Journal of Natural Environment

Economic valuation of water production in Hyrcanian forests using InVEST

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Industry, Azad University, Tehran Science and Research Unit, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Agricultural Economics, Sari University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Iran.

10.22059/jne.2025.384483.2719

Abstract

Forests play an important role in the production and regulation of water flow, among which forest watersheds are an inevitable necessity in water conservation. In this research, the water performance model in InVEST has been used to quantify the water production service. The required data of this model includes vegetation maps, annual average precipitation and evapotranspiration potential, soil and root depth, plant accessible water, watershed boundaries and bio-physical table. Based on the calculations made in three forestry areas - Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan, 276416798 cubic meters of water are produced annually, and the highest amount of water production belongs to the forestry community of Rashtistan in forestry area 7 Aslam, Gilan with a value of 4479 cubic meters per hectare and the lowest amount belongs to the forest community of Mamrazistan in the forestry area of ​​91 Golestan and the average water production in the entire studied area is 3558 cubic meters per hectare. The studied areas are completely different from each other in terms of the economic value of water production service to ecosystems and do not have the same value. The value of each forest community was estimated from 240 million Rials to 367 million Rials and the average value of each hectare of the studied forests was 292 million Rials. Also, the total value of the region with an area of ​​77683 hectares was estimated to be equal to 22666177 million Rials. The results of spatial evaluation showed that the type of forest type and communities is very important in determining the value of water production service because the change in vegetation will significantly affect the value of water production service. The economic valuation of water production can encourage the participation of local residents for the protection and management of ecosystems, so that the cost of the services provided by the beneficiaries is paid, and as a result, the ecosystems suffer less damage and more protection.

Keywords

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Journal of Natural Environment
Volume 77, Issue 4
March 2025
Pages 577-590