Mohammad Gholami; Majid Kazemzadeh
Abstract
The inappropriate utilization of water resources has led to water shortages and numerous challenges for humanity. Assessing water scarcity can significantly contribute to sustainable water resource management. The Water Poverty Index (WPI), as a composite tool, assesses the factors affecting the water ...
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The inappropriate utilization of water resources has led to water shortages and numerous challenges for humanity. Assessing water scarcity can significantly contribute to sustainable water resource management. The Water Poverty Index (WPI), as a composite tool, assesses the factors affecting the water condition in a specific area using five critical criteria: Resources, Access, Capacity, Use, and Environment. in the present study, Razavi Khorasan province was divided into 22 study areas, then the water poverty index was used to assess the water scarcity in each of them. WPI results revealed that the Darghz study area scored 50.63, indicating the best water condition, while the Kashmir study area, Red Mountain, and Khalilabad had the worst water conditions, scoring 20/20 compared to other regions. The average of WPI for the entire province was 34.41, indicating an unfavorable state of water scarcity in this region. The average values for the five criteria—resources, access, capacity, consumption, and environment—across the entire province were 19.41, 36.35, 31.23, 38.06, and 47.05, respectively, that according to Use and Resource criteria, water utilization in this province exceeds available water resources by a factor of 1.96. According to this, overexploitation of water resources, particularly in the agricultural sector, and neglecting sustainable development and resilience thresholds of natural ecosystems were identified as significant management strategic mistakes contributing to water scarcity in this province. Therefore, make a balance between water utilization and available resources, allocating a portion of water for the natural ecosystems requirements, and reducing economic reliance on agriculture, can serves as a roadmap for water resources management to effective water resource management and prevent further deterioration of the current situation.
Amir Fallahpour; Rasoul Khosravi; Masoud Masoudi; Hassan Moghim
Abstract
Introduction: In the comprehensive and integrated watershed management approach, watershed management has progressed from a mechanical and biological program to a comprehensive and integrated management system, through which we can guarantee human needs for the present and future generations in a reasonable ...
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Introduction: In the comprehensive and integrated watershed management approach, watershed management has progressed from a mechanical and biological program to a comprehensive and integrated management system, through which we can guarantee human needs for the present and future generations in a reasonable way. Despite the fact that there is no doubt about the effectiveness of most watershed projects, the alignment of these projects with the goals of sustainable development needs to be evaluated. Material and Methods: We used IUCN method to assess sustainability of the watershed management plans in Sistan and Tol Heidari watershed of Jahrom County from 2005 to 2021. The most important strength of this method is simultaneous consideration of human and ecosystem factors. For this purpose, using opinion of experts, we determined criteria and indices in two main categories including ecosystem and human welfare. Finally, we selected three criteria and 15 indices for ecosystem section and four criteria and 13 indices for human section to assess watershed sustainability condition. The sustainability assessment of the watershed was performed with and without weighting the indicators and criteria. Results: The final score, according to the stability barometer respectively in the first method, was 66.30 before implementation and 71.33 after implementation. In the second method, the final score of 60.64 and 66.66 which indicates an upward trend in the level of stability and increase in the state of stability. Discussion: The results of the present study show that the watershed projects carried out in the region have been able to bring about a relative improvement in the ecological and economic-social conditions of the region.
Javad Seyedmohammadi; Bahareh Delsouz Khaki; Fatemeh Ebrahimi Meymand; Zahra Mohammad Esmail; Rasoul Kharazmi; Mohsen Bagheri Bodaghabadi
Abstract
Climate has an important role in agricultural activities and can be examined from two perspectives. First, what locations are suitable for a specific plant, and second, what plants are suitable for a climate. The latter approach is less considered; thus in this study, it has been investigated by introducing ...
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Climate has an important role in agricultural activities and can be examined from two perspectives. First, what locations are suitable for a specific plant, and second, what plants are suitable for a climate. The latter approach is less considered; thus in this study, it has been investigated by introducing a standard method (Sys method). The study area is located in Mako city. Climatic suitability evaluation was performed by numerical (parametric) method using the Maku Synoptic Station data for pistachio, almond, pears, plum, sour cherry and sweet cherry. The findings showed that except for pistachio, with marginally suitable class (S3), other plants were classified as moderately suitable class (S2) but the value of climatic index for each crop was different. The introduced method made it possible to identify the most important effective climatic factors for the cultivation of each plant and determine the most limiting factor in the phenological period. Such findings showed that there is a close relationship between crops, phenological period, climatic characteristic and location. Based on this, the most suitable plant or plant species can be selected for a region, using the phenological period of the plant and climatic characteristics. However, for sustainable development, other components of the land, such as soil and/or topography, should also be evaluated. In general, the introduced approach can be used as an efficient tool, both for choosing the most suitable plants in a climate and for choosing the most suitable place (in terms of climate) for specific plants.
Roghaye Shad; Mehdi Ghorbani; Khaled Ahmadaali; Aliakbar Nazari Samani; Maryam Yazdanparast
Abstract
Land use changes in countries like Iran, which is facing space limitations, should be thoughtful and in accordance with proper planning, just like water consumption. On the other hand, the inherent dynamism of human beings and their needs has made the way and extent of land use change over time. Therefore, ...
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Land use changes in countries like Iran, which is facing space limitations, should be thoughtful and in accordance with proper planning, just like water consumption. On the other hand, the inherent dynamism of human beings and their needs has made the way and extent of land use change over time. Therefore, the aim of this research is the dynamic modeling of land use changes based on the human-environmental system in Taleghan watershed. For this purpose, land use maps for the years 1994, 1999, 2002, 2009, 2014, 2019 were classified into six classes of pasture, forest, agricultural land, barren land, residential land, and water using Landsat satellite time series images. After the validation of the maps and the detection of changes, under the three scenarios of current economic growth, rapid economic growth and sustainable development, simulation was carried out until 1435 using dynamic system modeling. The results of detecting land use changes during the period show that the trend of changes in agricultural lands, pastures, forests, has been decreasing, and barren lands and residential areas have always had an increasing trend during the survey period. The results of the simulation show that among the three scenarios examined, the sustainable development scenario of coordination between the amount of land utilization and meeting the needs of the community and economic growth has been acceptable. Therefore, it can be concluded that the sustainable development scenario is an important basis for land use planning in the coming years in order to reduce the destruction of natural resources and maintain a stable state in it, and this scenario will bring favorable economic growth in the future.
Omid Asadi Nalivan; Mohsen Mohseni Saravi; Ghavamodidn Zahedi Amiri; Ali Akbar Nazari Samani
Abstract
Sustainability is a concept that emphasizes substantially on investments conservation (natural, social and economic) toward intra-generation equity. When sustainable development is achieved an overlapping is created between ecological, economic and social classes. The goal of this study is to measure ...
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Sustainability is a concept that emphasizes substantially on investments conservation (natural, social and economic) toward intra-generation equity. When sustainable development is achieved an overlapping is created between ecological, economic and social classes. The goal of this study is to measure and evaluate watershed sustainability. In order to evaluate sustainability in Zidasht basin 1, an ecosystem approach has been used to create balance between three categories of economic, social and ecosystem. Selective variables were obtained by common assessment methods. The IUCN method was used to analysis and evaluate the sustainability of the study basin. By and large, two subjects of human welfare and ecosystem sustainability are dealt with within IUCN approach. Two criteria, six indices and 28 variables were measured in human welfare section and also four criteria and 10 indices and 35 variables were evaluated in ecosystem sustainability section. Above mentioned indices measurement using software Wellbeing Score has scored based on intervals 0-100.finall indices and criteria Arithmetic Mean method integration was completed and map was developed in GIS. Final scores for ecosystem and social and economic issues were derived equal to 51 and 49, respectively. Final results of this study based on the Barometer of Sustainability showed that sustainability of Zidasht 1 basin is moderate. This situation can be improved by ecosystem conservation and people life style quality enhancement.
