Different Approaches and Indicators of Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment

Knowledge of the ecosystem vulnerability is one of the most important tools available to achieve sustainable management of soil and water resources. Besides, vulnerability assessment is considered as the prerequisite to provide effective management strategies and planning to minimize destructive effects of natural and human disturbances. The present research was conducted to review past studies on ecosystem vulnerability, collect and evaluate the used methods and to identify effective approaches for assessing the vulnerability, worldwide. The analysis showed existence of 14 methods for ecosystem vulnerability measurement. Without paying due attention to ecosystem sustainability and vulnerability, the environmental health of any ecosystem will always be threatened resulting in many irreparable losses. The results also showed that by identifying and applying enhancement factors of vulnerability, it is possible to prevent the development of destructive human activities and deterioration of natural ecosystems and their deviations from a healthy status. Our analysis showed many common aspects in the methods, including expert judgment, ranking and map production, and indices quantification. Irrational interference of human in the exploitation of natural resources have led to imbalance in the interrelations of environmental components. Considering the emergence of concepts and methods of vulnerability assessment at the watershed scale, extensive and more comprehensive research are required in different climatic, edaphic, land use, geologic and hydrological conditions.