ex-ante impact study on the integrated natural resources management in the middle east and north africa region rangelands rehabilitation project in iran

The purpose of the integrated natural resources managementprogram in the middle east and north africa region(menarid) is to bring national investment projects in thefield of integrated natural resource management (inrm).the impact evaluation study tests whether the selected technologyhas significantly contributed to restore and maintain of theecosystem functions and productivity, and whether has improvedthe economic and social well-being of the targeted communities.we chose kamkooyeh village in the behabad county where avillage development group (vdg) has been established byfollowing participatory and capacity building approaches suchas social mobilization and micro credit mechanism. a set ofcomplementary activities and interventions were recommendedand implemented in the site by consultation and active participationof the local communities and beneficiaries. one of the proposedinterventions is rangelands rehabilitation project (rrp). theexpected benefits and costs of the rrp were predicted throughfinancial valuation and an ex-ante evaluation of socioeconomicimpacts. the financial and social benefit-cost ratio of rrp wasestimated to be about 0.97 and 2.15, respectively.