Rangelands in the arid and semi-arid regions of Iran are under pressure from frequent degradations and extreme climate conditions, which have affected water conservation and delivery of ecosystem services. The timely and efficient assessment of rangeland state/condition impact on water conservation is crucial in rangeland management. This work represents an integrated modelling approach by linking the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) models. SWAT simulated hydrologic components, while InVEST provided a decision support system for water conservation. The coupled SWAT-InVEST model was used to analyze the impact of different rangeland conditions on water conservation in the Atrak River basin in Iran's arid and semi-arid climatic zones. Increasing runoff is proportional to rangeland degradation. Our analysesshow a severe degradation of rangelands in Iran. We found that the basin's average runoff varies between 2 and 294.8 m 3 ha -1 yr -1 . Based on our modelling results, about 50% of the basin's runoff came from poor rangelands, 22% from moderate rangelands, and 28% from good rangelands. Thus, a significant impact on water conservation could be achieved through rangeland management in this basin. The SWAT-InVEST integrated modelling approach developed here proved useful for better decision-making under uncertainty.
Flood disaster is considered a significant natural hazard due to their devastating effects. The 2019 flood in Northern Iran drastically affected the lives of Indigenous Turkmen pastoralists. This work assesses the vulnerability of the pastoral families living in flood regions. We used the Geographical Information System, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, and semi-structured interviews to analyze the flood vulnerable areas. Initially, we interviewed 20 individuals and then formulated a questionnaire completed by 69 pastoralists in rangelands affected by floods in Golestan province. Result showed that 91% of the participants thought road networks and 76% thought livestock were the most affected components of the rangeland ecosystems in the 2019 flood. Moreover, we found supplementary feeding, watering costs, and forage quantity to be the most affected items in the economy of pastoral families. The main rangeland degrading factors were overgrazing, climate change, drought, and water shortages. The main reasons for overgrazing were the high prices of supplementary feeding, low forage productivity of the rangelands, and financial difficulties of pastoralists. We indicated that pastoral communities in the semi-arid rangeland of Northern Golestan were highly vulnerable to flood. Hence, proper management of rangelands and building pastoral family resilience requires the attention of nature conservationists and management organizations at the national level.
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