Investigating land use schema in Sana Dam Watershed in Bushehr Province

Improper land use management has inverse impacts on available resources. To reduce these environmental and economic effects of soil erosion, there is a need for proper watershed plans. Land use optimization is of the solutions for achieving sustainable development and reducing the loose of resources. The main objective of this research was determining the optimal level of land use to increase the income of residents and reducing the effect of erosion in the Sana Dam Watershed. To apply an optimal pattern of land used for minimizing soil erosion and maximizing land income by a multi-objective programming model, optimal scenarios were chosen proportion to the shape of objective functions and constraints. For this purpose a linear programming model was used for three different scenarios of a) present land use conditions b) present land use condition with some applied land use management and c) standard land use conditions according to principles and scientific criteria. The results showed that present land use is not in optimal level and should be changed. Also, results demonstrated that the amount of soil erosion could be decreased by 5.3, 31.7 and 43.4 percent and the amount of net income could be increased by 47.73, 242.57 and 242.57 percent by land use optimization in present land use conditions, present land use condition with some applied land use management and standard land use conditions, respectively.