Economic sustainability assessment in semi-steppe rangelands

Morteza Mofidi Chelan; Ahmad Alijanpour; Hossein Barani; Javad Motamedi; Hossein Azadi; Steven Van Passel

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.428

Economic sustainability assessment in semi-steppe rangelands

Sci Total Environ. 2018 Oct 1:637-638:112-119. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.428. Epub 2018 May 9.

Authors

Morteza Mofidi Chelan¹, Ahmad Alijanpour², Hossein Barani¹, Javad Motamedi³, Hossein Azadi⁴, Steven Van Passel⁵

Affiliations

¹ Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Islamic Republic of Iran.
² Faculty of Natural Resources, Department of Forestry, Urmia University, Urmia, Islamic Republic of Iran. Electronic address: a.alijanpour@urmia.ac.ir.
³ Rangeland Research Division, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
⁴ Department of Geography, Ghent University, Belgium; Department of Engineering Management, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
⁵ Department of Engineering Management, University of Antwerp, Belgium; Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Belgium.

PMID: 29751294
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.428

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine indices and components of economic sustainability assessment in the pastoral units of Sahand summer rangelands. The method was based on descriptive-analytical survey (experts and researchers) with questionnaires. Analysis of variance showed that the mean values of economic components are significantly different from each other and the efficiency component has the highest mean value (0.57). The analysis of rangeland pastoral units with the technique for order-preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) indicated that from an economic sustainability standpoint, Garehgol (Ci = 0.519) and Badir Khan (Ci = 0.129), pastoral units ranked first and last, respectively. This study provides a clear understanding of existing resources and opportunities for policy makers that is crucial to approach economic sustainable development. Accordingly, this study can help better define sustainable development goals and monitor the progress of achieving them.

Keywords: Economic components; Economic sustainability; Semi-steppe rangelands; TOPSIS model.