Sustainable Earth Review
Volume:3 Issue: 2, Apr 2023

Among the world's most essential natural environmental resources are wetlands. In Iraq, the Mesopotamia marshes are considered as among the most significant swamplands worldwide. They are situated in the massive flood plains of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates in the lower basin of Mesopotamia. In this paper, there will be a thoughtful study of the effect of climate and microclimate change on these Marshes. The main sources of data and scientific knowledge will be gathered and summarized from almost all previous research conducted in the area. Most of the papers involved in this summarized study are those related to remote sensing, since remote sensing tends to be the most effective approach as it is less costly and consumes less time. Most of the reviewed papers that have studied the marshland circumstances of the area showed a deterioration in the level of the area's water bodies due to climate change. However, there are other factors that influence and degrade these marshlands other than the effects of climate change. These extra factors are represented by the political and military actions conducted by the previous Iraq regime during the middle of the 1980s.  According to most of the most research implemented in the area, the water system in Iraq is experiencing significant challenges, thus increasing concerns about the Mesopotamian marshes that have been sustaining the region for thousands of years and which may possibly vanish soon.

In recent years, the concentration of suspended particles in the atmosphere of Tehran has been increasing. Therefore, we see more polluted days in this city. This situation has had economic, health, welfare, social and negative effects. In this study, we want to investigate the seasonal changes in particle concentration, chemical composition and aerodynamic distribution in Tehran. Atmospheric matter sampling was performed in four seasons in 2020 to 2021. Sampling was performed by Andersen Cascade Impactor 8 stages. Also, in each period of sampling process, samples were prepared to study the physical and chemical properties by SEM method. The particle surfaces with magnifications of 5000x, 10000x, 20000x and 50000x were studied. The EDS method was used to study the chemical composition of particulate matters. The results show that the north and northwest of the region are affected by the prevailing wind and a large volume of particulate matter produced by fixed and moving pollutants move to these areas. The highest and lowest concentrations of total PM collected in Azadi square and Hakimiyeh were 162.11±16.5 µg/m3 and 139.21±12.22 µg/m3, respectively. Also, the distribution of particulate matter in the western and southern regions of the region was more towards coarse particles, while the distribution of particles in the eastern and northern regions was more towards smaller particles. Due to the geomorphological characteristics of the region, the production of particulate matter should be controlled and monitored by moving and fixed sources, to reduce the destructive effect of particles on the health of people living in the region.

Sediment retention (SR) and sediment yield (SY) are regulatory ecosystem services that would change due to seasonal vegetation conditions in a region. This study aimed to investigate the SR and SY in the Tajan watershed in Mazandaran Province, northern Iran, and their relationships to seasonal vegetation changes during 2022. The sediment delivery ratio model was implemented to evaluate SR and SY for four seasons using the InVEST software. Their relationship with the vegetation indices was also evaluated using geographically weighted regression (GWR) in Arc GIS 10.7. The highest level of SR and SY was observed in the central and southern parts of the watershed, respectively. The total SR and SY were estimated at 229 Mt y-1 (471 t ha-1 y-1 on average) and 5.2 Mt y-1 (11 t ha-1 y-1 on average), respectively. The maximum and minimum of SR occurred in the spring and winter, respectively, whereas the opposite was true for SY. Regional forests retained the most sediment, whereas rangelands had the highest SY. The GWR results showed a significant and positive geographic correlation between SR and vegetation indices (0.76<R2<0.84, P-value<0.01) but an inverse correlation between SY and vegetation indices (0.67<R2<0.85, P-value<0.01). Temporally, the highest geographic correlation of SR to the vegetation indices was seen in the summer, whereas the highest geographic correlation of SY to the vegetation indices was related to the winter. The results suggested that seasonal vegetation changes in the region could have a wide range of effects on the retention and yield of sediment. This study offers valuable insights for identifying areas of significant erosion throughout the watershed, during different seasons. Such information can aid managers and planners in adopting effective strategies to conserve soil and reduce erosion.

Increasing demand and the use of recreational areas have exacerbated the effects of nature-based tourism (NBT) on the environment. Assessment of NBT potential can be an approach to identify suitable areas for recreational development and prevent its development in areas without this capability. This not only reduces the environmental impacts of NBT but also ensures its sustainability. This study applied a multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) approach using the weighted linear combination (WLC) method to identify suitable areas for developing NBT in the watershed of Gorgan, northern Iran. The effective criteria which determining suitable areas for recreation were identified and weighted by the Delphi method in three phases. A consensus of opinions was achieved in the third phase with Kendall’s W test factor of 0.608. Therefore, 8 main factors (including 38 sub-factors) and 8 constraints were identified. Then, layers of the factors and constraints were prepared to achieve the MCE process through WLC. Separate MCEs were made for developing extensive and intensive tourism (EX and IT), respectively. In the next step, the recreational potential (low, average, & and high) of the area was identified using a zonal land suitability (ZLS) module based on three scenarios with rigorous, intermediate, and lenient approaches. Results of the scenarios showed that the major areas of the region are suitable for ET development and only small areas are suitable for IT development. The final areas for NBT planning were selected through integrating triple MCE scenarios and achieving ZLS.

Potato is considered a strategic product in providing food security in the future. Considering the phenomenon of global warming and affecting the production of agricultural products, it is necessary to evaluate its effects on potato production in the country. For this purpose, CanESM2 climate model data were used under RCP4.5, RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 release scenarios in the south of Kerman province. The SDSM statistical model was used for exponential microscaling of CanESM2 model output, and the Cowpat model was used to estimate the water requirement of potato plants. The results of the statistical indicators showed the high accuracy of the SDSM model and the conformity of the calibration and validation results with observational data. The mean square error of the SDSM model did not exceed 0.8% in the calibration and verification stages and was in the excellent range. The simulation results in the studied areas under RCP scenarios show an increase in the minimum temperature in the range of 0.3 to 1.3 °C, a maximum temperature in the range of 0.3 to 1.2 °C, and a decrease in precipitation in the range of -6.4 to -37.6 It will be mm. The net irrigation requirement increased in all the regions under study. The greatest increase occurred in the third period (2100-2070). On average, Kohnuj station with an average increase of 18.3% shows the highest increase, and Manujan station with 12.02% of the net irrigation requirement. Jiroft station showed the highest water demand with a 17.3% increase after Kohnuj.

Effectively managing and mitigating “human-wildlife conflict” (HWC) by adjusting the use of cultivated land to realize the coexistence of humans and wildlife plays an important role in protecting biodiversity, ensuring food security, improving cultivated land use efficiency, and improving the livelihoods of community residents in nature reserves. Moreover, conservation biologists are paying growing attention to HWC, which is a significant global environmental problem. To achieve a sustainable solution and mitigate such conflict, it is necessary to focus on the conflict’s human dimensions and direct and indirect economic and social effects. Human behaviors are affected by values, attitudes, norms, and economic factors. Thus, identifying those factors might be of use to predict human reactions toward wildlife. The framework of this study is a combination of Planned Behavior Theory (TPB) and Wildlife Value Orientations (WVOs) that can identify and predict the behavior of farmers and ranchers in dealing with wildlife by creating a value-attitude-behavior cognitive hierarchy. The study was designed as a stratified random sample of 200 interviewees in Mazandaran province. We used the results (individual characteristics, questions related to conflicts, WVOs, and TPB variables) to analyze and predict the pro-environmental behavior of interviewees in conflict conditions. The results demonstrated that WVOs in total could predict 32% of TPB variables. The attitude and perceived behavior control variables had significant effects on behavioral intention (Respectively, (β = 0.49, p < 0.001) and (β = 0. 21, p < 0.05), and in total, these variables can predict 22% of the pro-environmental behavioral, whereas subjective norms had none. Most notably, combining two theories significantly enhanced the predictive power and comprehensiveness of the ultimate framework for predicting farmers' and ranchers’ pro-environmental behavior. The findings provide a clearer perception of factors driving the non-environmental behavior toward wildlife in conflict situations. So, the TPB and WVOs can be effective tools for investigating and reducing HWC. Also, they can be a basis for developing human-based conflict research in Iran.