Allocating Rangelands to the Optimum Land Use by Applying a Decision Support System

Rangelands in Iran are faced with a considerable level of degradation and human interventions due to pressures for increased food production and the need to generate more benefits for an increasing population. A first step in solving this problem is to develop methodology to efficiently analyse the current situation and effectively reallocate rangelands into optimum land uses. To achieve an agreed solution for land allocation, an interactive approach is required to recognize and comprehensively assess different alternatives. This paper suggests an introductory framework for developing a decision support system for allocation of rangeland areas into the most optimum use