Abstract
In Iran, due to arid and semi-arid weather conditions the optimal use of limited water and soil resources has a particular importance. Land degradation is the result of incorrect policies in land management, which is a prominent example in the Bakhtegan watershed. Human factors, as well as climate changes and the phenomenon of drought in recent years, have caused the area to be severely degraded in terms of water and soil resources and the life of Bakhtegan wetland has been subject to destruction. In this study, it was tried to identify natural and ecological factors as well as human parameters affecting the destruction and vulnerability of the area using fuzzy classification method and hierarchical analysis method (AHP) as well as the capabilities of GIS modeling, the data from the criteria and effective layers have been used and the level of vulnerability and land degradation has been determined. According to the results of the research, the level of land degradation and instability in the area has a large extent (48% of the area), However, the level of vulnerability in the central and downstream regions of the watershed and often in areas affected by human factors such as high population density, consumption of water in the agricultural sector, improper management of land use in the region, as well as dams and dike construction, has been increased. It was also concluded that human parameters have a more significant role in the degradation and vulnerability of the region compared to ecological and environmental factors.
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