ANP Application in Evaluating Ecological Capability of Range Management (Case Study: Badreh Region, Ilam Province)

Abstract

Rangelands are important for plant productivity, livestock production, wildlife,<br />conservation of soil and water resources, and etc. One of the main problem of rangeland is<br />that has not been used based on its potential that leads to more degradation of rangelands.<br />The purpose of this study was to evaluate the range management capability of Badreh<br />region in Ilam province, Iran, using ANP (Analytic Network Process) and GIS<br />(Geographic Information Systems) techniques. For this regard, firstly, the network of<br />effective factors in evaluation was designed. Four clusters including vegetation cover,<br />topography, pedology, and geology were divided into number of sub-criteria. For<br />determining the relations among these clusters and sub-criteria, a number of questionnaires<br />distributed among the experts and used to obtain their judgments about the relative<br />importance of each criterion in rangeland capability. In the next step, based on the limited<br />super matrixes the final weight of nodes was calculated. The weights of nodes in<br />evaluating process were extracted by calculating the geometric mean of the questionnaire<br />weights, as well. After determining the weights of nodes, they were transformed to data<br />layers. Finally, ecological capability map for range management was provided using WLC<br />(Weight Linear Combination) technique in GIS. The results showed that 3.00, 21.76,<br />58.46, 16.79 percent of the study area had very good (or excellent) condition (as first<br />class), good condition (second class), fair condition (third class), and poor condition<br />(fourth class) for capability of range management, respectively.