Wind erosion and economic estimation of its impacts at the origin (Case study: Hamon wetland)

Among the various processes of land degradation, soil erosion is known as a major environmental problem that causes the loss of topsoil and nutrients, reduces fertility, and thus decreases in crop yield. Evaluating and preparing a risk map and estimating the lost economic value due to the loss of soil nutrients can provide the basis for rational planning to prevent and control wind erosion. The aim of this research is to estimate the economic consequences of wind erosion in the Hamoon wetland, which is considered as one of the centers of dust production in the Sistan plain. This research has been done in two stages; first, using the IRIFR model, which is an experimental model to estimate the intensity of wind erosion, an attempt has been made to investigate the erosion intensity, prepare a map of erosion classes (danger), as well as determine the amount of annual sediment production in Hamoon wetland. In the second stage and the economic discussion on the topic, in two parts and using the information obtained from the first stage, using two methods of risk assessment and alternative cost, to prepare a risk map, and the economic value lost due to the loss of the main nutritional elements of the soil action has been taken due to wind erosion in the proposed region. The findings show that Hamoon lagoon has five risk classes in which, the low-risk class has the largest area with 41.15 percent. In terms of economics, from the point of view of the risk map, the largest area of ​​the wetland includes the intensity of risk with 59.93 percent in the very low class, 32.68 percent in the very high class, and 7.36 percent in other classes. The amount of lost economic value of the main soil elements due to wind erosion in the mentioned wetland is estimated to be 994 billion Rials.