Evaluation of ecological potential in Dayer Nakhiloo National Park through weighted linear combination method

The ecological potential assessment of land as one of the guidelines for moving towards sustainable development is looking for assessing land latent capacity with standards and preplanned criteria. Identifying and assessing the ecological characteristics of each region are, guidelines for a development in tune with nature. And in this way, the nature itself clarifies acceptable developmental capacity. In this study, Dayer Nakhiloo national marine park which covers an area of 202.34 square kilometers in the East of Bushehr has been selected and after identification of environmental resources and map preparation by using multi criteria decision making methods and taking advantage of the geographical information system (GIS), overlaying maps, appropriate areas for intensive and extensive recreation were identified. Then, according to the economic development of the region and due to the sensitive and protected zones within the study area, final zoning was made. The results have shown about 21.47% of the area (43.3 square kilometers) is appropriate for protection and 67.52 percent (136.16 km2) is suitable for extensive recreation zone, besides about 11 percent (including 22.19 sq km) is dedicated to intensive recreations.