Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Department of Geographical Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of Hormozgan, Bandarabbas, Iran
2 Department of Range and Watershed Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Hormozgan, Bandarabbas, Iran
3 Assistant professor of Physical Geography, Department of Geographical Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of Hormozgan
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 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.
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