable development will be evaluated.