Investigation of the impacts of climate change on the environment and water requirements of Marsh Crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris)

There are very valuable habitats and ecological areas in Iran. One of these areas is Sistan and Baluchestan province, which is known as the habitat of the swamp crocodile, the only representative species of the order of crocodiles in Iran. Preservation of this valuable species and its environment in the conditions of global warming, consecutive droughts, and future climate changes requires planning and management of water resources. To achieve this goal, WEAP software was selected to simulate and model water resources in the Gwando protected area, and after simulating the geometry of the area, by defining eight scenarios, different management policies were investigated to optimize the use of water resources under climate change conditions. In this research, exponential micro-scale and production of meteorological data of the region under the influence of climate change in the future was done with the help of LARS-WG software. The results showed that with the continuation of the current conditions in the studied time horizon (twenty years), there is an unmet demand of 27.75 million cubic meters, which population growth and the continuation of geopolitical policies for the development of trade and industry will increase the intensity of tension and water demand in the region. Even the scenario of saving and managing water demand, although with a ten percent reduction in consumption, has an effect on reducing the amount of unmet demand, but it is not enough.