Investigation of Drought Effects of Lake Urmia on Sustainable Development of Rural SettlementsCase study: villages in Qaleh Chay watershed, Ajbashir county

Sustainability is considered as an effective framework for managing rural areas against a variety of environmental hazards, including droughts, which require the use of sustainable sustainability techniques. The purpose of this study was to assess the stability of the villages of Qaleh Chaie watershed in Ajabshir city against the drying of Lake Urmia. The research was applied and the information gathering method was library and field research. The statistical population of the study is 21185 people living in 21 villages in this area. The sample size was 380 using Cochran formula and was selected by simple random sampling method. The findings of the study, using the Barometric Model of Sustainability, showed that the environmental sustainability of the villages in the years 2005 to 2017 was exposed with a sustained reduction of -0.146. From the viewpoint of social sustainability and economic sustainability, they experienced a relative increase of 0.132 and 0.055 respectively. Finally, the Javan Qaleh village with a sustainability level of 0.742 has been the most stable village over the past 15 years and then the villages of Qajuldeh (0.666) and Yengeje (0.657) are located. Also, the villages of Chenar, Mahmoudabad and Gonbad have been the most volatile villages in the last 15 years. Also, Kendall's findings showed that there is a positive and significant correlation between the location of villages in Lake Urmia in terms of distance and proximity to their sustainability level at the level of r = 0.577.