نشریه محیط زیست و توسعه
پیاپی 25 (بهار و تابستان 1401)

Despite efforts to reduce the ecological footprint of the hotel industry, threats in this regard continue and the environment is exposed to further pollution and damage. Given the importance of this issue, the present study examines the position of environmental management system in the environmental marketing of hotels. The statistical population was the managers of four- and five-star hotels of Mashhad, a city in north east of Iran.We used a descriptive approach including survey research methods. Data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS software. Furthermore, the structural equation model of the data was extracted using AMOS software. The simple, multiple, and mediation regression models were applied to evaluate the research hypotheses, to determine the presence or absence of effect among variables, and to estimate and generalize the results obtained from the sample size to the statistical population. Results showed that, although some factors have a positive and significant effect on marketing of four- and five-star hotels at Mashhad including environmental content, environmental planning, inputs, achievements, and processes of environmental attention, the outputs do not have a positive and significant effect on the environmental management system in the marketing of these hotels. However, the most influential to the least influential factors affecting the environmental management system were planning, process, input, content, achievements, and output, respectively. The results of the models showed that the environmental management system can be predicted based on all of these factors.

Spent caustic is one of the chemical wastes of oil refineries and other oil & gas industries that requires intensive and complex treatments before being discharged to the environment. This issue stems from the fact that the spent caustic contains high level of salts, is highly acidic, has high oxygen demand and bad odor and sulfidic and non-sulfidic impurities. Thus, this compound requires chemical, physical and biological treatments to decrease its hazards. In this paper we have reviewed and assessed various methods of treatments applicable to the spent caustic waste including oxidation, wet air oxidation and advanced oxidation and their effects have been compared. Generally, the spent caustic is categorized as not treatable waste or difficult to do so. Different types of the spent caustic have different components and we have reviewed their physical and chemical properties in this paper.

The quality of natural resources has been significantly degraded due to the increase of urban population along with the expansion of cities, development of transportation networks and industrial activities. In this regard, sustainable urban development was proposed as a model to address these challenges and an opportunity to establish a new mechanism to build a desired urban future with the precondition of coordination with natural ecosystems. Land use change due to rapid urbanization has led to environmental changes affecting ecosystem services. The impact of land use change on the ecological environment has become one of the important research areas to the extent that the integration of ecosystem services in urban planning is now highly welcomed. A review of studies shows that the integration of ecosystem services in development planning is still in its infancy. Common approaches have focused more on understanding the concept of ecosystem services (understanding by experts, policymakers, and stakeholders, and content analysis of documents) and have not definitively integrated ecosystem services into urban plans. The integration of ecosystem services into planning has been discussed mainly at the theoretical level and there is less evidence of practical efforts. Although the mapping, assessment, and evaluation of ecosystem services have developed significantly over the past decade, there are still problems in defining and operating ecosystem services in planning due to static monitoring frameworks and inadequate tools. Lack of standards in evaluation and targeting protocols, lack of expertise, lack of data are other barriers to operationalization of this process.

The per capita waste production for each Iranian citizen is about 700 grams, which is beyond international standards. The production of this volume of waste requires strategic management and development of macro-policies to achieve the goals of sustainable development. Today, solid waste management is seen as a major challenge in different parts of the world, especially in densely populated and developing cities, and the main reasons for this challenge are factors such as population growth and urban expansion, lack of proper consumption patterns, reduced financial resources and poor planning. In this comparative study, using library studies and search of scientific sites on the problems and challenges of urban waste management in developing countries, including Iran, first waste management strategies in countries with codified policies were reviewed and their key points identified. Then, according to these policies and the current situation in Iran, the positive and negative points, modes and challenges in the country's waste management were examined. The results of this study showed that in most parts of the world, a wide range of measures are usually considered for more effective measures towards achieving the goals and policies in strategic evaluation of waste management. These measures vary according to different economic, social and cultural conditions, the level of public awareness and public participation, and the existence of legal and civil infrastructure. Considering the above-mentioned issues, including the important and noteworthy policies at the global level that are used in the agenda of waste management strategies, the following policies are highlighted: Adopting a zero waste strategy, paying attention to the management hierarchy strategy, support for the private sector, boosting the reduction of disposable and plastics consumption, attention to 3R strategy, efforts to attract public participation, development of technical infrastructure, and support of the World Bank and international cooperation. By carefully examining the strengths and weaknesses of these strategies, analyzing and comparing them with the current situation of Iran's waste management, more effective steps can be taken in formulating macro strategies in this field. In addition to the above, the existence of waste management law in Iran and attention to the development of strategic environmental assessment in the five-year development plans of the country promises a strong potential for the development of relevant policies. Considering waste management in different parts of the world, it seems that the revision of waste management structure in Iran can be a way forward in optimal management by creating an independent organization such as "Management Organization". Currently, supervision of waste management in Iran is the responsibility of the Department of the Environment (DoE). However, due to the varied tasks defined for DoE, lack of manpower and lack of infrastructure, effectiveness of this supervision is not up to the standards. Therefore, the establishment of a comprehensive waste management organization can integrate the process of centralized management and supervision, in addition to formulating macro-strategic policies for the country's waste management and creating effective measures. This may increase inter-organizational cooperation, including DoE, Management and Planning Organization, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Health, municipalities and other bodies towards proper waste management in the medical, industrial, special, agricultural and household sectors.

This research was out with the aim of analyzing the context for ICT development among environmental organizations in Ilam Province. The statistical population of this research was 20,000 individuals as members of environmental organizations, of whom 376 individuals were selected using Cochran's formula and studied through proportional stratified random sampling and questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach's alpha and to ensure its content validity, the panel of subject experts was used (α= 0.93). Data analysis was implemented using SPSSv22 statistical software. The results of exploratory factor analysis showed that infrastructural, economic, educational, technical-advisory and supportive factors were the main fields of ICT technology development in the target sample. The results of the regression analysis also showed that infrastructural, supportive and technical-advisory factors entered the regression equation in the first to third steps, respectively, and had the greatest effect in explaining the variance of the dependent variable "technology development".

Geo-tourism is a branch of tourism centered on the earth's surface systems or geo-morphosites. Risk identification and management is one of the approaches used to improve systems. This research aimed to investigate and analyze the impact of hazards on the development of geo-tourism in Nair, a city in Ardabil Province. The present research is descriptive-analytical in nature based on two statistical communities related to tourism, i.e. domestic tourists who entered Nair and the officials active in the geo-tourism industry in the region. In this context, we investigated the risks affecting the development of geo-tourism in the study area. The results showed from the viewpoint of travelers the probability of health risk has the highest score 3.65 threatening the development of geo-tourism. Also, according to officials, the possibility of structural and functional risk with a score of 3.17 has the highest impact on the development of tourism in the area. Based on the results, the total score of the respondents on the impact of the cited risks was 2.72, falling in the low impact category not seriously affecting tourism development in Nair city. We conclude that by improving the situation in the study area and putting rehabilitation measures into effect, it is possible to minimize the possibility of risk in geo-tourism development radically enhancing tourism industry in Nair. We suggest that with further development in welfare, economic, health, infrastructure and law sectors in the coming years, it is possible to accelerate the progress in the geo-tourism industry in the study area.

Societies nowadays encounter with a large number of environmental problems. Management of these problems requires involvement of a large number of people. Such issues can be solved using crowdsourcing methods which brings people together in a large network. Considering the fact that any development will affect land management, recent studies have given more attention to public participation in program management and problem solving. There are various approaches for effective land management that need overall community participation. In this regard, crowdsourcing methods have provided the possibility of public participation in decision making that help individuals to have an effective role in land management. People participating in this process can share their opinions, ideas, information, abilities and awareness through internet regardless of their physical location. The purpose of this study was to introduce crowdsourcing, its advantages and disadvantages, and some of crowdsourcing-based applications and their functions in land management. The results of this research based on the literature review showed the significant impact of public participation in decision making on environmental issues and performing proper management strategies. Such participation will help reduce costs and provide quick information and assistance.

Due to the rapid tendency of people towards communication networks, integrating e-learning and Due to the rapid tendency of people towards communication networks, integrating e-learning and environmental education might be the only solution that actively engages young generations and other groups of society in the process of environmental learning and training. Therefore, it is possible to take advantage of this opportunity to increase the theoretical knowledge, empirical and practical awareness of the public towards changeing people attitudes. The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the role of environmental awareness and training in protecting indigenous tourist attractions with an emphasis on Telegram cyberspace in the second half of the year 2016. This research is correlative-descriptive and the required data was gathered through a questionnaire. The validity was confirmed by experts’ opinion and by Confirmatory Factor Analysis and the reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha, turning out to be 0.92. The statistical population included the residents of Ilam County, of whom 383 people were selected by Cochran’s formula and a fixed sampling method. Data analysis was performed using structural equation method in LISREL software. The findings revealed that environmental awareness and training in Telegram has a meaningful positive effect on protecting indigenous tourist attractions by the residents of Ilam County. Moreover, environmental awareness and training in Telegram showed a meaningful positive effect on virtual educations for the protection of tourist attractions, on the effectiveness of the environmental education in protection of tourist attractions, and also on achieving the goals of environmental education for protection of tourist attractions by the residents of Ilam County.

Due to the wide range of scientific methods used to solve different environmental challenges, decision-making has become increasingly difficult for managers. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies, as one of the key decision-making tools, are no exception. More than two decades have passed since the adoption of laws and regulations on environmental impact assessment in Iran, and their implementation in recent years, while being followed in earnest, has sometimes been criticized by experts and academics. This shows the need for further review and updating of the EIA process and its methods. In this paper we attempted to briefly review environmental impact assessment methods, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. We have resorted to the discussions about the benefits of using ecosystem services in environmental impact assessment. As such, the purpose of this paper was to demonstrate the potential values of integrating ecosystem services into assessing environmental impacts, leading to a more accurate identification of the best options in the proposed project area based on ecosystem sensitivities. Therefore, this study will be useful to environmental analysts and researchers as well as improvement of the country's environmental impact assessment system.

In the context of urban development, cities; in addition to other components, comprise one of the main focuses for solving global challenges of sustainable development.  Despite the obvious clarity of the ecological and environmental problems and their consequences, there is no common ground for a sustainable city pattern or paradigm, and many ambiguities in this regard add to the complexity of the situation. Based on the results of various studies, researchers have argued that the form of cities and the pattern of land use are the main determinants of urban sustainability. To achieve a sustainable city, several conceptual models have been proposed, each with different and sometimes contradictory goals. In this study, by reviewing various references, 59 goals were determined for urban sustainability. Using Delphi method in three stages of receiving information from 12 specialists and experts and calculating the functions, the degree of importance and the percentage of importance of these goals were prioritized. Results showed that of the 59 goals, in the environmental sustainability group, traffic reduction, water quality protection and air quality improvement ranked first to third, with a percentage of importance of 36.3, 35.3 and 34.6, respectively, for sustainable urban development. On the other hand, the goal of ensuring the existence of adequate and sufficient development capacity in the stock market in the economic group with 18/6% importance was not met and eliminated. However, in terms of economic goals, equality in wealth and services distribution were pinpointed as the important criteria.

This article aims to review methods of life cycle assessment (LCA) in the published papers. The main focus is on methodological limitations and advances of the published articles which as a basis for further research on the gaps in the relevant literature.Due to the close relationship between the construction industry and environmental pollution, it is important to pay attention to environmental effects of this industry. Currently, LCA is regards as one of the relatively new tools that help in assessing the environmental impacts and its implementation in the construction industry. LCA in construction industry is a systematic analysis of industrial processes and products and investigates energy flow and material consumption, waste released into the environment, and measures and evaluates environmental improvement Hence, the purpose of this article is to review the LCA methods and its steps affecting the environment and to examine the existing objectives and limitations. Studies show that up until now, life cycle has been used for zero energy buildings on an urban scale. In this context less attention has been paid to evaluate urban-scale residential buildings in public use through LCA. This tool can be used in residential buildings as well as in reconstruction projects to make the building more resistant to energy consumption. This requires identification of the effective parameters and the necessary information for in-depth analysis of such projects.