Hamid Siroosi; Gholamali Heshmati; Abdolrasool Salman Mahini
Volume 26, Issue 2 , July 2019, , Pages 367-378
Abstract
Rangelands, as one of the world's largest terrestrial ecosystems, are the source of millions of lives. Over the past decades in Iran, these ecosystems have been suffered from degradation and lack of productivity for many reasons and hence there is an urgent need to seek alternative livelihoods for rangeland ...
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Rangelands, as one of the world's largest terrestrial ecosystems, are the source of millions of lives. Over the past decades in Iran, these ecosystems have been suffered from degradation and lack of productivity for many reasons and hence there is an urgent need to seek alternative livelihoods for rangeland locals and stakeholders. An alternative livelihood is community based tourism. Rangeland ecotourism should be in accordance with the potential of the area. In this study, a set of criteria was considered regarding land conservation for suitability analysis. These criteria were standardized, weighed and integrated using fuzzy logic based multi-criteria model. The results showed that attractiveness and conservation criteria, characterized with weights of 0.444 and 0.222, were the most important criteria for suitability analysis. The results of suitability analysis in the rangelands of Jahan Nama Protected Area showed that Festuca-Bromus vegetation type, located around village of Jahan Nama, had the highest suitability. As a whole, of 15361 hectares rangeland area, 1516.5 ha are suitable for rangeland land use. This can be attributed to beautiful landscapes, topographic diversity, and proximity to the Jahan Nama village as the service center, access road and favorable climate. The fuzzy logic based multi-criteria model, used in this study, showed high flexibility in weight of criteria. The criteria suggested here could be promising as a base for suitability analysis in other rangelands of Iran.
Ali Shahbazi; Farhad Aghajanlou; Fatemeh Einlou; Mamak Ahmadian
Volume 21, Issue 4 , March 2015, , Pages 718-730
Abstract
Determining land capability based on land suitability, climatic characteristics, and soil physical and chemical properties is considered as a method of achieving sustainable management. In this study, FAO model was used to determine land capability. To describe the spatial results, Geographical Information ...
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Determining land capability based on land suitability, climatic characteristics, and soil physical and chemical properties is considered as a method of achieving sustainable management. In this study, FAO model was used to determine land capability. To describe the spatial results, Geographical Information System (GIS) was used. Spatial data, as maps, and descriptive data, as database table, were entered into the GIS environment. The results of current land suitability model for irrigated agriculture and garden land use showed that 64.5% was in N2 class, 17.86% in N1 class, 17% in S3 class and 0.64% in NR class. For dry farming land use, 64.5% was in N2 class, 18.86% in S3 class, 17% in S2 class, and 0.64% in NR class. For rangeland use, 32% was in S3 class, 32.5% in N1 class, and 35.5% in NR class. For forest land use, 64.5% was in N1 class and 35.5% in NR class. From overlaying the current land use map with the current land suitability map, it was found that only 25.5 % of irrigated agriculture land use, 82 % of dry farming land use and 30.3% of rangeland use were consistent with their land suitability map, being exploited properly