لیلی ابوالحسنی

Farmers are under increasing pressure to use fewer pesticides for production and pest control. Farmers and other producers are responding to consumer concerns about pesticides by creating new marketing opportunities for products grown with environmentally friendly practices. The purpose of this study is to estimate consumers' willingness to pay for each of the information provided in the "Protective Agriculture Label" and determine the factors affecting consumers' willingness to pay. The two conservation agriculture labels designed in this study are the "How to Cultivate" label and the "Environmental Damage" label. The cultivation method label provides information about the raw materials used to produce the product, while the environmental damage label provides information about the environmental harm caused during the production process. The purpose of this study is to estimate consumers' willingness to pay for each type of information provided on the conservation agriculture labels and to determine the factors affecting consumers' willingness to pay.

 In this study, in order to analyze consumers' preferences for protective agricultural products in Mashhad, the choice experiment method was used, and conditional logit models and logit with random parameters were used to estimate its parameters. Choice experiment is a common tool for valuing environmental functions and services. The required information was obtained by completing 170 questionnaires from the consumers of Mashhad city. The analysis of collected data is done using many models, most of which have a logit form. In this study, conditional logit and logit models with random parameters have been used to investigate the effect of the characteristics of agricultural product labels on consumers' willingness to pay and to estimate the amount of willingness to pay for each of the characteristics. 

In this article, consumer preferences for protective agricultural products have been analyzed using the choice test method. For data analysis, conditional logit and logit with random parameters model were used. The results obtained from this study have shown that the characteristic accuracy of the measurement method was the highest and the label-issuing organization had the lowest willingness to pay. The variables of gender, the presence of a child in the family, and the presence of people with a specific disease in the family had a positive and significant effect, and the variable of age had a negative and significant effect on the willingness of consumers to pay. In both labels, the sign of the price variable is negative, which is in accordance with the theory of economic utility. The comparison of the calculated final effect for two labels of environment and method of cultivation has shown that, in general, the probability of choosing the label of method of cultivation is higher than the probability of choosing the label of environmental-biological damages.  In 53% of the cases, the selected option was the label of how to cultivate, and in 15% of the cases, none of the labels were selected. The amount of willingness of consumers to pay to obtain information about the way of cultivation and damage to the environment is very low. Even consumers willing to pay to obtain detailed information on production (such as the degree of water pollution with which the product was irrigated, the level of soil pollution in which the product was grown, and the type of poisons used) and environmental damage (such as contamination of groundwater with The reason for product production is not air pollution due to product production and global warming (increasing temperature due to product production). In this regard, more research is suggested in the field of reasons for the low willingness to pay of consumers.

Examining the willingness to pay of consumers has shown that people are willing to pay more for the accuracy of the measurement method than for the label-issuing organization. The amount of consumers' willingness to pay for the characteristics of the organization issuing the label and the accuracy of the measurement method were obtained as 5 and 17.04 Tomans, respectively, so it can be concluded that Accuracy is more important than an organization for consumers.

Given the rapid process of industrialization, expansion of agriculture, increased reliance on fossil fuels, and the intensification of climatic conditions, air quality has rapidly deteriorated in recent years. One of the most important issues and challenges facing the world today is air pollution, particularly PM2.5 pollution. This problem has evolved into one of the most complex and serious dilemmas affecting the lives of people worldwide. Exposure to high levels of air pollution has negative health implications. The present study aims to measure the willingness to pay of Mashhad city residents for the improvement of PM2.5 pollution and identify the factors influencing this willingness to pay.

This study used contingent valuation and the multiple-bound discrete choice model to calculate individuals' willingness to pay. The research focused on the certainty level of "definitely yes" and generated 13 different proposals ranging from 10,000 Toman to 200,000 Toman. The ordered logit regression model was employed to analyze the factors influencing the willingness of Mashhad citizens to pay for air quality improvement. The study collected 343 questionnaires from Mashhad city residents, considering variables such as education level, age, gender, marital status, family size, presence of children, chronic respiratory diseases and individuals' income. The dependent variable was the public's willingness to pay for improving air quality regarding PM2.5.

The study found that a significant portion of respondents were willing to pay for air quality improvement. About 22.45% were willing to pay less than 10,000 Toman, 60.06% were willing to pay between 45,000 and 58,000 Toman, 5.83% were willing to pay between 95,000 and 120,000 Toman, and 11.66% were willing to pay between 155,000 and 200,000 Toman. The average willingness to pay for PM2.5 pollutant improvement in Mashhad was estimated to be 55,488 Toman. Education, age, respiratory diseases, income, and family size were found to affect willingness to pay.

 Conclusion :

Improving air quality and reducing pollution requires costly efforts and collaboration from society. This research examines individuals' willingness to financially contribute to air quality enhancement. Factors influencing their willingness to pay are also studied. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the government and municipal authorities impose taxes and levies on polluting sectors, considering the calculated value of air pollution and its sources. Educational programs tailored to diverse educational backgrounds, along with technology and social media, can raise environmental awareness among youth. Developing cost-effective public transportation systems and providing discounts for low-income individuals can also help reduce pollution. Financial programs and incentives for cleaner resources are another solution for improving air quality.

In this study, the technical efficiency and environmental efficiency of irrigated wheat producers in 31 provinces of the country were investigated by considering the emission of CO2 as an undesirable output during the years 1385-1397.

Data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index were used under natural disposability and managerial disposability. In the Malmquist index, the amount of wheat production was used as the desired output, and the amount of carbon dioxide emission from the production of irrigated wheat was used as the undesirable output. To determine the amount of CO2 emission, the carbon dioxide emission coefficients related to each production input and the amount of their use in the study area were used.

The results of the Malmquist productivity index with the absence of border crossing showed that under the natural disposability, Khorasan-Razavi has the highest index value. Kermanshah province has strong efficiency, and Fars has weak technical efficiency in irrigated wheat cultivation. Also, the results under managerial disposability showed that East Azerbaijan has the highest efficiency. Ardabil, Bushehr, Fars, Kermanshah, and Hormozgan, with ten years of Malmquist productivity index more than one, East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, North Khorasan, Kurdistan, and Lorestan had a six-year history of Malmquist productivity index less than one. The results of Malmquist's productivity index with the occurrence of border crossing show that under natural disposability, this index is more than one in all provinces. It is, although, under managerial disposability, less than one in all provinces.

Originality/Value: 

It is recommended that farmers' knowledge and awareness of the side effects of irrigated wheat production on the environment be increased through training courses and classes. Considering the climate change, the provinces that have more environmental efficiency in the production of irrigated wheat should be prioritized for cultivation.

By investigating the rural and agricultural financing systems and methods of the selected countries including India, China and Turkey, this study sought to better understand the credit mechanisms implemented by financing institutions in these countries as well as to design a stronger and more efficient financing system for rural financing in the environment of Iran's agricultural financing. Although, the political and economic factors and the geographical and historical heritage factors affect the agricultural sector and consequently, the financing of this sector and make it unique in each country, reviewing the experiences of different countries can usually help to organize the optimal financing system for this sector while clarifying the path. Therefore, by examining the different financial systems of the agricultural sector, a common framework can be achieved in order to achieve the goal of sustainable financing of the agricultural sector. According to the achievements and results of the study of agricultural financing models in selected countries, the financing process designed to improve the agricultural financial system of the country was presented. In this model, an attempt was made to fundamentally reform the structure and methods of lending in the agricultural sector by financial and credit institutions and to create flexibility in lending so that the transaction costs would be reduced and the credit required by farmers could be funded at the right time. In the designed framework, due to the importance of sub-sectors in the value added of the agricultural sector, it seems necessary to identify the activities and services that have the highest priority and also the most delays in repaying facilities to improve the collection of receivables by alternative methods.

In recent years, water resources management has faced many challenges due to poor water governance and management, increasing demand, industrial and agricultural development, and unbalanced water allocations for various uses (Global Water Partnership, 2006). Sustainable development provides solutions for development in order to solve economic, social and environmental problems. The study of the relationship between economic, social and environmental processes in management approaches has been accepted as a sustainable development, but managers and decision makers still have difficulty in applying and evaluating this relationship. In order to evaluate a system, a set of indicators is needed that can be used to examine a system in different aspects, reflecting current or future issues. The World Water Assessment Program (WWAP) (2003) reports on the importance of indicators in streamlining information about integrated water resources management and the establishment of effective communication between different departments in water management. So far, several studies have been conducted in the country on the evaluation of the results of plans for management of water resources and consumptions (Arshadi & Bagheri, 2014; Karamouz & Mohammadpour, 2017). In these studies, most of the researchers have not had a basin view, and have not been consistent with all the components of sustainability, especially the environmental and institutional components. The present study was carried out by reviewing previous studies with some concepts, with the aim of identifying important indicators in water management assessment, assessing the performance of indicators related to water management against a set of sustainability components, and finally extracting and introducing indexes appropriate to dry and semi- dry conditions.

Given the importance of pursuing a policy of free-market prices in bread and flour markets within Iran’s subsidies reform, this study aimed at recognizing and prioritizing the most important factors affecting the bread and flour prices under such an assumed situation using AHP and FAHP methods and comparing the results. The required data were gathered in 2013 through questionnaires and interviews with seven experts who had been active in government offices as well as the bread and flour producers. Unlike the FAHP results, the AHP results were proven to be valid. Furthermore, the AHP results indicated that the most important contributing factors of flour prices would be domestic wheat prices, international wheat prices plus export volume, respectively; in addition, bread prices would be influenced firstly by flour prices and then by wages and fuel costs, respectively. Therefore, since following the implementation of free-market price policy in bread and flour markets, the bread prices might be significantly influenced by the wheat ‎prices, it would be inevitable to build up a stable wheat market through a market regulation mechanism and to make a careful reconsideration ‎of wheat guaranteed prices in this respect. ‎

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a common tool for environmentally assessing various agricultural systems based on type and quantity of input consumption and emissions generated during the production. LCA is a method assessing the environmental performance of a given production. The method has been recently developed, providing some detailed information on how to mitigate environmental impacts as well as how to improve sustainability of existing agricultural systems. The aim of this study was to compare environmental impacts of four major crops of wheat, barley, seed water melon and alfalfa in Belherat Rural District of Neyshabur.

Using the LCA, four steps including goal definition and scoping, inventory analysis, life cycle impact assessment and integration and interpretation were taken. The system boundary contains production processes, chemical fertilizers, manure, herbicides, pesticides, irrigation (electricity), seed, fuel and other inputs. Functional unit was equivalent to one ton of economic yield, and all inputs, pollutants and average of economic yields were quantified based on one ton of economic yield. Global warming, acidification and aquatic and terrestrial eutrophication were considered as three important impact categories. The coefficient factors (CF) and weighting factors were used to calculate the environmental index (Ecox). A higher Ecox score represents a higher environmental impact.

Average economic yields of wheat, barley, seed water melon and alfalfa in Belherat Rural District of Neyshabur were 2.9, 3.1, 0.6 and 5.2 t.ha-1, respectively. The results showed that the global warming potential was a high environmental impact for all four crops including wheat (with 869.4 kg CO2-equiv. per one tonne economical yield), barley (with 694.3kg CO2-equiv. per one tonne economical yield), seed watermelon (with 4947.1 kg CO2-equiv. per one tonne economical yield) and alfalfa (with 2678.9 kg CO2-equiv. per one tonne economical yield), and the aquatic eutrophication potential was the lowest environmental impact such as wheat (with 3.08 kg PO4-equiv. per one tonne economical yield), barley (with 2.4 kg PO4-equiv. per one tonne economical yield), seed watermelon (with 11.1 kg PO4-equiv. per one tonne economical yield) and alfalfa (with 3.3 kg PO4-equiv. per one tonne economical yield), respectively. Among the three emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O generating the global warming potential, the CO2 had the highest proportion. Fossil fuels and nitrogen-based fertilizers are the main sources of the CO2 emission. Among the four crops, seed water melon generated the highest amount of CO2 – almost five times more than other crops- due to the high use of chemical fertilizers. In general, between these four crops, seed watermelon (Ecox 1.14 per tonne of economical yield) and barley (Ecox 0.07 per tonne of economical yield) were created the highest and lowest environmental impacts, respectively. In producing seed watermelon, acidification potential – with 0.58 ECOX for one tonne of economic yield- was found as the highest environmental impact. This environmental impact of seed watermelon was seven times more than wheat and barely a long with about two times more than alfalfa. Among the three emissions of SO2, NH3 and NOX associated with creating acidification potential, NH3 comprised the largest proportion followed by SO2. Nitrogen- based fertilizers were found the major source of NH3 and SO2 emissions. The high environmental impact of seed watermelon is due to its low economic yield that does not cover its input consumption.

Considering the high contribution of the global warming potential to environmental impacts for these production systems in Belherat Rural District, it is recommended for the study area to manage the use of chemical fertilizers. It is also suggested that effective extension approaches such as conservation agriculture by reducing the consumption of fossil fuels, sustainable nutrition strategies aimed at replacing organic fertilizers with chemical fertilizers are provided to farmers to justify the harmful effects of pollutants on the environment.

Water market as a significant economic means plays an important role in the optimal allocation of water resources in agriculture and also has significant effects in determining the cropping pattern and improving the welfare of farmers. With this approach, this study aimed at investigating the role of the water market on the use of water resources in Mashhad plain of Iran (Mashhad, Chenaran, and Torghabeh-Shandiz Counties) in farming year of 2013-14. For this purpose, the model of positive mathematical programming (PMP) and functions of regional production of agricultural products (SWAP) were used. The data were collected by Morgan sampling and Krejcie from 350 questionnaires completed randomly with farmers by referring to the organizations concerned. The results showed that following the formation of water market in the region, cropping patterns were directed towards products with higher profitability; also, substantial water-saving was achieved in the region, so that after the formation of the water market, water consumption decreased in the above-mentioned Counties by 37, 23.85 and 29.09 percent, respectively, indicating the usefulness of the formation of water market in order to reduce the use of water resources in the region.

The production of saffron as one of the most expensive agricultural and pharmaceutical products in the world has a high comparative advantage. Considering the importance of producing this product in Iran as an important non-oil export commodity and its role as a strategic, the estimation of the indirect environmental costs associated with the emission of its pollutants is necessary. The purpose of this study was to calculate the environmental costs of greenhouse gas emissions in Saffron farms in the Torbat Hadiriyah township. In order to collect  data (such as chemical fertilizers, irrigation, labor, animal manure and gasoline) a questionnaire and face-to-face interviews were used in the crop years 2017 and 2018.To investigate the relationship between good and bad output, the distance function is used as a parametric form of the translog. The results show that global warming potential (GWP) was calculated to be 369/24 kg equivalent to CO2 per kilogram of saffron straw. Also the environmental cost of greenhouse gases, methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide per hectare, according to a seven-year period, are: 77/888/700, 212/742/820 and 76/289/200 Rials, respectively. In total, the production of saffron over a seven-year period imposes an expense of 366/920/720 million Rials on the environment regarding the emission of greenhouse gases. This is equal to 52/417/240 million Rials for a crop year in per one hectare. About 21% of the income earned per hectare. In the end, it is suggested that the tax policy on fertilizers and soil tillage systems be reviewed and analyzed to reduce the environmental impacts of the saffron production system.

Adopting a social learning framework, this study aims to assess the water institution (both formal and informal) in the Tashk-Bakhtegan basin. The social learning loops, orientation and direction features were adopted to assess the formal institution. To assess the informal institution, the drought of 2008 was considered as the change affected the system. The responses of informal water institution to that change were then assessed. For formal institutions, the results showed that the water laws in the local level have put pressure on the local water resources. This structure relies on the national authorities and has low level of learning capacity. In the informal sector, the components of social learning process were generally found low in the upstream, but at much better levels in the downstream. The assessment of social learning outputs components showed that the downstream sub-regions were at a higher level of social learning capacity comparing with the upstream (double and triple loops of learning are active), and the responses were oriented towards better conservation of water resources. Furthermore, the width of those responses went beyond individual levels to collective and participating levels. For the water institution of the Tashk-Bakhtegan basin, this paper suggests that implied mechanisms of water laws needs to be modified, national and centralized governance requires to be transformed to participatory and cooperative structures, private and public institutions need to be initiated, and finally the components of social learning process, that were found at a low level, require to be improved.

Iran’s government has followed subsidies reform since 2010. Due to the fact that a significant part of these subsides historically has belonged to wheat, flour and bread, this study aims to investigate on outcomes and consequences of subsidies reform in above mentioned sectors. To this end, 2-stage cluster sampling method among different populations of bread producers (576 observations) and consumers (1622 observations) plus flour producers(21 observations) is implemented in Tehran and Khorasan Razavi provinces as the dominant poles of consumption and production. Furthermore, this study covers subjects related to the fields of bread consumption, waste, flour and bread quality and production. Changes in variables have been verified by mean-comparison tests. Results indicate that more successful outcomes have been achieved with ‎bread consumption variables than those of bread and flour production. Consequently, this fact is argued that stems from incomplete enforcement of obligations to producers induced by subsidies-reform law. To address these issues, modification of bread and flour prices is proposed.‎

  Agriculture is one of the most important effective sections toward the environment. One of the agricultural activities impact on the environment can be issues such as nitrate leaching to groundwater and surface resources, soil salinization, acidification and greenhouse gas emissions. Planting rice is an activity that causes a significant amount of pollution. Rice can be counted as an essential grain all over the world. In Iran, rice is the second most important crop after wheat, which is part of the main items of household consumption basket. Per capita consumption of rice in the country is 100 grams per day and Iran is ranked 13th in the world rice consumption. As the farmers are unaware and mostly ignorant of the fact, they use an inordinate amount of primary inputs like chemical fertilizers that are detrimental to the environment. Noticing the importance and strategic role of this product, hereby this study investigated the environmental effects of rough rice of different kinds (Tarim hashemi, Tarom sangi, Neda, Fajr and Shirudi) by evaluating the cycle of life. The area in this study is located in Kordkuy, Golestan. The sampling is done by random interviews with the farmers. LCA method was used according to the extent of natural factors in order to analyze the defective consequences due to use of the resources. By identifying the utilized elements, energy, material in the production procedure, the effects and defects can be estimated. Using this method, one can evaluate the potential effects on global warming, acidity, Terrestrial Eutrophication Potential, photochemical oxidation, and the toxicity effect on human (caused by Cadmium in phosphate), Terrestrial Eco toxicity potential, Aquatic Eco toxicity, fresh water potential, Fossil fuel consumption, Phosphate consumption, Potash consumption, and Water Consume. Chemical fertilizers (like urea, potassium, phosphate), fossil fuels, water and electricity are the causes of the pollution on the farms in this study. Using these inputs creates contaminants that can be categorized as nitrogen (N), carbon (C), sulphur (S), and phosphorus (P). Among all the inputs Nitrogen fertilizers is the most important factor to spread the mission of air pollutants. The estimated environmental effects in planting rice show that photochemical oxidation potential has the highest effect on producing rice. Moreover, depletion of phosphate and water resources are the other important effects as the result of planting rice. On average three effective factors like photochemical oxidation potential, depletion of phosphate and water resources are evaluated as 2.033, 1.296, and 0.896, respectively. And some other environmental effects like acidity, Terrestrial Eutrophication Potential, toxicity of water have the least destructive effects on average. Among all the other figures, Tarim hashemi and Tarom sangi figures have the highest range of creating pollution estimated as 1 ton rough rice per hectare and the least is determined to be a figure related to Neda variate. The final indicator shows the range of this variation from 0.0080 to 2.975. The most photochemical oxidation potential is attributed to Tarim hashemi and the least toxicity effect on water is recognized by the figures in Shirudi. In all the investigated effects in this study, the long-grain rice figures (Tarim hashemi, Tarom sangi) were shown to have more detrimental effects compared to productive igures (Neda, Fajr and Shirudi) since it has less output. The results of the study show that the figures with the highest output in production ,(Neda, Fajr and Shirudi) although has used more of the inputs , could spread less pollution in the estimate of 1 ton rough rice per hectare. By planting varieties that produce higher yields the amount of pollution reduced, can be reduced. Also, in order to reduce the amount of pollution, controlling the inputs can decrease the amount of pollution. The biggest pollutants such as nitrogen fertilizers that can be replaced by fertilizers such as stabilizers Nitrogen plants. This solution may reduce the emissions of pollutants from nitrogen fertilizers on the farm

In an era with ecological changes the adaptability of the governance system is so important; therefore, the system capacity of social learning should be focused on as a key characteristic. In order to assess the adaptation capacity, the governance system needs to be evaluated with a reference to social learning. Persisting Iran's water resources problems shows that the current institutional structures faces with serious weaknesses. This research aimed to apply the social learning loops to evaluate the formal institutional structure of the Iranian water governance. Therefore, various documentations including Iran's water laws, national policies and projects related to water and agricultural sectors were evaluated adopting qualitative content analysis and theme analysis methods. The results showed that the formal institution capacity is trapped in a single-loop learning and from this perspective, the formal institution is very vulnerable and suffers from too low adaptation capacity to deal with changes. It was also shown that the governance structure is highly centralized with a dominant top-down hierarchy. In order to enhance the flexibility and adaptability of the water institution, it is necessary to modify the laws associated to the water and agricultural sectors emphasizing on destructive mechanisms. Furthermore, the process of decision-making needs to become participatory engaging the all stakeholders, especially informal institutions. The formal institutions associated to water and agricultural sectors need to get integrated and converge in their policies. Finally, macro-developmental policies require to be redefined with respect to the country’s limiting water resources.

Price elasticity plays a critical role in determining water tariff and its system. Many economic decision makers and researchers have estimated demand function for different cities in order to predict the associated income and price elasticity. In this research we reviewed 20 studies on urban domestic water demand function from which 63 price elasticity values were obtained. Since the price elasticity values obtained from these studies had significant statistical differences, the aim of this research is to determine the effective factors in price elasticity values as well as to analyze differences in such values using meta-analysis technique. The meta-analysis technique focuses on variation in water price elasticity results. The statistical meta-analysis technique focuses on two main objectives of publication bias or publication heterogeneity in reported results. The results indicated that publication bias is negligible while publication heterogeneity is significant. The major factors affecting price elasticity values are classified into 4 categories including theoretical, model, data and socio-geographical specifications. The result indicated that variables such as income, time-series datasets, natural logarithm function and use of stone-geary theory which is the basis for predicting many domestic water demand functions, significantly overestimate the price elasticity values. Also the geographical condition of the region, population density and use of OLS technique to estimate the demand parameters underestimates the price elasticity values.

In this study to evaluate of Economic Value of Functions and Services in Naharkhoran Park use the choice experiment method and to estimate their parameters the conditional logit model and random parameters logit model have been used. Information required were collected by 339 completing questionnaires and interviewing from Naharkhoran Park’s tourists. The results showed that the most important attribute in the view of tourists is contributing to forest sustainability. The tourists’s willing to pay for attributes to forest sustainability, environmental health of the river, tourism facilities and reducing noise pollution respectively is 3567, 2219, 1145 and 2311 Rials per visit. Also age and native variables due to increase tourists’s willing to pay.

Persistence of water problems from one side, and inflexibility of the IWRM approach in dealing with those problems from the other side in recent years, have led to development of new approaches such as water governance, adaptive co-management, and especially social learning. Social learning is defined as learning by social groups as a result of their interactions towards new knowledge, common understanding, and trust, which is eventually led to the collective efforts and actions. This paper relies on the concept of triple loops of learning to assess the context of water resources governance and management in the Rafsanjan plain in the level of “Agricultural Water Users”. The findings show that the area confronts with a severe groundwater crisis. Snowball sampling has been used to identify main actors. To gather the required data, semi-structured interviews were implemented for data collecting. The area was studied in five sub-areas. The results show that the dominant learning loop between farmers of Nuq District and Anar County was a double loop learning (of course oriented towards deterioration of the groundwater resource, while the dominant learning loop between farmers of Koshkuiyeh and Kabutar Khan District and Rafsanjan County was a single loop learning to follow the same attitude of provision with water for agriculture. The assessment of social learning loops indicated that structural changes were needed in Rafsanjan Plain to adapt to water scarcity. Following the current trend of groundwater over-exploitation can result in a tragedy of commons.

To tackle the shortage of water resources, several water projects were financed by Agriculture [Jihad-e Keshavarzi] organization in Khorasan Razavi, among which water transport projects are of the most important ones. However, despite their significance, no studies were conducted about the factors contributing the effectiveness of water transport projects. Therefore, this study introduced a new conceptual model, consistent with different types of projects and local conditions, and estimated via structural equations model. Required data was gathered from experts as well as farmers who had applied the projects. The study results indicated that effectiveness of the projects was related to the apropos choice of time and location of implementation rather than to the operational outcomes or quality of construction. In the light of this fact, more meticulous studies at project implementation phase for each project was proposed.

In order to assess the environmental impacts of saffron agroecosystems during the first to seventh years in the two counties of Ghaen and Torbat-e Heydariyeh as two important poles of saffron production at different levels of inputs and livestock manure (less than 100, 100-150 and more than 150 t.ha-1), a study by using life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted in 2015. Based on ISO14044 method, LCA was computed in four steps including goal definition and scoping, inventory analysis, life cycle impact assessment (such as global warming, terrestrial eutrophication, aquatic eutrophication and acidification categories) and integration & interpretation. Functional unit was considered as one ton flower. The results showed that consumption of inputs such as fuel, livestock manure and chemical fertilizer in Torbat-e Heydariyeh was higher than Ghaen. The highest flower yield in Ghaen and Torbat-e Heydariyeh counties were obtained at the lowest levels of livestock manure (with 1.47 and 1.66 t.ha-1, respectively). The maximum value of aquatic eutrophication potential in Ghaen and Torbat-e Heydariyeh counties were related to the highest livestock manure level with 4.861 and 10.983 PO4 equiv./t flower, respectively. The highest of environmental indicator in the two counties of Ghaen and Torbat-e-Heydariyeh were calculated for the maximum livestock manure with 1.34 and 3.18 Ecox per one ton of flower. Considering the high levels of environmental impact of saffron agroecosystems especially in Torbat-e-Heydarieh, it is suggested to apply strategies such as intercropping, minimum tillage, and optimum levels of organic fertilizers.

It is presumed that changes in energy prices directly affect water consumption, especially if abstracted from groundwater resources, because of the vital role energy plays in the different stages of water abstraction and treatment. The present study was, thus, designed and implemented to examine the effects of different energy pricing scenarios on water consumption. The estimated values were obtained according to the dynamic general equilibrium model using 2011 as the base year and different scenarios likely to realize over the following ten years. Results indicate that water price will increase by 4.42% in the base year if a 100% increase occurs in the prices of all the energy carriers, with the contributions of oil products, power, and natural gas to the increased water price being 72.18%, 17.7%, and 10.12%, respectively. Clearly, oil products have the greatest impact on water prices and reductions in water demand in most economic activities. Moreover, a decline, albeit with a certain fluctuation, is observed in water consumption percentages with all the scenarios examined and the values of the variables are predicted to return to their non-shock status so that the shock effects gradually disappear. At lower energy price rates, the reactions to increasing energy prices realized in the form of increased water price and declining water consumption exhibit an exponentially declining trend. It may be concluded that changes in energy prices under the present conditions do not generally lead to any substantial changes in water demands. This may be attributed to the currently rather low energy prices. In the farming and horticulture subsectors, however, reduction in water demand is notable.

In last decade it is almost impossible to not seen anything about water resource crisis and water shortage in natural resources exploitation and use reports. Such information encourages decision makers and researchers to looking for solutions in relation to this problem and sustainable management of water resources. In this regard, first step towards sustainable management of water resources is picturing status of existing management, in a way that, answers the questions about supply and consumption of difference water resources not only from engineering perspective, but also from economic perspective. In this regard, water accounting approaches with different methods was suggested and implemented by researchers. In this paper several types of water accounting methods will analyzed and compared from estimated quantitative indexes in final reports point of view. Based on water accounting purposes in Iran, System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water (SEEAW) knew as most efficient system that will explain in last section of present paper.

Energy is one of the most important commodities that make up a large proportion of international trade. Among all the countries in the world, Iran is known as semi-industrial developing country which is rich in energy such as non-renewable energy in particular fossil fuel. Use of energy affects the environment in various forms of pollution. In the agricultural sector, the FAO report states that livestock production has a major contribution to the world’s environmental problem (Sutton et al., 2011).
This study analyzes energy flow and greenhouse gas emission in conventional dairy farms in Mazandaran province. The required data for this study was collected by conducting interviews and filling up questionnaires from 26 cattlemen. From the questionnaires, information on five inputs such as labor, livestock feeding, diesel fuel, electricity and technical equipment and machines as well as milk product for 159 dairy cattle was collected. Finally, energy productivity, efficiency and emissions of greenhouse gases were calculated for Methane (CH4), Nitrous Oxid (N2O) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2).
The results indicated that total energy which has been used to produce one liter of milk was 27.745 Mega Jul. Livestock feeding and fuel were energy inputs that has been extensively consumed. In this relation, 47.4% and 28.5% of the total energy consumption were drawn from the livestock feeding and fuel, respectively. In the study conducted by Sainz (2003), livestock feeding with 70% of the total energy consumption was also found as the largest input in terms of consuming energy. Technical equipment with 22.8% of the total energy consumption was found the third place. A low proportion (0.8%) of the total energy consumption was drawn from labor. Electric power with 0.5% of the total energy consumption was placed at the last. Energy efficiency was measured at 0.257. The proportion of renewable and non-renewable energy in one-litter milk production was measured by 48.2% and 51.8%, respectively. The total greenhouse gas emitted toproduceone litter of milk is equal to 0.622 kg of carbon dioxide that is higher than the amount of carbon dioxide generated from dairy farms in the United States (Sainz, 2003), but lower than the amount produced by dairy farms in Portugal (Castanheira et al., 2010). For the European countries, the average of greenhouse gas emission generated from dairy farms was calculated about 0.45 carbon dioxide equivalent. Technical equipment, machines and fuel with generating 0.45 and 0.16 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent were the most contribution to greenhouse gas emission. According to the calculations, the two inputs emitted 72.3% and 25.7% of the total greenhouse gas emission in producing one litter of milk. Only 2% of the total greenhouse gas emission that is equal to 0.012 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent was created from electricity generation. In the United States, diesel fuel and electricity with a contribution of 27% to 40% of the total greenhouse gasemissions were realized as the most polluted inputs. Furthermore, in Ireland and Britain, the diesel fuel and electricity with producing 0.03 and 0.002 of carbon dioxide equivalent were realized as the most polluted inputs for producing one litter of milk. This suggests that diet re-formulation with special consideration to the output is an effective solution to the problem mentioned above. Considering technical equipment and fuel as the most pollutant inputs, transferring equipment from natural gas consumption to diesel consumption decreases both energy consumption and negative-environmental externalities.
Considering that the livestock feeding has the largest amount of energy consumption, thedairy cow feed formulation should be considered as the most important concern. In relation to diesel fuel, replacement of natural gas with diesel fuel can reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a large extend

The relationship between openness, trade and environmental damaging are the most important problems in the early 1990s. Some scientists assume the environmental quality is a normal good and increasing income increases demand for environmentally safe products. Therefore, Firms will be encouraging the using of safer and less polluting procedure. On the other hand other scientists assume international trade grows the environmental degradation through environmentally polluting industries and expand economics scales in developing countries. While environmental standards are low in these countries, the expansion of trade will lead to more pollution. Some experimental studies have confirmed a negative relationship between trade and environment. The effect of import and export of trade is not considered as important components of trade, despite very consideration of the relationship between openness, trade and environmental by researchers while in general part trade may have different effect on environmental.
The base model is used to study the relationship between economic growth and environmental indexes and trade. Grossman and Krueger (1991) and Shafik and Bandvpady (1992) used the trade intensity variable, obtained from the ratio of exports plus imports divided by GDP as the World Trade openness of an economy measure. Grossman and Krueger (1991), the first person who developed environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) used multiple versions of the model. Instrumental variable regression model has been estimated using panel data of period 1998 and 2009 for 73 countries, including 27 development countries and 46 developing countries. Countries with more than 0.9 Human Development Index eligible as developed countries and countries by Human Development Index between 0.7 to 0.9 considered as developing countries., based on the standard international trade classification. For exports of agricultural raw materials, 5 Classification of goods in the first group of agricultural raw materials ere used. We consider some of the goods are raw agricultural sector as a percentage of GDP and sectors including oil and minerals were removed from it. Therefore, this variable includes food and live animals, beverages and tobacco, crude materials, excluding fuel and other edible animal fats and vegetable oils. The data has been obtained from the global dataset of FAO. Variables such as Animal fats and vegetable oils and the per capita income squared has been omitted because of co linearity. Instrumental variables such as agricultural land (% of land area) and agricultural machinery is taken from WDI. These variables include per capita emissions of agricultural methane, per capita emissions of agricultural nitrous oxide gas, and biological oxygen demand (BOD) per capita. Methane (CH4) is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming and ozone pollution. More than fifty percent of the methane gas is due to agricultural activities.
The results of the instrumental variable method show that the export of agricultural products in developing countries will increase the emissions of nitrous oxide and methane gas and reduces water pollution. The coefficients of the variables considered positive for developed countries, but only the coefficient of nitrogen oxide emissions is significant. To investigate which of raw agricultural products, subtypes play a greater role in environmental pollution, we have re-estimated equation with place components of agricultural raw products, beverages and tobacco, crude materials excluding fuels and other edible fats and vegetable and animal oils. The results for the three pollutants reported in the table. This result indicates that only the export of drinking and tobacco increased environmental pollution by increasing methane in developing countries. So, none of the variables have significant impact on water pollution. The logarithm of the per capita income and the natural logarithm of the population have a significant and positive impact on environmental pollution caused by emissions of methane and nitrous oxide. The results are quite different for developing countries to developed countries and environment of this group of countries severely affected by any of the primary or raw agricultural commodity groups. The results show an increase in exports of raw materials and drinking reduces pollution of water and increase nitrogen oxide emissions. However, increasing exports would increase water pollution and reduces methane emissions.
The results of the instrumental variables estimator for the group of developed countries and developing countries show that the increase in exports of agricultural raw materials exacerbated the increasing environmental pollution by methane gas emissions in developed countries and pollution due to significant emissions of methane and nitrous oxide will be more intense in developing countries. On the other hand, increasing in the exports of raw agricultural commodities reduce water pollution by developing countries. Increased use of nitrogenous fertilizers and implication of improved farming methods can be effective on water pollution reduction in the case study of this group of countries in during the period under review. This means that the amount of nitrogen in the water reduced degrading bacteria but pollution from greenhouse gas intensity increased further.

Any development with any quantity or quality degree has particular environmental
impacts. Human manipulation in natural environment does not necessarily mean making
changes in initial environment. Continuity of human action in the changing natural
conditions, which could eventually disrupt the balance of existing environment or
causes unintended and unforeseen consequences as currently human societies have been
facing this problem. Obviously once the idea of construction comes until the project
operation, a long and tough way must be passed over. Environmental considerations in
all phases of the project are major issues that must be considered. This includes the
entire process including design, implementation and even scheme exploitation. If
human reactions and environmental interactions are assessed in the form of construction
projects practices, environmental power and its potential will be revealed by initial
recognition. Importance and dimensions of negative effects can be achieved by using
modern methods. Based on the findings, rules can be implemented to reduce the adverse
effects and to manage the negative effects.
In recent decades, many countries, including Iran, in order to reduce problems caused
by dehydration and to prevent crisis put a massive investment in water sector.
Unfortunately, evaluations and studies conducted in the past decade on the physical
structure based on rivers and nation and international level approve existing issues and
problems in all dimensions, particularly sea water resources management or dam's water
and modern water distribution networks.
In this regard, the projects implemented and proposals examination using preliminary
studies as documentary confirms the difficulties existence in economical, ecological,
and especially social-management dimensions. In some of these projects lack of
expected goals achievement including improving beneficiaries social and economic
conditions, the relative balance between supply and demand for water resources or
agricultural prospered are effective and have caused negative reactions among beneficiaries. Present study tries to examine impacts resulted by huge investments
(physical structures) in constructing Bar-dam located in Neyshabur. Therefore, social,
economic and environmental (ecological) dimensions at the basin level of Neyshabur
bar dam in Khorasan Razavi were considered.
Since economic self-sufficiency has a particular importance, and given that the crisis of
water and dehydration is one of the major and basic public concerns, water storage and
flood water flow control are of cases that involved water engineers and experts.
Therefore, increase in water supply and flood and water flow control through the dam
construction are always recognized the fundamental measures.
Study Area :ne of the main objectives of bar dam construction is supplying part of the required rinking water of Neyshabur County. The special concentration on the Neyshabur is ecause the county is special in culture and geopolitical position. In addition, increasing ural migration to the cities and also due to the development of the town, surrounding illages are connected to Neyshabur and are using urban water distribution network and ther utilities raise more concerns on the county. The sum of these factors has led ounty to water shortage, especially in the summer. Due to the need for water supply o iroozeh (Bozghan) and Neyshabur cities and also industrial needs of Khorasan steel omplex and etc., bar dam construction and related facilities to meet these needs and ptimal use of existing potential, regional water resources have been considered as a ational and regional policies. This study attempts to answer the issues and questions or the Bar-dam. The research method in this study will be descriptive – analytical. Due o recent defects of available documents statistics, collecting data and required nformation will be carried out as documentary. Required Information of Bar dam nvironmental impacts assessment project is extracted.
Material and garding impact assessment of development projects implementation, several methods nd procedures have been devised and used that considering intended purposes, have ifferent structures. o assess bar dam environmental impact, a Leopold two-dimensional matrix is used hich in one dimension, environment various options comes that will be affected and in ther dimension, different steps and phases of project (construction and operation) are iscussed. The virtues of this matrix are summarizing both positive and negative mpacts of the project. At this matrix first activity cases, environmental factors have een identified and the severity (impact amplitude) and the importance (magnitude) of ntended effects are considered. This matrix includes 100 small activities on the orizontal axis (columns) and 88 environmental factors on the vertical axis (rows) that esults in the formation of 8800 houses matrix or tables which every home or cell is a erge level of activity from horizontal axis and a parameter from vertical axis. fter listing sub activities and factors, when there is a possibility that one activity has n impact on environmental factor the diagonal line is drawn on soluble cell diameter as hey cross over, then in each cell two numbers are considered that one of them is omain or impact intensity and other is importance or impact magnitude. Impact mportance criteria or domain are usually valuated by ±1 to ±5. At this method mark 5 ery high and important positive impacts and mark 1 for a very low and insignificant artial effect is considered. Also grade -5 for an excessive negative effect and grade -1 or a very low negative effect is considered. Then these numbers sums and the sum of he numbers corresponding to each column represent the activity impact on all the ssessed environmental factors. Finally, for each environment (physical, economic, ocial, cultural and biological) and for each construction phase and operation of the arious options, a number is obtained, which leads to the best option. Assessing various mpacts resulting from implementing the building of engineering constructions divided o construction phase and the phase of applying in physical, biological, socio-economic, nd cultural environments in two cases of performing and failure to perform, in stages f preparing, constructing and applying, will be carried out.
Matrix generated in this study consists of 44 columns and includes factors related to the implementation and operation phases and 58 rows includes physical, biological, socioeconomic and cultural factors. After the final evaluation matrix Dam Project for two options, performing and failure to perform will be carried out. At the option seeking studies in order to determine the location of bar dam and other proposed structures in this plan several options have been considered which finally options by authorities in terms of technical and economic will be reconsidered and only one option as a best will be chosen. Therefore in bar dam environmental assessment only one option as a premier option is chosen. Therefore, in bar dam environmental assessment and related constructions, only one option is considered so performing option or failure to implement the plan is reviewed. Zero option or option Failure to implement the plan means that if dam has not been constructing in the region and the area has been abandoned, causes which environmental impact? However, for evaluating the effects of this option we should not imagine that this option will not have any deleterious effects on the region, because in some cases the lack of an implementation plan can cause a non-rectification impact in the region. Option A or option implements the plan at the current location in two constructions and operation phases is considered and the positive and negative effects of each phase have been determined. What is certain is that if implement or not implement the plan, there will be positive and negative impact on environment, but the important issue is making decision about implement or not to implement the plan. For making decision in this case, we should compare total impacts in two options of implement or failure to implement. In order to make the right decision on this issue the Leopold matrix in order to evaluate dam's construction impact on environment is used. Assessment of environmental impacts caused by dam projects in Neyshabur, Khorasan Razavi separately construction phase and operation in the physical, biological, socio-economic and cultural environments in implementing option and failure to implement option was carried out . The impact separated result shows that the total number project impact in preparation and construction phase was 398 cases, which 117 cases means 30% positive and 281 cases means 70% was negative that the main reason was different physical operation in the regional environment which often are short and required. In the exploitation phase, 123 of cases of environmental consequences was 71, means 61% positive and 49 cases means 39% was negative. Most of the adverse effects of the construction phase in implementing options are -263 which is related to physical environment and the greatest positive impact 729 is on the construction phase of implementing option on socioeconomic environment. Also negative effect in operation phase is 253 and positive effect is 473, while dam's impoundment and also considering measures related to the evaporation of water from the reservoir water level can bring desirable environmental impacts for the region and in case of water recourses reliable management cause positive impact on socio-economic development of the region. Also results show that in exploitation phase more positive impact can be seen and this is more obvious particularly in socio-economic, cultural environment. Economic environment with 729 positive points on construction phase and 384 positive points on exploitation phase has the highest positive impacts of implementing the plan.
Generally based on the environmental assessment performed on the bar dam project and its affiliated structures, total value of the project are 1219 points positive and 1179 points negative. The dominant aspect of the project outcomes, especially in exploitation phase is positive and in situations which consequences are negative, mostly consequences have weak and negligible destructive load which in terms of quantity can be reduced by authentic management and implementing environmental proposed measures especially implementing sand stabilization and forestry side projects in dam's construction area which can reduce project negative intensity impacts. Also, due to population growth and the increasing nutrient demands, unemployment and rural to urban migration, implementation has many positive results in employment status, income, migration, rural welfare and development of Khorasan Steel factory. So we can say that bar dam project implementation certainly has a lot of favorable impacts which trims adverse effects and creates large and significant benefits in the region. Therefore, the project is economically valuable and in order to achieve favorable objectives and keeping pace and directing with macroeconomic policy, applying an appropriate environmental management system, set activities to give direction to form the possible negative effects resulting from the implementation of such a huge project to a minimum is required.

The role of economic factors in pollution and environmental degradation is one of the major Issues in economic and environmental studies that many researchers have addressed in their studies. One of the issues in the field of environment to which less attention has been paid is the effect of economic factors such as the openness of the economy on water resource pollution. In this paper we investigate the relation between water pollution and economic factors such as economic size، capital to labor ratio and economic openness in two groups of developed and developing countries with paned data method. In fact we investigate the two hypothesis of Environmental Kuznets curve and pollution havens in two groups of countries. To prevent the pollution of groundwater resources in the process of economic growth، policies must be coordinated by responsible organizations. Changing crop patterns and moving toward the production of organic products to reduce the use of polluting substances in the production of agricultural products is one of these solutions.

In the present study، using panel data methods، the correlation between some independent economic factors such as per capita GDP، Squared per capita GDP that both indicate Scale effect and capital to labor index with Squared capital to labor index both indicating comparative advantage effect and openness of trade and some composite indices on dependent variables، groundwater pollution، in the two groups of countries both developed and developing countries has been investigated. For this purpose، using the biological oxygen demand index (BOD) as an indicator of pollution of groundwater resources and sum of exports and imports divided by GDP as an indicator of economic openness and GDP per capita as an indicator of the economy in the period of 1995 to 2006، the Environmental Kuznets curve and pollution havens hypothesis have been tested. Results

The issue of water pollution is important in the present century. Increasing population and increasing water demand in different sectors of agriculture، industry، drinking water and sanitation have caused great pressures on groundwater resources. The increasing demand for water and water pollution exacerbate water shortages in many parts of the world، including Iran. The results shows that in the group of developed countries، an increase in per capita income will reduce water pollution and further increases in per capita income have led to increasing pressure on water resources، and thus there will be more pollution. Also in developing countries، an increase in per capita income has increased pressure on water resources and water pollution، but in a subsequent step، the increase in per capita income can even lead to a reduction in pollution. In other words، the relationship between GDP per capita، and water pollution in developed countries has a U-shaped curve and in developing countries it has an inverted U-shaped curve. Therefore، the environmental Kuznets hypothesis has been confirmed in developing countries. Other the results showed that with increasing openness of the economy، pollution of water resources in developed countries remains unaffected، while in developing countries، water pollution will increase. Thus، the pollution haven hypothesis is also confirmed in developing countries. Other factors also have different effect in two groups of countries. Policies to avoid additional pressure on water resources in the process of economic growth and restrictive regulations for accumulation of pollutants in the industry along with the economic liberalization can find ways to prevent further contamination of water resources in developing countries، including Iran.

Due to the positive correlation between economic openness and contamination of underground water resources in developing countries including Iran on the one hand and requirements for joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the other hand، the government should set policies for controlling pollution on groundwater resources with relevant rules such as pollution tax on polluting agents in the process of globalization and trade openness. To prevent the pollution of groundwater resources in the process of economic growth، policies must be coordinated by responsible organizations. Changing crop patterns and moving toward the production of organic products to reduce the use of polluting substances is one of these solutions. Due to confirming pollution Haven Hypothesis in Developing countries such as Iran، It recommended that policies such as Increasing Tariffs on Pollutant Industries adopted by policy Makers in this countries.

An increase in marketing costs raises marketing margin which causes a reduction in marketing efficiency. In this study، in order to analyze the marketing structures of municipal green grocery centers and the groceries nearby، the two functions of marketing margins and marketing efficiency were estimated. The study data was collected through questionnaires from all municipal green grocery centers and some neighboring groceries selected by simple random sampling in the summer 2012. The results showed that، for all products in both municipal green grocery centers and neighboring groceries، marketing margin has a positive relation with retail price، and thus، reduction in marketing cost should be seriously considered. Regarding the vegetable products، expansion of production facilities that are centralized، stable and close to urban consumption centers (radial rings around cities) is the key to reduce marketing cost، and as a result، to improve the efficiency. Regarding the fruit products، improving transportation، market regulation and mediated reduction are the keys for reducing marketing costs and efficiency improvement. The results showed that the averages of the price inefficiency، the technical inefficiency and the total inefficiency are more than 66 and 36 percent for the municipal green grocery centers and groceries، respectively. Applying strategies for more competitive markets reduces marketing costs، and thus، both price and market efficiencies improve. The high level of technical inefficiency reflects the high waste cost relative to the marketing margin. Therefore، in addition to reducing marketing costs، it should be considered to reduce waste materials، using appropriate packaging، refrigeration and suitable transportation systems in the marketing path.