Parvaneh Sobhani

Protected areas are prime areas for ecotourism development, attracting large numbers of visitors to an abundance of ecologically significant and often sensitive flora and fauna. The current study identified adverse impacts of ecotourism in four prominent tourist hotspots in Iran, namely Lar National Park, Jajrud Protected Area with Sustainable Use of Natural Resources, Tangeh Vashi National Natural Monument, and Kavdeh Wildlife Refuge. Impacts were compared against the IUCN guidelines according to the degree of ecological sensitivity and multiple managerial objectives. In addition, an analytic network process (ANP) was applied within a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis to identify optimal strategies for reducing threats and weaknesses and improving opportunities and strengths for sustainable ecotourism management. We found the greatest negative impacts of ecotourism in a Jajrud that was exposed to rapidly expanding urbanisation and the corresponding development of economic and physical activities. Conversely, the least negative impact occurred in a national park (Lar) that was managed based on conservation approaches, accounting for high ecological sensitivities, and adapting legal prohibitions. The SWOT-ANP analysis demonstrates that certain strategies can minimise impacts and should be adopted as conservation tools by protected area managers and land planners.

This study examines the distribution of water resources in Protected Areas in Iran and their priority for conservation. The results show that most of the water resources are located in the north and northwest of Iran due to favorable climatic conditions, topography, ambient temperature, and annual rainfall levels. Conversely, the lowest amount of water resources are located in the center and southeast of the country. Water resources were prioritized based on expert ratings of indicators to determine their value for conservation. The wetland with the highest priority for conservation is the Anzali Wetland (Gilan province), which is an international Ramsar Wetland. Conversely, Namak Lake (Qom province) was deemed the least important due to its geographical location, biological sensitivity, and conservation status. Protected Areas were found to support more surface water resources and provide space for the largest percentage of water resources, demonstrating their great value for protecting water resources in Iran. However, the level of protection of these critical resources, although located in Protected Areas, was shown to be insufficient. Therefore, appropriate planning and integrated management approaches are urgently needed to protect water resources and aquatic habitats in Protected Areas in Iran to address the current water crisis.

Nature conservation efforts cannot succeed without stakeholder participation. The inherent complexity of nature-based ecotourism has made the development of sustainable ecotourism operations a challenge, so it is essential to increase community stakeholder participation. Hence, this study investigates local community participation in Lar National Park (LNP) and the Jajrud Protected Area with the Sustainable Use of Natural Resource Areas (JPA) in Iran and evaluates how this influences the sustainability of ecotourism. This study found that in LNP, sustainable ecotourism development involving local communities is increasing because of the high level of attachment and interest to this part of pristine nature. In the JPA, the relationship between local community participation and ecotourism sustainability is significant too. As a result, natural habitats have been degraded and sustainability has decreased. To conserve these critically endangered natural areas, managers and decision-makers must increase community participation and education to encourage local communities to engage more in developing sustainable ecotourism.

Exploring spatial and temporal changes in protected areas (PAs) is essential for protecting natural capital and creating a harmonious relationship between humans and nature. This study has assessed land use/land cover (LULC) changes in the Jajrud, a Protected Area with a semi-arid climate zone in Iran (covers an area of 18,814 km²), to assess the sustainability of the use of natural resources using Landsat imagery from 1989 to 2018. Likewise, Ecological Footprint accounts (including the sum of biological, freshwater, energy, and pollution) and changes in the per-capita Ecological Carrying Capacity were investigated to uncover Ecological Deficits. The Ecological Pressure Index was used to explore driving factors of natural capital utilization in each of the various identified zones. Between 1989 and 2018, high-density pastures decreased the most in Jajrud, while built-up land increased the most. Likewise, the Ecological Footprint increased while the Ecological Carrying Capacity decreased, increasing Ecological Deficit quantities. Driving factors for the use of natural capital differs among the various zones due to differing management goals, type of uses, and human activity development. As supply and demand for natural resources were clearly out of an imbalance between the supply and demand of natural resources and exceeded the maximum tolerable limits in Jajrud, a change in production and consumption patterns is necessary. This case study has practical importance for establishing mathematical models to reveal the patterns of LULC, ecological footprint, ecological deficit, and ecological pressure indices in a typical PA in a semi-arid region of Iran. Our approach is advisable for semi-arid PAs in Iran and regions with similar attributes in other countries.

Ecotourism in protected areas facilitates responsible travel to natural places that conserve the environment, deliver economic benefits to local communities, and offer interpretation and education to visitors. Proper planning and sufficient monitoring of ecotourism sustainability indicators is needed to manage visitor activities in protected areas. Therefore, identifying the major impacts and mitigating them in the early stages of ecotourism development could contribute significantly to the achievement of sustainable development. There is a current gap between the situation in the field and academic contributions to this problem in protected areas of Iran. In the present study, we evaluated ecotourism sustainability levels in four different types of protected areas in Iran, including Lar National Park, Jajrud Protected Area with Sustainable Use of Natural Resource Areas, Tangeh Vashi National Natural Monument, and Kavdeh Wildlife Refuge. We developed a comprehensive list of ecotourism sustainability indicators, including 38 indicators in the environmental–physical dimension, 42 indicators in the demographic–social dimension, and 30 indicators in the economic–institutional dimension. Harnessing local community expertise, we adopted a Delphi approach to determine sustainability levels and factors impacting sustainability. Ecotourism in Lar National Park was most sustainable because of the high levels of restrictions protecting the area and the difficulty in access. Conversely, ecotourism sustainability was lowest at Tangeh Vashi National Natural Monument, which allowed for an uncontrolled influx of visitors. We discuss further factors that impact sustainability, such as population growth, expanding urbanization, an increase in physical and economic activities, and extended annual periods of ecotourism activities. Although the presented ecotourism sustainability indicators are specific to Iran, this study can also be seen to provide a template to plan for sustainable ecotourism in other countries. Altogether, our results suggest conducting a type-by-type analysis of the particular circumstances of various protected areas.

Estimating the ecotourism carrying capacity (ETCC) in protected areas (PAs) is essential for minimizing the negative impacts of ecotourism and sustainable environmental management. PAs are one of the prominent ecotourism locations and many of these areas have been created to protect biodiversity and improve human wellbeing. This study has identified and prioritized negative impacts of ecotourism in Lar national park, the Jajrud protected area with the sustainable use of natural resources, and Tangeh Vashi national natural monument. For this purpose, physical carrying capacity (PCC), real carrying capacity (RCC), and effective carrying capacity (ECC) were estimated using the ETCC model. The results indicated that due to these areas’ ecological sensitivity, the most negative impacts of ecotourism are related to the environmental-physical dimensions. In contrast, the lowest impacts have been observed in the economic-institutional dimensions. Moreover, the results revealed that the highest PCC is related to Lar national park, and the lowest PCC is associated with Tangeh Vashi natural monument. There are more tourists in the Jajrud protected area with the sustainable use of natural resources than other areas in RCC and ECC due to low levels of restrictions and legal instructions. In contrast, in Lar national park and Tangeh Vashi natural monument, due to the short duration of ecotourism in these areas (from June to October), high level of restrictions, and ecological sensitivity, the number of tourists is less than the RCC and ECC. As these areas have a limited ability to attract visitors and ecotourism, the protection of these areas requires the implementation of sustainable management to control the negative impacts of ecotourism and estimate the number of visitors.

The integration and connection of habitats in protected areas (PAs) are essential for the survival of plant and animal species and attaining sustainable development. Investigating the integrity of PAs can be useful in developing connections among patches and decreasing the fragmentation of a habitat. The current study has analyzed spatial and temporal changes to habitat to quantify fragmentation and structural destruction in PAs in Tehran Province, Iran. To achieve this purpose, the trends in land use/land cover (LULC) changes and the quantitative metrics of the landscape ecology approach have been examined. The results revealed that in Lar National Park, low-density pasture has the top increasing trend with 4.2% from 1989 to 2019; in Jajrud PA, built-up has the top increasing trend with 1.5% during the studied years; and among the land uses in TangehVashi Natural Monument, bare land has the top increasing trend with 0.6% from 1989 to 2019. According to the findings, habitat fragmentation and patch numbers have expanded in the studied areas due to the development of economic and physical activities. The results also indicate that the current trend of habitat fragmentation in PAs will have the highest negative impacts, especially in decreasing habitat integrity, changing the structure of patterns and spatial elements, and increasing the edge effect of patches.