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Developing decision algorithm for determination of protection zones in protected areas (case study: Hara Protected Area)

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Abstract

Management areas in the country are mainly identified and protected to conserve genetic resources, protect natural landscapes and support the origin of ecosystem services. These areas would not be much effective without a proper management plan based on their zoning. Due to lack of appropriate criteria with ground check capability, zoning has always been a major challenge for planners. Therefore, this study was carried out to develop a decision algorithm for zoning protection zones 1 and 2 of Hara protected area. This region, with an area of 86,258 hectares, covers a vast range of Mangrove forests and is located between Khamir Port and Qeshm Island in Hormozgan province, Iran. Zoning of the protected areas in this region was performed through identifying the ecologic-based criteria for Restricted Nature Reserve Zone (zone 1) and Protection Zone (zone 2), finalizing and screening them by Delphi questionnaire and weighting those criteria using Entropy Shannon methods. Moreover, the linear model for spatial criteria combination was developed, and layering and criteria combination were performed in Geographic Information System using the designed decision algorithm. The results from zoning the protected areas indicated that zone 1 and zone 2 constituted 5% and 11.38% of the total area, respectively. In other words, the protection zones covered over 16% of the study area. The results also indicated that the criteria linear combination model and the decision algorithm could facilitate accurate zoning of the areas while maintaining their ecologic and human values.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Department of Environmental Science, Tehran Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, as well as Mr. Rafiee for his worthwhile advice.

Funding

All authors declare that they have not used any sources of funding, financial or non-financial interests from any individual or entities for developing this study whatsoever.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    N. Sharifi & M. Robati

  2. Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

    A. Danehkar & N. A. Khorasani

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Qom, Qom, Iran

    T. Rajaee

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  1. N. Sharifi
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  2. A. Danehkar
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  3. M. Robati
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  4. N. A. Khorasani
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  5. T. Rajaee
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All authors agreed with the content and gave explicit consent to submit this manuscript. No consent from any responsible authorities was applicable before submitting the work.

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Correspondence to A. Danehkar.

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Editorial responsibility: Samareh Mirkia.

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Sharifi, N., Danehkar, A., Robati, M. et al. Developing decision algorithm for determination of protection zones in protected areas (case study: Hara Protected Area). Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 18, 2237–2250 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03333-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03333-y

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