Economic assessment of the investment in soil and water conservation projects of watershed management

摘要

In order to ensure investments in soil and water conservation projects, impact assessment and economic analysis of these projects are necessary. The purpose of this study was economic evaluation of watershed management practices in Parrud catchment of Qazvin Province, Iran. For this purpose, the changes caused by the implemented projects (including various biological, biomechanical, mechanical, and managerial practices) are measured quantitatively. Then, the total costs of the implemented measures along with the revenues from the changes were calculated. Lastly, the economic evaluation of the project is carried out using net present value (NPV) method. The results show that 115,000 m(3) more runoff storage has been carried out annually. Also, there has been an increase of 163.9 t/h/year in the total rangeland production and 57.6 increase in hectares of the area of orchards, and the erosion rate has dropped from 13.98 to 10.23 t/h/year. Economic appraisal of the projects indicates that during the first 5 years, the costs have risen, but since the sixth year, the NPV has increased so it has been positive since the eighth year onwards and will increase continually. These results demonstrate cost-effectiveness of the watershed management projects, and therefore, there is enough confidence to invest in these projects.