Assessment of Land Use Changes in Miandoab Rangelands by GIS and AHP

Ecological capability assessment of a land as one of the most important steps in line with sustainable development was conducted based on identifying and pre-designed criteria, following assessment of the land’s assets and its latent power. In the present study, which was conducted in 2019, in order to reveal the changes in the region during ten years, evaluateing the ecological potential of the regionwas done for rangeland use using the main criteria: soil science, lithology, topography, climate, vegetation, water level, road fault, flood zones and land use using AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) method and digitization of information in GIS environment. Then, in order to reveal the changes in the region, and the study of multi-time remote sensing images in 3.5 Envi software were done. Findings indicate that the highest potential of the region is for rangeland use (33.6%)The study of land use changes shows an increase of two uses of rangeland (+6.8%) and vegetation of trees and shrubs (+13.9%). Kappa coefficient and total accuracy of the classified images for 2009 are 0.98 and 98.66 and for 2019, they are 0.86 and 88.88. Therefore, considering the importance and priority of rangeland use in this region in order to achieve sustainable development, special attention should be paid to economicization of rangelands so that in addition to conserving water, soil and vegetation, we can see more grazing management.