Assessing the Ecological Potential of the Land Based on Regional Development with a Green Economy Approach (Case Study: West Azarbaijan Province)

Green economy is one of the new topics in scientific societies in recent decades; its goal is human welfare and social justice by creating confidence in environmental protection along with economic growth. But achieving such a stage of sustainability depends on fully recognizing the ecological potential of each land as a platform for economic growth and development. Each region has a certain level of power and talent that must be evaluated before investing. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ecological potential of the land in order to achieve a green economy in the province of West Azarbaijan. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of methodology. First, a list of destructive factors and their severity in West Azarbaijan province was compiled by qualitative method and through interviews with 10 experts, and then the vulnerability of the province was calculated with the "Makhdoom" destruction model. After determining the three characteristics of the destruction model, the destruction coefficient in each of the land units was examined and analyzed. In total, the destruction coefficient for the province was estimated to be 36.92, which is in the sensitive range and requires protection measures. Then the ecological potential of the province in three areas of residential, tourism and industrial development has been studied. Using information layers and GIS software environment, effective factors in ecological potential assessment were determined, weighted, evaluated and the resulting layers were drawn, and finally an ecological capacity map was prepared for the three mentioned uses. A brief look at the research results indicates the difference in the ecological potential of the counties of the province and also the difference in the three components in each city. According to the results, in the field of ecological potential of residential development; Poldasht, Mako, Bukan counties have the most potential and Sardasht, Chaldoran and Takab counties have the least capacity. In the field of tourism, Poldasht, Sardasht and Shahindej counties have the most, and Salmas, Piranshahr and Oshnoyeh counties have the least potential. In terms of industry development capacity, Shut, Bukan and Miandoab counties have the highest capacity and Sardasht, Oshnoyeh and Chaldoran counties have the lowest capacity.