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Effectiveness of projects to control and manage critical wind erosion hotspots in desert areas in Nehbandan County
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Yaser Ghasemi Aryan *   |
| Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, ghasemiaryan@ut.ac.ir , ghasemiaryan@ut.ac.ir |
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Abstract: (15 Views) |
Effectiveness assessment is considered as a valuable monitoring tool throughout the life cycle of each project. This issue has been less considered in projects to control critical wind erosion hotspots in Iran, with a history of about 7 decades. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the aforementioned projects in Nehbandan County in South Khorasan Province. For this purpose, first the digital boundaries of the projects were identified and field data were collected during field surveys. The ecological indicators in question included the percentage of vegetation cover, production, species diversity, carbon sequestration (soil and plants), and wind erosion intensity (soil protection). The percentage of vegetation cover was measured using the linear and surface method of cover assessment (establishing transects and plots), species diversity was measured by determining species richness and evenness (with the Shannon-Weiner index), plant and soil carbon was measured using the combustion, Walkley, and block methods, respectively, and wind erosion intensity was measured using the Iranian IRIFR model. To determine the effectiveness of each project, a control site was selected within each restoration site and the above-mentioned indicators were also extracted for this site. The difference between the two restoration and control sites in relation to each indicator was considered as ecological effectiveness. The results showed that the implementation of the projects had a significant effect on increasing the percentage of vegetation cover, production, species diversity, carbon sequestration, and especially soil conservation. Based on the results obtained, the amount of carbon sequestered in the study area was estimated to be 1.56 million tons.
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Article number: 1 |
| Keywords: Effectiveness, Carbon Sequestration, Vegetation, Soil Conservation, South Khorasan |
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Full-Text [PDF 1115 kb]
(10 Downloads)
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2025/08/27 | Accepted: 2025/12/30 | Published: 2026/09/17
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