فهرست مطالب احمدرضا یاوری

Wetlands, as one of the most important types of ecosystems in the world, are extremely threatened. In addition to being part of Iran's protected areas, the Parishan wetland is also known as an international wetland and biosphere reserve. Understanding the process of changing in this wetland, can be very helpful in improving its future status. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to monitor the changes in the over a 30-year period.

For the purpose of the research, Landsat satellite images were prepared for four time periods of 1987, 1998, 2007 and 2016 along with other required data. By performing the required preprocessing in ENVI 4.7 software, Parishan wetland land-cover maps was extracted using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Normalized Difference Water Index combining with Decision Tree method in three class including water-body, vegetation and others land-cover.

The results showed that after 30 years only 13 hectares of 1963 hectares of Parishan wetland water-body remained. Monitoring of changes shows that Parishan wetland water-body has decreased by 1950 hectare in comparison to 1987, 3605 hectare in comparison to 1998 and 2272 hectare in comparison to 2007.

using satellite data and remote sensing techniques along with Decision Tree classification model indicate the capability of this method for identifying and classifying land-cover in wetland areas where vegetation and water are intertwined.

Proper management and planning of water resources in their operation, distribution, and revitalization play an important role in sustainable development. This issue is of much higher importance in countries located in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world, such as Iran. Because it is inevitable to return and use indigenous technologies and knowledge and update them alongside modern technologies to achieve sustainable development, this research utilizes an extensive study of literature from internal and external sources and exploratory factor analysis to identify and assess the most important criteria or applicable factors of indigenous knowledge relevant to water resources planning and management in Yazd Province. Due to the high importance of the issue, attempts were made to use experienced and relevant faculty members from certain universities, as well as experts and specialists from all relevant organizations in Yazd Province. The results showed that six criteria—protection and stability, integrated management, holistic (comprehensive) approach, cost-effectiveness, compatibility, and dynamism—are found to be more important than others for the area. In the second step of this research, by means of BWM and creating a linear programming model, six principal factors were weighted, and their optimal weights were obtained. The integrated management criterion has the highest weight (0.413), and the holistic approach criterion has the lowest weight (0.048). Moreover, the protection and stability criteria and the cost-effectiveness criteria jointly rank second with a weight of 0.168, and the criteria of compatibility (0.119) and dynamism (0.084), respectively, rank third and fourth.

Natural and evolutional changes in ecosystems and pressures of human activities might cause changes in natural ecosystems. These changes affect the population and distribution of wildlife. Facing the current environmental challenges for protected areas, we asked how land cover changes affect distribution and population of large mammals in almost four decades in Golestan National Park. We extracted land cover data from the Landsat satellite for the past 44 years and classified them into three main habitat types including forest, scrubland and steppe areas using post-classification analysis approach in Arc-GIS and Envi 5.3k. The population data of Caspian red deer (Cervus elaphus), bezoar goat (Capra aegagrus), urial (Ovis vignei), goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), Persian leopard (Panthera pardus) from 1972 to 2017 was also collected. Our results showed that forests and scrublands have been shrinking 13.54% (4689 ha), 7.26% (2377 ha), respectively; however, In addition spatial analysis using the metric of remote sensing showed that the forest and scrubland habitats are under fragmentation. steppe area has increased 34% (6821ha). In addition, other results demonstrated that population of mammals have faced a severe decline: Caspian red deer (2100 vs. 260 individuals between 1974-2014), bezoar goat (4250 vs. 519 individuals between 1978-2014), Urial (4000 vs. 3800 between 1967-2017). We concluded that understanding the trends of land cover changes need to be taken into account to manage wildlife population trends.

Alteration of urban forms and geometries due to rapid unplanned urban development can result in localized elevation of land surface temperature - a phenomenon known as urban heat island. This study examins the impact of land development patterns on land surface temperatures in a heterogeneous urban environment. As many as 18 Landsat satellite images for 1995, 2008 and 2021 (average cloudless images per year) were used in this sutdy. First, land development patterns were generated from the processing of Landsat satellite images in SAGA GIS using the method of Stewart and Oke. At the second stage, land surface temperatures for 1995, 2008, and 2021 were extracted using the single-channel algorithm. At the third stage, the relationship between mean value of land surface temperatures and the heterogeneous form of Tehran was analyzed. The results showed that among all LCZs, the highest mean value of land surface temperatures belonged to the Heavy Industry LCZ with the average temperatures of 5.32, 48.18, and 51.87°C for 1995, 2008, and 2021, followed by the Bare Soil/Sand LCZ with the average temperatures of 47.25, 49.25 and 52.36°C for the same years. The lowest mean value of land surface temperatures belonged to the Water LCZ with the average temperatures of 20.5, 22.63, and 23.15°C for 1995, 2008, and 2021, respectively. It was also found that the Compact Low-Rise LCZ had higher mean value of land surface temperatures than both Compact High-Rise and Compact Mid-Rise LCZs. The differences observed between the highest and lowest land surface temperatures in the study area are indicative of the significant impacts of urban form on land surface temperatures. The findings can contribute to our understanding of urban environments and help to devise better plans for minimizing the adverse effects of land use and development on these environments.

Due to mismanagement in the field of use, rehabilitation and allocation of water resources, the return and use of local indigenous technologies and knowledge and also their updating, plus localization of modern technologies make it inevitable. Since one of the important elements of planning and management in the field of water resources is to identify the most appropriate criteria or effective factors in it, so in this research with extensive study of internal and external sources in the field of indigenous knowledge and also using the opinion of specialists and experts of Yazd Province, the variables were first identified through Delphi method and then a questionnaire was prepared. Thereafter, the effective variables were examined and evaluated using appropriate methods such as exploratory factor analysis and principal component analysis. The research findings indicate that the six factors of protection and stability, management, holistic, cost-effectiveness, compatibility, and dynamism have been the primary factors and criteria of indigenous knowledge in the management and planning of water resources in Yazd Province. Variables such as biodiversity conservation, proper management, cost-effectiveness, and wildlife conservation have been also more important compared to other variables.

The increasing challenge of water in many regions of the country is rooted in inappropriate governance of water resources at the basin levels. Investigating the interactions of different stakeholders and institutional arrangement affecting it is one of the key elements of governance system. The most important obstacle to achieving the optimal governance model of water resources in developing countries is the unknown path from governmental management, to good governance. The analysis of stakeholders and influential entities on their interactions is considered as one of the important pillars of governance assessment frameworks. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the water resources of Zayandeh roud basin from the perspective of interactions between actors and formal institutions affecting their interactions. In this regard, it is attempted to answer two main questions: firstly, what is the organizational structure in management of Zayandeh roud?, Second, how far are the organizations’ policies and programs involved in the management of the watershed ? In this study, Isfahan, Chaharmahal - bakhtiari , Khuzestan and Yazd which are related to the river basin issues, were selected for social network analysis. Organizations and governmental and non- governmental institutions related to the process of sustainable management were questioned. In this regard, according to the numerous studies conducted in the field of Zayandeh roud and Gavkhoni wetland , the number of organizations and related institutions were identified. Then, the network matrix of actors’ policy and collaboration was formed and centrality indices of input and output grades and betweenness centrality indices were measured through Ucinet software. There are a wide range of active actors in management of Zayandeh roud river basin, each in an attempt to obtain more water resources from this river. As mentioned in the conceptual framework of the research, two key aspects are investigated. Key stakeholders analysis and their role in water resource management and review of actors chr('39') policies in water resource management in two dimensions of belief in changing policies, and the need to change policy from the viewpoint of other actors. Accordingly, the research findings are presented in the following parts. decision making and facilitating information flow Power and control of actors in the network of organizational collaboration Co - ordination role in the enterprise - cooperative network The findings of this research show that in the dimension of capacity and flow of information watershed management, Regional water organization in Isfahan province and in the next rank of water resources management, Zayandeh roud coordination council and Isfahan provincial governor are organizations that have high output degree and can play a key role in information flow. In other words, information that is necessary for the actors and other organizations is better flowed by these organizations. In terms of supervision on the network of interactions and control over other actors in the basin, which was measured with the degree of centrality of input, Isfahan parliament representatives in the first and the agriculture jihad of Isfahan province gained the highest rank respectively. After these organizations which are mainly government and dependent entities, non - governmental organizations of three other provinces have the lowest rank in terms of ability to control the network. The lower power of NGOs in the social network of the organization indicates a low planning system for the management of the watershed. Comparative studies in the river basin show that the feature of the extent and diversity in the social - ecological system of a watershed among several distinct political areas can reveal the importance of the position of organizations that have a bargaining power in the watershed management network. Betweenness centrality index in information exchange network has a fundamental role. The actors with the intermediary rate and high control power among the organizational stakeholders are the same organizational entrepreneurs who have an important role in establishing relationships and increasing interactions among other actors. If the actors with high degree of mediation are removed from the network, information exchange in the network will be disrupted. It is obvious that without knowing these corporate entrepreneurs or in other words, actors with high mediation ability in the exchange information network, any activity in the direction of comprehensive management of land and sustainable development will be associated with time and cost. In connection with the task of coordination in watershed management, the Jihad of agriculture organization, department of environment and water room committee of Isfahan have obtained the highest degree of betweenness centrality which seems to be a suitable place due to their organizational functions. In this regard, attention and reinforcement of organizations such as NGOs and parliament representatives of three other provinces and provincial governor of these three provinces with low degree of betweenness centrality can be suggested. The lack of such interaction is undoubtedly one of the challenges facing sustainable management of the region. According to the results of other studies, it can be said that to achieve sustainable and integrated management of land and preservation of natural areas, it is necessary to study the pattern of relationship between organizational stakeholders. The results show that the Regional water organization of Isfahan province and the Zayandeh roud coordination council have a higher position in decision making and information flow. On the other hand, the high performers of water resources such as Iran’s water resources management company and the Zayandeh roud coordinating council and in the next level, Regional water organization, the provincial governor and the parliament representatives of Isfahan are the best critics of the watershed governance. In contrast policies of jihad agricultural organization, farmers and Regional water organization of Isfahan have been criticized by other actors.

Conservation planning needs to identify the perceptions of local communities about the distribution of uses. Required areas for supporting welfare of these communities within and around protected areas is called community use zone. Based on theoretical foundations and given that every place has value or values for local communities, it is possible to identify local values by combining participatory approach and explicit spatial approach. The aim of this study is to identify community use zone in Dena district and in the vicinity of the Dena protected area. In this regard, ethnography is applied by practices such as semi-open questionnaire, field observation and literature review and then is complemented by participatory mapping. Collecting data of local values (Subsistence, economic, cultural and conservative) is continued until the information saturation. Participants marked these hotspots of providing services on four basic maps. After digitizing the data, the spatial overlapping of these areas has been investigated. Community use zone is designated by counting the overlaps of subsistence, economic, and cultural values. Most of this zone is around rivers, roads and settlements. Within the Dena preserved area is influenced by economic and cultural uses. The conservative value identified outside the protected area requires participatory conservation planning, too. Dual-value and three-valued area in the community use zone should be a priority in educational planning and financial supporting for sustainable use. Future programs in Dena district should be focused on such actions: Prevention from firing and cultivating in the forests, prevention from land use change, increasing irrigation efficiency, proper cultivation management, prevention from irregular harvesting medicinal and edible plants, and prevention from illegal hunting of wildlife. Applying the method of this research provides a common language for the dialogue between conservation and community uses. It also provides the ground of training, empowering and attracting the participation of local communities and learning from them.

Conservation planning needs to identify local community' perceptions about the distribution of uses. Required areas for supporting welfare of these communities within and around protected areas called community use zone. Given that Local communities value every place, it is possible to identify local values by combinatory and complementary methods. The concepts and methods of planning and managing protected areas and their surroundings have two main approaches: Area-oriented and process-oriented approach. The area-oriented approach is based on the science-based top-down land use planning experience and mapping with geographic tools has led to conflicts with Conservation which because of the ignorance of local communities. The most advanced method of this approach is the use of spatial information to make decision through ecosystem services mapping. The process-oriented approach includes soft social methods to create opportunities for dialogue, participation, adaptation and agreement, but its results do not lead to explicit spatial boundaries and regions, such as participatory rural appraisal and community-based conservation. Therefore, increasing the effectiveness of conservation planning requires the development of combinatory practices of the two approaches (area-oriented and process-oriented). In this regard, there are two confirmatory theories: The "Cartography, ethics & social theory" argues that the absence of social values in the content of the mapping has caused the mapping to be distanced from the democratic and human form of geographical knowledge. Also, "Cartographic semiosis" is a theory that knows map performance beyond description and representation and in communication and prescription form by deconstructing in the mapping and registering of place values. Such a map is a social product that finds institutional legitimacy by considering the perspectives of local communities. The aim of this study is to identify community use zone in Dena district and in the vicinity of the Dena protected area.

In this research, ethnography is applied by practices such as semi-open questionnaire, field observation and literature review which is then complemented by participatory mapping. Participants (some residents of settlements in Dena district) have been selected and collaborated voluntarily and by trying to balance the age, gender and population ratio of the settlements, during spring and summer of 1398 SH. Collecting data of local values (Subsistence, economic, cultural and conservative) is continued until the information saturation. Participants marked these hotspots of providing services on four basic maps. After digitizing the data, the spatial overlapping of these areas has been investigated.Community use zone is designated by counting the overlaps of subsistence, economic, and cultural values.

Parts of the Dena preserved area are affected by economic and cultural uses  which is especially noticeable around the Sisakht town. The conservative value identified outside the preserved area requires participatory conservation planning.  Local value overlapping shows the conservative local value depicted by the participants has no spatial overlap with other mapped values. Also, the largest overlap was between cultural and economic values and then subsistence and economic values. The overlap of economic and subsistence values was related to adjacency livelihood activities to income generating activities. Besides, the overlap of economic and cultural values is mostly related to the conventional livelihood of tourism revenue and the attractions of culturally valuable areas. The community use zone includes value areas which respectively have three types, two types or one type of three subsistence, economic and cultural values. The major distribution of this zone is close to and concentrated on the areas which have noticeable natural and human built features. In other words, the major surface of community use zone is at an altitude below 2500 meters and around rivers, roads and settlements. Dual-value and three-valued area in the community use zone should be given priority in educational planning and financial supporting in order to sustainable use. Future educational and participatory programs in Dena district should be focused on such actions:Prevention from firing and cultivating in the forests, prevention from land use change in gardens, increasing irrigation efficiency, proper cultivation management and waste control, prevention from irregular harvesting medicinal and edible plants, and prevention from trapping and illegal hunting of wildlife.

Applying the method of this research for other districts provides a common language for the dialogue between conservation and community uses. It also provides the training and empowering ground and attracting participation of local communities and learning from them. Such recognition can help reduce the scope of conflicts, increase compliance with conservation, strengthen the motivation for continued participation in conservation and finally make the resilience of land use allocation decisions between development and conservation.

Understanding attitudes of local people on protected areas, especially land use management is necessary for maintaining, managing and achieving sustainable development in these areas. Considering local resident's attitudes can promote protected areas management and help to recognize the problems and potential solutions. So in this research the attitudes and perceptions of people of Arsabaran Biosphere Reserve's about socio-economic impacts of land sue changes were analyzed.

367 questionnaires consist of 24 questions distributed using stratified random method and full field by interviewing with local residents of the zones within the Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve (including the core, buffer and transitional zones). Validity and reliability of research was determined.

Analysis show that the people consider scales and so socio-economic impacts of land sue changes in the local and regional scales is more important.

Local residents understand the necessity of maintaining land uses, but preferring the socio-economic issues and their livelihoods. People showed obviously the rational choice on their answers, and based on their current and future needs introduced future useful land uses. Using local residents' attitudes may help the managers to find out their needs as direct driving force of land use changes within the area and leads them to design win-win plans though land use management.

This research attempted to assess and provide information about biodiversity and distribution of urban tree species by applying several biodiversity indices, including richness, per area estimates of number of species, Shannon-Wiener, Menhinick, Simpson diversity, Shannon-Wiener evenness indexes, evenness index and Sander’s rarefaction technique and also analyzing native and exotic species using i-Tree Eco model both at the city scale and land use classes. Forty-eight species identified among the city. It is estimated that Tabriz had 192800 trees with the 9.4% tree cover. There were 3.6 trees per hectare. The Shannon-Wiener, Menhinick, Simpson diversity and Shannon-Wiener evenness indexes calculated as 2.9, 1, 12 and 0.8 for the whole city, respectively. The green space and agricultural lands had the highest richness. Commercial, transportation and industrial land (CTI) included the most species per hectare. Also, residential areas had the highest value of Shannon-Wiener and Menhinick diversity indexes. The 37.5% of the species was endemic to Azerbaijan.

The challenges in the coal industry are the environmental impacts caused by consumption of resources and emission of pollutants. An appropriate approach to exploitation of coal mines is the concept of industrial ecology. The main objective of industrial ecology is to optimize the three important factors include resources, energy, and capital. The mining industry is the base source and requires a lot of energy and capital, so it is a suitable option to implement industrial ecology. The relationship between industry and environment is established through the flow of material and energy, and the main way for best management is to create an industrial coexistence network with the establishment of ecological industrial parks. This study aims to establish an industrial coexistence network in Tabas coal mine. So planning to increase the rate of tailing and wastewater recycle, and methane gas recovery should be on the agenda. Applying industrial ecology and multilevel consumption of energy, material, and water, is an effective solution to sustainable development and resolving environmental problems; Furthermore, there are many positive economic and social impacts.

We assessed the urban trees structure in Tabriz city and estimated the isoprene and monoterpenes emission using i-Tree Eco model. The results indicated that the i-Tree Eco model could be used as a successful method in Iran. Estimations of i-Tree Eco model showed that urban trees with 9.4% tree cover emitted 18428.6 and 49757.5 monoterpenes and isoprene during the year 2015. Open spaces and the ten tree species among the existing 48 species accounted for 63.3 and 92.22% of the total emission respectively. In the other hand White poplar and Austrian pin emitted the highest amount of isoprene and monoterpenes. Our results suggest that to plant the trees that emit fewer BVOCs in order to help to reduce the ozone level in cities. The results of this study could be used in proper urban environments and green infrastructure management.

The wetlands are formed in the complex ecological, hydrological, and geological conditions, and supply a range of ecological services. Nowadays, there is the growing recognition of wetland services and benefits for human societies. Identifying and assessing wetland services as well as managing human and natural threats affecting it, in addition to maintaining the wetland ecological integrity, can also affect the economies of the local communities dependent on the wetland. Shadegan Wetland has been selected as a case study because of the diversity of its ecological structure as well as its crucial role in controlling the phenomenon of dust. The purpose of this study is to apply the ecosystem services concept in assessing and managing the wetland ecological conditions, which provides an approach for the continuation of service supply, optimal allocation of wetland resources and their effective management. Therefore, the hydrological-ecological framework has been developed based on wetland structural characteristics, functions, services and pressures imposed on them, in which two ecological and socio-economic spheres are its main structure, according to ecosystem service cascade model. The wetland classifications have been used to identify wetland structural and hydrological characteristics. The results show that Shadegan Wetland has been formed in three lotic, estuary and marine classes. The lotic part has a high potential for hydrological and biogeochemical functions such as water storage and detention, retention of sediments and particles, nutrient transformation, carbon sequestration, and all ecological functions. The marine- estuary part has a high potential for functions such as shoreline stabilization, nutrient transformation, carbon sequestration, aquatic habitat, the habitat water birds, and wildlife habitat; therefore, the Shadegan wetland provides numerous services (provisioning, regulating, habitat and cultural services). According to the compatibility matrix, the supportive and positive relationships are dominant between wetland services, and the most competitive relationship is between provisioning and regulating services. Due to the fact that Iran is a water-stressed country dominated by arid and semi-arid areas, wetlands are valuable places that lead to the preservation of the local climate and biodiversity. Destruction of wetlands and related services, due to the conditions of the country, have multiple social and economic consequences. In fact, the concepts of ecosystem services are known as an approach to analyze ecosystem conditions, and include several approaches and methods that interlink the three main concepts below:• The physical components of the ecosystem (structure),
• The functioning of and interaction between those components (process or function),
• The resultant contribution to human welfare from the ecosystem (benefit-providing service).
Selecting Shadegan International Wetland as a case study in this research, the ecosystem services approach have been applied to ecological conditions assessment of the wetland based on biophysical structures, processes, functions and ecosystem services in a hydrological-ecological framework, which provides a valuable tool for optimal allocation of wetland resources and their effective management, as well as adopting rational and sustainable policies. The proposed framework can be considered as a hierarchical approach based on the characteristics of biophysical structure, functions and ecosystem services. According to ecosystem service cascade model, the two ecological and socio-economic spheres are the main structure of the research. For investigating the factors affecting the wetland structure and basic ecological conditions in landscape scale, hydrology, geomorphology, and climate features are considered. The wetland classification have been used to identify the structural and hydrological characteristics of wetlands. The various steps of the proposed framework are as follows:- Investigating the factors affecting the wetland structure and basic ecological conditions;
-Identifying the wetland structural and hydrological characteristics;
- Identifying the biotic and abiotic characteristics of wetlands
- Identifying the most important wetland functions based on structural, hydrological and biotic characteristics;
- Identifying wetland ecosystem services and assessment of their potential supply based on structures and functions;
- Trade-off analysis of wetland ecosystem services through compatibilitymatrix;
- Identifying and assessing threats to wetland wetland services and providing management strategies. Information related to the wetland ecology, hydrology and geomorphology characteristics has been provided from previous studies, Wetland Management Plan, satellite imageries, Google Earth, field visits, interviews with experts of environmental department Shadegan and local people living in the villages within the wetland.
Investigating the factors affecting the wetland structure and basic ecological conditions, firstly,the climatic characteristics of the region for 17 meteorological stations in or near the Jarrahi Catchment during the period of 10 years (2008-2017) have been investigated. The results indicate that the average temperature during the year varies from 11°C in the winter to 36°C in the summer, and the average precipitation varies from zero to 200 mm; therefore, the rainfall regime is a Mediterranean in which the main part of rainfall occurs during the winter and autumn seasons.
In terms of hydrological andgeomorphological features, the northern part of the wetland has been formed from overflowing water of permanent rivers through the waterways, so the position of this wetland can be considered a lotic river.The water is fresh and its physical form is floodplain and water flow path is through flow. The southern part of the wetland is connected to the Persian Gulf and is flooded through the tidal waters of the Persian Gulf and estuaries. Therefore, the position is estuary-marine and its physical form is fringe. The wetland is subject to frequent tidal flood and a bidirectional tidal water flow path.The wetland can be divided into three distinct structural-functional divisions: floodplain lotic wetland with through flow; fringe estuarine with tidal flow; fringe marine with tidal flow. The lotic part has a high potential for hydrological and biological functions such as water storage and detention, retention of sediments and particles, nutrient transformation, carbon sequestration and all ecological functions.The Marine- estuary part has a high potential for functions such as shoreline stabilization, nutrient transformation, carbon sequestration, aquatic habitat, water bird habitat, and wildlife habitat. Shadegan Wetland because of structural conditions and ecological diversity and the belonging to three different wetland class, provides numerous services. According to the compatibility matrix, the supportive and positive relationships between the services of the wetland are dominant.
The management strategies are developed based on EBM-DPSER model and trade-off analysis of wetland ecosystem services.The most important management strategies include the following:-          Preparation of the wetland land use map and zoning of the wetland to appropriate and allowed areas for human activities;
-          Investigating existing livelihood patterns and providing alternative and eco-friendly livelihoods in the region;
-          Investigating existing livelihood patterns and providing alternative and eco-friendly livelihoods in the region;
-          Establishing a legal mechanism for allocating the right of water wetland from the upstream rivers and restoring the wetland share of the agricultural, industrial and energy sectors;
-          Identifying the main sources of dust and developing biomechanical and bioengineering plans using the existing capacities in the province, especially attracting local people's participation. The proposed framework has gone beyond the traditional approaches to assessing and managing wetlands, which have not yet been effective and are not based on the understanding of the structure and functions of wetlands. It also improves the process of wetlands assessing and managing in the country by applying an ecosystem services approach to identify the services and benefits of wetlands, main beneficiaries, threats to the services and provisioning the management strategies and decisions, in the form of indicators and conceptual models.

Today, pristine nature and remote habitats from human impacts have become very rare. Establishing protected areas is a conscious effort to support the last survivors of biodiversity, which more or less maintains their natural characteristics in the current unsustainable state of developments. The capability of the landscape ecological approach to trace ecological processes throughout a vast spectrum of spatio-temporal scales with special attention to cultural impacts, make it possible to understand the real consequences of human activities and their related planning efforts. In the present research, in a ten-year period of time from 2006 to 2016, the changes in Shirahmad Wildlife Refuge landscape has been investigated in order to determine the effects on Persian gazelle habitat. For this purpose, after preparing and processing satellite images of the studied area, land coverage maps for this region were extracted, for the specified period of investigation. Then, in order to quantify the changes in the Persian gazelle habitat, landscape ecological metrics were calculated. The results of metrics calculating indicate an increase in the area and continuity in the Haloxylon and Tamarix trees besides reduction in area and fragmentation and changes in shapes and number of patches in rangelands, salt marshes and agricultural land covers which is mainly due to the emergence of villages and residential areas and human activities such as overgrazing and natural causes like drought.

abitats have dramatically destructed worldwide.However a growing trend is emerging for restoring habitatats. One of the most effective approach to revitalize them is to restore the conditions that have lost. Studies indicate high probability of local extinction of Maral (Cervus elaphus maral) in the current habitats of Gilan due to severe habitat destruction. The current study aimed to introduce application of habitat suitability and resistances surfaces, connectivity paths and corridors for analyzing and monitoring changes in habitats as the starting point of their reconstruction. Based on the results, 35% reduction of suitable habitats, 34% increase in the number of patches, 89% in edge density, and 53% reduction in the average size of patches indicate that  occurrence of habitat loss and fragmentation, severely disrupted the integrity of Maral habitats. Increasing cost-weight distance to the Euclidean distance and land cover change of paths and corridors indicate increasing of habitat resistance and reduction of landscape permeability. Results have given a clear picture of the changes in habitat suitability and connectivity of Maral that can play an effective role in restoration process.

By changing habitat structure,their composition and configuration are changed and habitat loss and fragmentation occure.Acording to Patch-Matrix-Corridor Model, source patches,matrix and permeability of matrix for connectivity between patches are the strategic components of habitat that if they maintain, sustainability of habitat will be maintained. The aim of this study was monitorig the changes of strastegic components of protected areas as important habitats . For this purpose, Lisar Protected Area and the species of red deer is selected. In this study habitat suitability layer was considered as the foundation for defining the habitat patches and resistance surface was considred as the foundation of landscape connectivity and functional connectivity.With combining habitat suitability layer,resistanc surface,functional connectivity network and analysis of their temoral changes, the state of strategic elements of the landscape including the habitat patches, the permeability of the matrix , functional connctivity network and their impacts including habitat loss and fragmentation were analyze. The findings indicate that reduction of 36% of suitabe habitat (rating equal to or higher than 50) and reduction of 30-40% of landscape permeability reduced 35 percent of the habitat area. This study confirmed the fact that by measuring the resistance of land cover, potential of permeability of the landscap can be quantified and with intruducing landscape permeability index, the permeability of the landscape of Lisar protected area and Caspian red deer habitat was examined.

Despite conservation action in the protected areas, land use changes (LUC) occur within these areas. These changes rise from several drivers especially socio-economic driving forces. This research aims to analyze relation between LUC and socio-economic variables in Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve. In this regard, previous and current pattern of LUC over past 24 years extracted using RS techniques both for the whole area and the each of the zones within the Arasbaran BR. The correlation between the LUC and four socio-economic variables (population, occupational, literacy and household size growth rate) was analyzed through statistical analysis. Results indicated 5464.59 and 1351.07 ha deforested respectively in the whole area and the core zone during 1989 to 2013. Total degradation was about 12012.24 ha. The literacy variable was not significant and so omitted form the regression model. The remnant variables analyzed by Logistic model by enter techniques as a linear regression and so the regression model for predicting the land degradation through socio-economic variables was obtained. Despite conservation action in the protected areas, land use changes (LUC) occur within these areas. These changes rise from several drivers especially socio-economic driving forces. This research aims to analyze relation between LUC and socio-economic variables in Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve. In this regard, previous and current pattern of LUC over past 24 years extracted using RS techniques both for the whole area and the each of the zones within the Arasbaran BR. The correlation between the LUC and four socio-economic variables (population, occupational, literacy and household size growth rate) was analyzed through statistical analysis. Results indicated 5464.59 and 1351.07 ha deforested respectively in the whole area and the core zone during 1989 to 2013. Total degradation was about 12012.24 ha. The literacy variable was not significant and so omitted form the regression model. The remnant variables analyzed by Logistic model by enter techniques as a linear regression and so the regression model for predicting the land degradation through socio-economic variables was obtained. Despite conservation action in the protected areas, land use changes (LUC) occur within these areas. These changes rise from several drivers especially socio-economic driving forces. This research aims to analyze relation between LUC and socio-economic variables in Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve. In this regard, previous and current pattern of LUC over past 24 years extracted using RS techniques both for the whole area and the each of the zones within the Arasbaran BR. The correlation between the LUC and four socio-economic variables (population, occupational, literacy and household size growth rate) was analyzed through statistical analysis. Results indicated 5464.59 and 1351.07 ha deforested respectively in the whole area and the core zone during 1989 to 2013. Total degradation was about 12012.24 ha. The literacy variable was not significant and so omitted form the regression model. The remnant variables analyzed by Logistic model by enter techniques as a linear regression and so the regression model for predicting the land degradation through socio-economic variables was obtained. Despite conservation action in the protected areas, land use changes (LUC) occur within these areas. These changes rise from several drivers especially socio-economic driving forces. This research aims to analyze relation between LUC and socio-economic variables in Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve. In this regard, previous and current pattern of LUC over past 24 years extracted using RS techniques both for the whole area and the each of the zones within the Arasbaran BR. The correlation between the LUC and four socio-economic variables (population, occupational, literacy and household size growth rate) was analyzed through statistical analysis. Results indicated 5464.59 and 1351.07 ha deforested respectively in the whole area and the core zone during 1989 to 2013. Total degradation was about 12012.24 ha. The literacy variable was not significant and so omitted form the regression model. The remnant variables analyzed by Logistic model by enter techniques as a linear regression and so the regression model for predicting the land degradation through socio-economic variables was obtained. Despite conservation action in the protected areas, land use changes (LUC) occur within these areas. These changes rise from several drivers especially socio-economic driving forces. This research aims to analyze relation between LUC and socio-economic variables in Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve. In this regard, previous and current pattern of LUC over past 24 years extracted using RS techniques both for the whole area and the each of the zones within the Arasbaran BR. The correlation between the LUC and four socio-economic variables (population, occupational, literacy and household size growth rate) was analyzed through statistical analysis. Results indicated 5464.59 and 1351.07 ha deforested respectively in the whole area and the core zone during 1989 to 2013. Total degradation was about 12012.24 ha. The literacy variable was not significant and so omitted form the regression model. The remnant variables analyzed by Logistic model by enter techniques as a linear regression and so the regression model for predicting the land degradation through socio-economic variables was obtained. Despite conservation action in the protected areas, land use changes (LUC) occur within these areas. These changes rise from several drivers especially socio-economic driving forces. This research aims to analyze relation between LUC and socio-economic variables in Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve. In this regard, previous and current pattern of LUC over past 24 years extracted using RS techniques both for the whole area and the each of the zones within the Arasbaran BR. The correlation between the LUC and four socio-economic variables (population, occupational, literacy and household size growth rate) was analyzed through statistical analysis. Results indicated 5464.59 and 1351.07 ha deforested respectively in the whole area and the core zone during 1989 to 2013. Total degradation was about 12012.24 ha. The literacy variable was not significant and so omitted form the regression model. The remnant variables analyzed by Logistic model by enter techniques as a linear regression and so the regression model for predicting the land degradation through socio-economic variables was obtained. Despite conservation action in the protected areas, land use changes (LUC) occur within these areas. These changes rise from several drivers especially socio-economic driving forces. This research aims to analyze relation between LUC and socio-economic variables in Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve. In this regard, previous and current pattern of LUC over past 24 years extracted using RS techniques both for the whole area and the each of the zones within the Arasbaran BR. The correlation between the LUC and four socio-economic variables (population, occupational, literacy and household size growth rate) was analyzed through statistical analysis. Results indicated 5464.59 and 1351.07 ha deforested respectively in the whole area and the core zone during 1989 to 2013. Total degradation was about 12012.24 ha. The literacy variable was not significant and so omitted form the regression model. The remnant variables analyzed by Logistic model by enter techniques as a linear regression and so the regression model for predicting the land degradation through socio-economic variables was obtained.

Environmental risk assessment is an important tool to achieve sustainable development. The purpose of this study is application of Bayesian modeling method based on a hierarchical structure for prioritization, assessment and offering management solutions to reduce the hazards of Taleghan dam environmental risks.
In the first method, environmental risk assessment (ERA) of Taleghan dam was performed by using Bayesian Network (BN) and the Netica software. To compare the results of this method with those of conventional methods such as multi criteria decision making method (MCDM), ERA of Taleghan dam was also performed by MCDM method and use of the Expert Choice software.
Findings: Based on the obtained results, the output node of the BN, changes in land use, effects on population and erosion and sedimentation are the most important risks and pollution, seismic, flooding, tourism and ecosensetivity are in second priorities.
BN as a new method with some advantages such as considering the relation between variables and uncertainty conditions data is considered flexible model with high capacity for ERA. Therefore, to achieve a comprehensive solution for environmental risk of engineering projects such as dam construction, application of BN based on the MCDM has a high performance.

In the endorheic basins of the Iranian plateau, water is the most important factor in forming topography and limiting the capacity of production. In long term, interruption and blockage in the flow of surface and ground water in these basins likely leads to desertification. During the recent decades, water resources and consumption indices have reached critical levels. The solution of water crisis should be searched in the land governance process. Nowadays, sustainable development of water resources is tied with critical methodology and resilience concept. The method of this research is based on analysis, criticism, and inference of the relative literature. The study aims to identify the opportunities and challenges in water resources management of the Iranian plateau and to formulate its resilience-related strategies. The land use planning in our country is not matched with social and ecological properties of the Iranian plateau. The foundations of land uses in the Iranian hydrocratic civilization is based on opportunities such as structural heterogeneity of the land, spatio-temporal dimensions of the resource accessibility, topological and chorological relationships in the land, and dependence on the groundwater instead of surface water which results in a metastability statement of the environment. Therefore, land capacity in the plateau is beyond the capacity suggested by the conventional assessing methods. The resiliency of this unity needs to identify and assess the land at different hierarchical scales, including macro scale (basin), meso scale (elevation belts), and micro scale (ecosystem). In these circumstances, organization, restoration, and protection of critical networks and natural infrastructures of the land is possible with the cautionary approach and continuous monitoring of changes. Cultural characteristics, the sense of belonging to the land, ethics and innovation should be considered as the foundations for the utilization of our land. Furthermore, institutional reforms are essential in order to solve the problems of water resources bureaucratic system, including reducing authorities of the central government and moving towards the public participation, consensus orientation, meritocracy, and transparency in policy-making, responsibility, cost effectiveness, justice, and legitimacy

No ecosystem is island and ecosystem sustainability depend on fitting the context of the ecosystem and the internal capabilities. Among the factors threatening biodiversity, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation are on top of major threats of habitat diversity that many protected areas has been unable to fulfill the functions defined. Therefore, analysis of the temporal changes of the protected areas and direction of composition and spatial distribution of the changes are requirements of the management of these areas The aim of this study was to investigate the temporal changes in habitat suitability as the basis of the protected areas and analyzing these changes by using landscape metrics for red deer (Cervus elaphus maral) in Hyrcanian forests of Lisar protected area in Gilan. Based on the results, besides the 35 percent decline in habitat suitability layer, we see an increase of 34 percent in the number of patches, 89 percent of edge density, 26 percent total of edge and reduction of 53% of the average size of patches. The results indicated a drop in the quantity and quality of habitat in the area investigated. This result confirms that increasing habitat destruction through the process of habitat loss and fragmentation has reduced the potential for the release and dispersal of the maral in habitat and gradually it provides the background of local extinction so reconstruction area is a key priority for management.

Agriculture is one of the main uses of the land. Using agriculture to increase production is always with acidification and loss of groundwater reserves. Therefore, with proper planning for use of agricultural land so that to leave the least negative impacts on the soil and water pollution, it is regarded imperative for sustainable development. This study is aimed to better understanding of the environmental assessment of the area to be examined in the Birjand agricultural water reserves and to assess the agriculture. One of the problems that exist in the common assessment methods is the lack of precision of space, as well as the assumption of independent valuation factors and not seeing the relationships and feedbacks in the evaluation process. In the current research with the aim of resolving the problem to determine a more accurate assessment of using agricultural land according to environmental factors and the underlying factors of the “Fuzzy” method and techniques using a network analysis process.
- Description of study area:The research study is the Birjand's Watershed. That it is located in the East of Iran and the County of Southern Khorasan and the City of Birjand is at the center of there. The scope of the geographical location is located at 41, 58 and 44, 59 E and 44, 32 to 8, 33 N latitude. The Birjand plain has an average annual rainfall of 140 mm and an average temperature of 16.5 degrees Celsius, according to the climate classification it is one of the most arid areas.
--The use of the “Fuzzy” logic in the Evaluation of land use
In 1996 Zou and Sivico, found some of the problems associated with the implementation of multi-criteria assessments and GIS, these states are: Input for multi-criteria assessment methods GIS usually are ambiguous, inaccurate and wrong. Despite this awareness of these methods assuming that the input data is accurate. In this connection, some efforts in connecting to this problem by combining multiple criteria techniques in GIS was conducted, and the analysis of the sensitivity and the propagation were performed. Another way to deal with uncertainty of input data (values and priorities of decision-makers) was to use the “Fuzzy” logic approach.
- Weighting by Analytic Network Process (ANP)
In this study, based on various factors and the intrinsic nature of space problems, using the ANP method. ANP method is one of the techniques of multiple attribute decision making (MADM). The ANP method is a developed method of AHP, which can be correlation and give a feedback between effective elements in the decision making and modeling, and all internal effects of effective components in decision-making, are used and entered into the account. The ANP technique with a comprehensive framework, with all interactions and relationships, between decision-making levels are the formation of a network structure, can be considered. Clusters represent levels of making decisions and arrows indicate interactions between the decision making levels. The direction is determined by the dependence arcs. In some cases where the elements of a cluster of or all the elements affect other clusters (or are influenced by it), communicate between clusters that are called external dependence.
According to the issue mentioned it will be decided by a structured value tree. The framework, where the measurement to achieve the objectives set are introduced and presented.
-Preparation of “Fuzzy” Maps for each factor
At this stage, for each of the factors identified, in the previous stage a map was provided based on the utility of the aim (areas suitable for agriculture) to study. For drawing up the maps, GIS and Idrisi Selva Software is used.
-The Prohibition Layers: protection land use
Areas with slopes above 70%, protected areas of the Department of Environment and flood-prone areas (Figure) capable for protection, so that the area is not to be used by anyone and they should be removed from the research area. Determining prohibitions and standardization are based on Boolean Logic (0 and 1).
- Weighing the Factors by using the ANP According to factors affecting at land capability of agricultural development is identification, and was drown in the software. Then the software gives us the final weight (as below). All of these steps use the Super Decision Software 2.0.8.version.
climate:0.148,rainfall: 0.046, Evaporation:0.015, slop: 0.066.distance of river:0.0149, distance of water resources:0.022, texture soil:0.058, Soil fertility:0.073, Soil drainage: 0.028, Depth soil: 0.045, soil erosion:0.074, land cover: 0.406
Linear Combination:At this stage, the layers of the raster weight are based on gathering the formula (1) to obtain the final Fitness map. In this relation: S is fit Land, Wi is operating weight, Xi is the operating phase, and Ci is rating the prohibited criteria.
Formula(1) S=∑_(i=1 )^n▒W_i X_i ∏_ ^ ▒C_i
Comparing the Method of Evaluation of the Iranian Model with the ANP FUZZY Technique
From the following forms, the area assigned to each class for two methods can be stated as follows:Pic1. compares the results of evaluation, using the ANP FUZZY Method and the Iranian Model (overlay)
Table (1) compares the results of evaluation, using the ANP FUZZY Method and the Iranian Model (overlay)
Area
overlay
(m2) quota overlay
(%) Area
ANP FUZZY
(m2) quota
ANP FUZZY
(%)
Good capability class 110108345 3.21 271674384 7.93
Moderate capability class 150745348 4.40 707816248 20.66
less capability class 885840235 25.86 986628010 28.80
no capability class 2278320097 66.52 1458895384 42.59
Discussion and In this study, at first, based on 12 environmental and infrastructure factors, and also considering restrictions, the value of each pixel of the study area, the ANP FUZZY technique has been achieved in agriculture. In drawing up the map, we tried a few things, to be observed: 1- Comprehensive measures to be selected for the proper evaluation. 2- The entering of uncertainties and standardization of all factors carefully raised the ranking. 3- By using the Analytic network process, incorrect assumption of independence, has been removed, the feedback and interaction are considered in the assessment. Firstly, the map of multi-criteria evaluation is to determine the suitability of the land, suitable areas for agriculture in the study area, is a consolidated map with a raster format and is for areas that do not have a limit of development, and that the amount has values from 0 to 203. There are not areas with a higher value of 203 in this area and this shows that the areas with great potential for agriculture are not available in the area. More utility indicates the higher capability, and the less utility indicates lower capability than for the corresponding user. The utility of each pixel represents the favorable factors and the weights assigned to them. According to this method, it was revealed that 93/7%, 66/20%, 80/28%, and 50/42% of the study areas respectively, have a high, medium, low and unable capability to make them useable for agricultural. So, finally, by comparing the two methods of the Iranian Model and the ANP FUZZY Technique, the conclusion is that the Iranian Method has been a simpler approach to nature and its interactions, in the present method, have a more comprehensive identification of impact factors, entering uncertainty of the “Fuzzy” Technique and also see interactive network analysis techniques to design more realistic and arriving at a more detailed process which is closer to the situation of villages.

Development planning system of Iran is faced with many problems and obstacles. Five-year development plans and land use planning lack necessary integration and hierarchy. In these circumstances, little attention is given to environmental protection before defining projects and during the hierarchical configuration of decision-making (policies, plans and programs). In the hierarchical decision-making, environmental planning should be regarded independently but unified with the whole development planning system. The aim of this study is to introduce Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process, definitions, history, objectives, hierarchy, types, application and dimensions as an effective tool for sustainable development in Iran and finally to clarify its position in the development planning system of the country. The methodology is based on theoretical description of foundations and reviewing relevant texts. According to review of literature, SEA process is an effective tool for improving decision-making system strategically, responding to weakness of environmental impact assessment towards achieving a sustainable development. This process is used in two main fields of development (sectoral and spatial). Therefore, using the SEA process will result in the integration and improvement of five-year development plans and land use planning in environmental section. It is concluded that using SEA process in development planning system of Iran can be effective in strengthening and ensuring continuity of hierarchical decision-making, determining gaps of planning system, increasing transparency, integrating and supporting the strategic planning process and avoiding repeats and sectoral attitude.

In this study, for potential survey construction of wind power plants in the provinces of Khorasan Razavi and Northern different criteria and sub-criteria have been considered. To become fuzzy criteria are based on expert opinions and investigation done researches, control point and fuzzy function for each of the layers based on their membership gradation range of zero and one was determined in the IDRISI software. Then, according to the importance of integrating information, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for layers weighting was implemented by Expert choice software. Then, the software ArcGIS, was used to spatial analysis and overlapping layers, and after the analysis of information, Razavi Khorasan and North Khorasan province, in terms of capability the wind power plants building, divided into four levels: excellent, good, fair and poor. Finally, the results indicated that excellent are as for the construction of wind power plants in the study area are located in thesoutheast ofthe study area at Torbatjam station with an area exceeding 222565 .97 hectares (0.018 percent). In addition, good areas are located around the Taybad and Khaaf, Golmakan, Sarakhs, Roshtkhar, Bardaskan, Neyshaboor, Sabzevar, Bojnurd, Ferdows and Jajarm stations with an area exceeding 1817573 .81 hectares (0.17 percent). One cans that renewable energy of wind without any pollution could be utilized by the construction of wind power plants in the replaces ultimately.