Ecological Possibility of Ecotourism Activities in the Northern Zagros Forests Using MCDM, GIS and RS

Zagros forests are a treasure of various valuable species of oak in Iran and the world. Long-term misuse in the past has caused severe degradation in the Zagros forests. Recently these forests have become national but misuses by local people to make living because of poverty and unemployment are continued. In order to reduce degradation and improve sustainability, ecological capability for extensive ecotourism was assessed using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), geographic information system (GIS) & remote sensing (RS) in 9150 hectare of Baneh forests. The ecological criteria and sub-criteria affecting the evaluation were selected based on the literature and expert choice. The criteria and sub-criteria were weighted using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Sub-criteria were mapped on 1:50000 scale using available maps, field work and IRS-P6 satellite data. Then sub-criteria maps were classified and classes were scored according to literature review and expert judgments. An extensive ecotourism priority map was created using GIS-based weighted linear combination (WLC) model by MCE analysis. The most important criteria of extensive ecotourism in study area were water resources, landscape and climate. Of the whole area, 450, 7883 & 817 hectare were in 1, 2 & 3 priorities. According to compatibility of extensive ecotourism with present land uses, it can exist in the whole parts of study area ecologically. In addition, this study demonstrated the potentiality of integrating MCDM, GIS and RS techniques for resource allocation in ecotourism planning.