In recent years, some specialized software has been developed for LAND evaluation goals that  the common aspect of them is the generation of an environment for patterning and modeling of evaluation methods. The purpose of the present study is the assessment of susceptible LAND for irrigated maize, sunflower and barely crops in Jaldyan and Pasveh regions with an area of 9680 ha lain between 36o30' to 36o5' N latitude and 45o05' to 45o25' E longitude in West Azerbaijan province by GIS technique. After determination of climate, soil and LANDscape characteristics of the region, crop requirements of LAND UTILIZATION TYPES were determined using the tables developed by Sys and Givi, and finally LAND suitability was recognized by ArcGIS software. Results show that in the surveyed region, the climatic classes are highly suitable (S1) for irrigated barely and moderate suitable (S2) for maize and sunflower due to the limitation of relative humidity of the growing cycle. Also, the most important soil limiting factors for crops production are pH, CaCO3, texture, coarse fragments and topography in areas. It is suggested that, this method of overlaying two or more map layers to produce a new map, to be used more in LAND evaluation, because it is very difficult and time-consuming by traditional methods. In other words, using GIS in LAND suitability surveys increases the accuracy and progress of research.

Background & Objective: In this research work, LAND suitability as one of the first step in sustainable agriculture was done to find urgency of UTILIZATION type change in Horand region. Also, different aspects of qualitative and quantitative LAND suitability methods were discussed to determine and improve the involved criteria in sustainable agriculture evaluation. Materials & Methods: Qualitative and quantitative LAND suitability of common UTILIZATION TYPES in study area such as rainfed and irrigated wheat and onion carried out by providing climate, LANDscape and soil information. Chi-square test, Pearson correlation and Regression relationship were performed to test accuracy and validity of evaluation methods. The suitability zoning of study area was completed for different LAND UTILIZATION TYPES and behind interpretation output maps, the management level was analyzed. Results: Dominant climate and slope limitation with other studied factors which had role in decrease of suitability in some case, caused to suitability classes of N for rainfed wheat, S1to N for irrigated wheat and N for onion. Statistical studies confirm the accuracy of the evaluation methods. Determined middle and low levels of managements are keeping with field conditions. Conclusion: Unsuitability and in some cases low suitability of the region, indicates the urgency of change in common UTILIZATION type. There isn’ t so important difference between qualitative and quantitative suitability evaluation methods in high limitation with unsuitable class. Environmental and management factors which have indirect effects on limitations should be considered behind yield value in LAND management index determining.

Vulnerability and development of LAND UTILIZATION system in Iran usually have been affected by internal and external factors. Non-scientific and political planning of internal decisions on the one hand and external defined interferences on the other hand such as LAND reforms and distribution of subsidy to agricultural economics not only retard development of LAND UTILIZATION system from its ordinary progress but some time will be led to recession. Therefore non-identification of economic opportunities and constraints of social and political conditions of country for example may be lead to choice of another method instead of capitalist farming and resulted as its backwardness from world economy.

The proper and suitable UTILIZATION of rangeLANDs will cause their sustainable UTILIZATION and decrease range degradation. It also promotes range condition and plant composition. So the objective of present research was identification of criteria to help range managers to choose proper UTILIZATION level. To do this, Taleghan catchment was selected. Criteria of soil sensitivity to erosion, range condition and trend were considered. Vegetation TYPES were considered as management unit and in each vegetation TYPES, sensitivity of soil to erosion, range condition and trend were evaluated. Based on the mentioned factors the proper UTILIZATION factor was determined. According to the results, proper UTILIZATION factor in Taleghan rangeLANDs varies between 20-50% depending on the criteria condition in each vegetation type. Consequently, map of allowable use in the study region was prepared. Generally, in Taleghan rangeLANDs allowable use depends on criteria and differs among vegetation TYPES.

LAND salinization is a major obstacle to the sustainable development of agriculture in arid regions. The demand for food, fiber, fuel and fresh water has increased in the recent decades, particularly in developing nations, due to alarming rise in population. As fresh water resources and productive LANDs for crop production are limited, new strategies for the sustainable UTILIZATION of marginal LANDs and water resources have become urgently necessary. The objective of this article is to propose Haloculture as a holistic approach for the sustainable management of saline resources, enhancement of environmental quality and improvements in socio-economic conditions in less developed salt affected regions. Haloculture refers to the sustainable production of agricultural and industrial products in saline environments. It is essentially an integrated production system that makes use of diverse salt tolerant aquatic species and halophytes to produce different economically and industrially valuable products such as food and fuel and environmental services from the salt affected LANDs. Although immense socio-economic, industrial and environmental benefits of Haloculture are increasingly becoming evident, careful ecological, cultural and economic considerations are a pre-condition for the successful implementation of Haloculture-led improvements in saline environments.

Introduction: Soil is the main source for human basic needs and LAND UTILIZATION. It makes a linkage between climatic and biogeochemical systems and meets a variety of human requirements (Young et al., 2004). An unsuitable LAND- use change may lead to a decrease in areas of pastures and forests, soil and water pollution, soil quality reduction and lossing LAND productivity (Islamet al., 1999).Forest destruction and its conversion into agricultural LANDs and reforestation by broad-leaved and coniferous species are the common forms of forest LAND-uses in the mountainous Hyrcanian forests in north of Iran. Soil quality as the combination of physical, chemical and biological properties of soil may be altered by changing in soil conditions affected by LAND use type (Brejda et al., 2000). Impact of different LAND – uses on soil quality was evaluated by measuring several soil properties. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of LAND use change on soil physical, chemical and biological properties and soil quality index in managed Beech stand, destructed forest stand, Pine plantation, Ash plantation, and agriculture LAND in ALANDan forests.

Qualitative LAND suitability evaluation is LAND efficiency assessment for specific UTILIZATION. The yield ratings and socio-economic factors are not considered in this evaluation; rather the results are determined by qualitative terms (LAND classes). In this study, the qualitative LAND suitability was assessed for irrigated wheat, barley and alfalfa cultivation in Chahshoor plain located in western Iranshahr. Detailed soil survey was carried out in the study area and 9 soil series and 15 different phases were delineated. The evaluation was based on FAO framework and the proposed method of Sys. Crop requirements of the LAND UTILIZATION TYPES were determined using the tables developed by Sys et al. and by Givi. Finally, qualitative LAND suitability evaluation was carried out according to both simple limitation and parametric approaches by comparing LAND and climatic characteristics with crop requirements at detailed scale. It was shown that climatic characteristics are not the limiting factors for crop production in the study area. But, some of the soil and topographic characteristics are limiting factors. The limiting factors in wheat production include soil texture, gravel content, and topography. In some of the LAND units, the limiting factor is soil salinity. The limiting factors for barley production include soil texture, gravel content, and topography, and for alfalfa production include flooding, topography, soil salinity, texture, and gravel content. Also, all LAND units suitable for wheat production overlap with that of barley. The results showed that qualitative LAND suitability evaluation classes by the parametric approach are similar to those of the simple limitation approach.

Remotely sensed data has high potential for characterizing LAND use/cover TYPES. Traditionally, most of remote sensing image classification techniques are based on pixel-based procedures. In contrast to pixel-based procedure, image objects can carry more attributes than only spectral information. Object-based processing not only considers contextual information but also information about the shape of and the spatial relation between the image region .In this paper, we address the concepts of object-based image processing and presents an approach that integrates the concepts of object-based processing  into the image classification and LAND use LAND cover type determination. The scheme proposed in this study is applied to classification of LANDsat7 (ETM+) data of Kasha area. This study shows the applicapability of object-based approach for classification of LANDsat7 (ETM+) data as well as show high overall accuracy (95%) of LAND use/LAND cover map. From the obtained results, we concluded that the main LAND cover TYPES of the arid region could be discriminated with a high level of accuracy by object oriented approach.