Mona Yahya - MSc. in Environmental Economics, Science and Technology Branch of the Islamic Azad University
Naghmeh Mobarghei - Assisstant professor, Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University

Sustaining ecosystem services is of crucial importance to human life, and life on Earth. While thriving for Development, the costs associated with the degradation of ecosystems and their services is often ignored, as in general, these services have not been assigned any real monetary or market-based values. This study is an attempt to quantitatively assess the damage that was caused by an oil pipeline project to various ecosystem services in the Karkheh Protected Area (Khuzestan Province). Using GIS maps, possible damage in both terrestrial and water ecosystems were assessed. To assess the damage to Karkheh River water resources two aspects were considered: 1) Fish price, and 2) Water quality, as the oil pipeline partially goes through the river bottom, it produces pollution and sedimentation. As a result, Market Pricing and Replacement Costs were used for damage estimations the results of the study showed that the total amount of the damage that the oil pipeline project caused in the studied area, was approximately 27,993,607,700,000 Rls per year. At the end, some suggestions were given on how to reduce the impacts and damage cost of pipeline projects, while cost assessment and damage cost estimations are proposed to be conducted on a regular basis, including cumulative impacts and long-term costs by accounting for devaluation rates

Damage Assessment, Karkheh River, Ecosystem Services, Economic Valuation, EIA