Participatory Site Selection for the Proposed Options in the Management of the Hable-Roud Basin

Natural resources of Iran is critically facing various threats including climate change, droughts, pollution (water, soil and air) and land degradation induced by inappropriate land management, i.e. unsustainable development practices, particularly on sloping tracts in mountainous areas. The Hable-Roud Basin conditions are the same as those of the entire country without exception. Therefore, to overcome these maleficient activities, development of various management options seems inevitable. After drawing up a preliminary list of proposed management options for the Goursefid Sub-watershed of the Hable-Roud (river) Basin through participation of local communities and experts’ input, selection and prioritization of the options were modeled using the participatory approach and application of the multi-criteria decision making methods within the mDSS software. Ultimately, suitable locations for an implementation of the selected options were identified and positioned across the study area with the participation of representatives of the local communities and experts. The results indicated that the main category of “land management and planning” options were preferred using all of the group decision making methods. Moreover, “development of an integrated watershed/water resources management plan”, “development of landuse plan at different scales” and “identification and training of new job opportunities and alternative livelihoods” were ranked first to third, respectively. Therefore, more attention should be paid to land management and planning options to better administer the watershed.