Spatial Valuation of Zagros Forests Soil and Water Conservation Services (Case Study in Sarvabad Basin Kurdistan Province)

Assuming for free the forest ecosystem services and lack of knowledge of the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the economic value of these services is considered one of the main causes of forest destruction. Considering ecological differences in Zagros forests, in this study the economic valuation of soil and water conservation function was estimated in spatial pattern for the Sarvabad basin, Kurdistan province. Therefore, the amount of erosion and sedimentation in the study area was determined using MPSIAC models. And then was evaluated using the opportunity cost approach. For valuation of water conservation function, the hydrologic units’ separated and mapped, then amount of runoff was estimated using Justin method. Considering the scenario of eliminates the forest cover, water Influence in forest lands was determined. Water conservation function was evaluated using the replacement cost approach. According to the results obtained for total economic value of soil conservation functions, the value of Forest ecosystems in the study area was estimated to be 27002.82 Rials per year, per hectare and the economic value per hectare forest was determined to be 0.79 Rials for water conservation function in Sarvabad basin. The ecological and structural differences in study area caused different values which show that average estimations in Heterogeneous ecosystems such as Zagros forests are not suitable.