Degradation assessment of Jajrood protected area using landscape degradation model

Degradation model is a method for environmental impact assessment and it has been widely applied for accumulative impact assessment of human activities. In addition, landscape indicators have been widely used in landscape planning as quantitative tools. One important application of landscape metrics is their contribution to landscape degradation model. The goal of this research was to assess landscape degradation in Jajrood protected area. In doing so, landscape indicators were calculated using a land use/cover map of Jajrood protected area for 16 sub basins. For land use/cover mapping, Landsat satellite image was firstly pre-processed, and then, hybrid classification approach was undertaken to categorize the image into different land use/cover categories. According to landscape degradation model, ecological vulnerability and the severity of activities as well as the degradation degree were calculated for the targeted landscape. The results of this research indicated that sub basin 5 with a value of 31 had the highest level of landscape degradation and sub basins 1, 13 and 15 with values 25, 25 and 22, respectively, were on the next orders in Jajrood protected area. In addition, sub basins 16, 7 and 4 with values 3.5, 3.25 and 3.25, respectively, were least degraded and these sub basins had the least level of fragmentation. The results show that 68% of the area was outlined to be potential for development or further development, only 17% of the area is suitable for protection. Approximately 13% of the area should be considered for rehabilitation that demonstrated natural land cover change and degradation in the protected area.