Geotourism
Hossain Hamedpour Darabi; Marzieh Rezaei; Mohammad Akbarian
Abstract
Population increase, urban sprawl and marginalization, demands entertainment, sightseeing, and the use of recreation spaces around cities. Afforestation canopy within the vicinity, in addition to the environmental benefits, can also meet part of the city dweller’s recreation needs. Therefore, the ...
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Population increase, urban sprawl and marginalization, demands entertainment, sightseeing, and the use of recreation spaces around cities. Afforestation canopy within the vicinity, in addition to the environmental benefits, can also meet part of the city dweller’s recreation needs. Therefore, the present study tries to identify the criteria and indicators for the designing of forest landscapes in the Southern Iran’s Sahara-Sindhi habitat and introduce them for ecotourism use. This research is based on reviewing previous research, questionnaires and using the Delphi method. Said questionnaires contain the following criteria: ecology, economics, social and infrastructure, that was compiled by the researchers and presented to a group of 15 respondents. Ecology’s criteria, with four sub-criteria and 25 indicators; Economics criteria, with two sub-criteria and 10 indicators; Social’s criterion with two sub-criteria and nine indicators and Infrastructure criterion with two sub-criteria and 27 indicators. Applying opinions from our panel of experts and calculating average scores, four criteria, 9 sub-criteria and 62 indicators were identified as " ecotourism-based afforestation designing for Southern Iran’s Sahara-Sindhi habitat". The results show that social, economic, ecological and infrastructural criteria are prioritized with scores of 35.1,35.0, 33.1 and 30.1, respectively. Based on the slight difference in social and economic criteria, it can be said that in designing such ecotourism destinations, local awareness, well-being, income, livelihood of local communities, efficiency of ecotourism and investment in the region are the most important aspects and should be prioritized, considering that the represented criteria all have very little difference in scores. Therefore, we could announce that all mentioned criteria are important and according to the respondents, they should be taken into consideration for afforestation designing.
Geotourism
Abbas Moradi; Marzieh Rezai; Mohammad Zarei; Zelina Ziton Ibrahim
Abstract
The Shidvar International Wetland is one of the most important wildlife shelters in the Persian Gulf, which has recently attracted many tourists. The research was conducted in order to evaluate the sustainability of ecotourism on the shores of Shidvar Island. Three representative areas were selected ...
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The Shidvar International Wetland is one of the most important wildlife shelters in the Persian Gulf, which has recently attracted many tourists. The research was conducted in order to evaluate the sustainability of ecotourism on the shores of Shidvar Island. Three representative areas were selected due to the existence of recreational and natural facilities. After selecting the sample plots, 8 transects were created in each representative area in order to investigate the vegetation. The number of plots in each sample piece was 80 for each type. The investigation of the vegetation factors was carried out using a random systematic method. The results showed that the three studied regions differed among soil factors only in organic carbon at the 95% probability level. In terms of habitat parameters, four parameters are percentage of vegetation cover, percentage of bare soil, percentage of debris, and percentage of stones and pebbles, and in terms of vegetation parameters, four parameters are height, abundance, percentage of total cover and density of vegetation in the area without tourist pressure at the probability level. 99 percent had a statistically significant difference with the other two regions. The comparison of the averages of the parameters of height, density, percentage of cover, percentage of composition and percentage of abundance measured in three tourist areas in the studied species also formed three statistical groups in most of the factors. The findings showed that the areas where the destruction of vegetation was caused by burning plants and breaking their foliage, as well as the organic matter in the surface layer of the soil was reduced, are among the areas with high tourist pressure and the least sustainable ecotourism. The areas with raised shores in Shidvar, due to the rocky and raised shores and the lack of tourist accommodation had the highest stability.
