Economic valuation of some of the most important functions and services of Quercus forests in the centeral Zagros (Case study: Lorestan province)

Understanding the economic value of various products and services provided by forests is considered as an effective management tool to formulate better conservation policies. In fact, all non-produced assets which benefit human societies are the outcome of several complicated ecological processes and ecosystem functions.
Environmental assets produce yearly outputs and the value of these assets depends on their annual output. Some of the environmental assets are interchangeable at the market and their values are evaluated on the basis of market prices, whereas some assets are not interchangeable in the market, and their value depends on the presented yearly outputs and they are evaluated by various methods.
Findings: In the present study, some of the most important functions of Lorestan forests have been identified and evaluated. The study area has been considered as a protected area for its genetic pool; it has been assingned as wildlife conservation center by the government and its Quercus tree is a dominant species. The results showed that the annual value of ecosystem functions is equal to 389,299,455,943,840 Rials.
This value is an acceptable reasoning for politicians and decision makers to show more support to the quality and quantity of this ecosystem.