Evaluation of Forest Ecosystem Functions using Integrated Methods of Multi-Criteria Decision Making (Case Study: Mazandaran Provence, Shiadeh and Diva Forest Ecosystem)

Extended AbstractIntroduction and Objective: Among the diverse ecosystems on land, the forest ecosystem by hosting a series of complex ecological processes causes the formation and continuous flow of functions and services that directly and indirectly play a role in economic life or human livelihood. They are wonderful, and its maintenance should be the main goal of human activities. Based on the most common and comprehensive classification of ecosystem goods and services, forest ecosystem functions are divided into four categories: regulatory function, information function, production function, and habitat function. These functions and services are not free and have hidden economic value. If these services are considered free, the forest ecosystem will be harvested a lot.Material and Methods: Forest ecosystem as a valuable natural resource provides various functions and services for humans that their role and importance is one of the objectives of this study. In order to achieve this goal, the multi-criteria decision making techniques such as SWARA has been used to calculate the weight of forest ecosystem functions, SAW, ARAS and TOPSIS techniques to prioritize the functions. In this study, research data were extracted by field survey, random sampling and by completing a questionnaire by 150 native households on the edge of Shiadeh and Diva forest ecosystem in Babol city of Mazandaran provence for showing which of the functions of the forest ecosystem including regulatory, Habitat, production and information functions are more important for the indigenous communities of the region.Results: Analysis of weighting findings of Shiadeh and Diva forest ecosystem functions by SWARA technique showed that regulatory, information, habitat and production functions with the weights of 0.4623, 0.2211, 0.685 and 0.1481 have taken the most weight respectively. Conclusion: Based on the results obtained from prioritizing of the region forest ecosystem functions with SAW, ARAS and TOPSIS models, regulatory and information functions were given a higher priority than other functions. It is suggested that due to the importance of preserving the forests of this region, more appropriate planning and further research should be done by the relevant organizations to protect the forest ecosystem of the region.