مجله پژوهشهای محیط زیست
سال چهاردهم شماره 28 (پاییز و زمستان 1402)

Description of the ecosystems’ characteristic and location plays an important role in terrestrial management, biomes and biodiversity protection. Selection of representative protected areas is possible by identification and classification of ecosystems and their geographical distribution. Moreover, the arrangement and adjacency of ecosystems can be useful in adopting appropriate land use patterns that is effective for land use planning results. In this study, we followed two goals including terrestrial ecosystems identification at national level and analysis of ecosystem structure indices in provinces for protected areas selection. Presence, diversity, and evenness indices, also, Jaccard's similarity coefficient were used. Based on land-climate and vegetation criteria, ecosystems were distinguished. For this purpose, DEM, De Martonne’s classification and vegetation type layers were used and overlaid in the ArcGIS 10.2. Results showed that 21 ecosystems are distinguishable in the country and then according to provinces' analysis, Isfahan gained the first, Semnan, Fars, Kerman, and Golestan the second and Ardebil the third priorities in terms of protected areas selection. Also, based on similarity and dissimilarity indices, the provinces were classified into 12 groups. Patterns of selection of protected areas and capability assessment of ecosystem services for each group will be considered independently.

Of the current issues in land use planning (LUP) in Iran that reduce usefulness of these studies are disagreement over the results of these plans and the difficulty in repeating the process of LUP in the event of changing strategies and decisions. To solve these problems and facilitate the use of LUP schemes by the stakeholders, in this study, a novel management support system was proposed. This system that has been developed over two years, offers a dynamic LUP solution that can be implemented for all provinces. The system was developed using IDRISI software tools focusing on the multi-objective land allocation (MOLA) function and application of Cs-Sharp programming language. Its capabilities include designing new LUP scenarios, compatibility assessment of the proposed land use with the LUP scenario, graphical comparison of land uses before and after LUP, optimized site selection of land use patches under different management scenarios and display of LUP documentation for each county. In this paper, we introduce Golestan Multi-Objective Land Allocation (GMOLA) as the first applied LUP software in Iran.

This study was conducted to investigate the habitat suitability and preference of Capoeta buhsei in autumn and winter in the Jajroud River, Namak Lake basin. For this purpose, in 2013, sampling was performed in autumn (November) and winter (March) in 18 stations from downstream to upstream using an electrofishing device and environmental variables, including altitude, river width, water depth, and velocity, the average diameter of the dominant bedrock, bed slope, pH, EC, TDS, and temperature were recorded. The results showed that the preferred habitat suitability of the studied species in autumn is lower height, depth, slope, width, and velocity, and coarse bed rocks, high temperature, neutral pH, high EC, and medium TDS, and in winter medium height, depth and width, low velocity, high slope and temperature, slightly acidic to neutral pH, low EC, and TDS. The low value of the suitability index for factors of river width, flow velocity, average bedrock diameter, bed slope, water temperature, and EC show the Jajrud River has less proper habitat in autumn than in winter.

Accelerated changes in land use/land cover (LULC) cause changes in environmental dynamics and land degradation. The monitoring and modeling of changes, based on a time-series LULC approach, is fundamental for planning and managing regional environments. The current study analyzed the LULC changes, as well as estimate future scenarios for 2027 and 2037. To achieve accuracy, in predicting LULC changes, the land change modeler (LCM) was used for the Latian Dam Watershed. The LULC time-series technique was specified utilizing four atmospherically-endorsed surface reflectance Landsat images for the years t1 (1987), t2 (1998), t3 (2007) and t4 (2017), to authenticate the LULC predictions to obtain estimates for t5 (2027) and t6 (2037). The LULC classes identified in the watershed were (a) built-areas, (b) vegetated areas, (c) bare lands and (d) water bodies. The dynamic modeling of the LULC was based on a multilayer perceptron (MLP) and artificial neural network (ANN) in LCM. The overal accuracy rate equivalent 80.66, 83.21, 84.32 and 85.12for the years t1 (1987), t2 (1998), t3 (2007) and t4 (2017), and Kappa Index equating to 0.80, 0.82, 0.84 and 0.86 respectively. The results of LULC change analysis showed an increase in the build-up areas; and a decrease in bare lands and vegetated areas within the duration of the study period. The results of this research could help regional planners and managers in the formulation of public policies designed to conserve environmental resources in the Latian Dam Watershed and consequently, minimize the risks of the fragmentation of orchards, vegetated areas and degradation of the valuable resources.

In recent years, the impact of environmental variables on the types of poverty has been considered by environmental economists. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of groundwater resources variables, quadratic groundwater power to consider nonlinear and threshold effects, surface water resources on relative poverty among 30 provinces of Iran in the period 2006-2019. The model used is the Stochastic Dynamic Panel (DPD) model with the Generalized Torque (GMM) method using Arellano-Bover / Bundell-Bond two-stage estimators considering 8 Durbin spatial variables (Durbin). The first spatial interval of relative poverty has also been included in the model in order to consider the spatial effects of the vicious cycle of poverty. The estimated threshold using the Durbin space model is 0.00493 million cubic meters per year. Considering that the quadratic coefficient of extraction is 929/2549, if the water extraction passes above the threshold of 493/1804 million cubic meters per year, the relative poverty line will increase. According to this threshold, the annual water consumption threshold for a population of 80 million people is 39.454 billion cubic meters, while the average extraction of groundwater resources in the above period is equal to 59.927 billion cubic meters, which shows that in throughout the period, Iran has crossed the threshold. Due to the spatial effects, it is suggested that water management policies be changed from political geography management to catchment management.

Destruction of environmention is one of the fundamental social problems of the current era and one of the most fundamental issues addressed in environmental law. The spread of pollution, climate change, ozone depletion, biodiversity loss and the myriad of environmental problems that threaten human life on Earth and severely reduce the quality of life is an undeniable fact that Today's human beings are struggling with that. The purpose of this study is to provide a model for environmental damage in Iranian law. By reviewing the theoretical foundations and obtaining opinions from experts, the issue was categorized into six indicators (air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, noise pollution, oil pollution, radioactive pollution); then, a structured matrix questionnaire was developed to determine the interrelationships of these indicators. The data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed using interpretive structural modeling and plotted on five levels in an interactive network, as a result of which the "air pollution" index was at the highest level. Therefore, given the relatively long history of legislation and regulations related to air pollution in Iran, the survival of this problem can be evidence of the failure of Iranian judicial authorities in this area. However, with the available legal tools, it is possible to prevent violations of laws and regulations related to air pollution, or to punish the perpetrators of violating these laws and regulations and to oblige them to compensate the damages.

In less developed countries and in cities that are rapidly experiencing unbridled physical growth, the problems caused by urbanization in various dimensions affect the residents of these large human settlements. Life in big cities including Tehran in our country is often missing the title of human and human interactions. Therefore, a solution is proposed as an urban pause space to face this challenge. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the current status of the urban pause space for social interactions, The research area was around 15 Khordad in Tehran. The area around 15 Khordad in Tehran has been selected as a case study of this research. The research has been carried out in a descriptive-analytical way using documentary and survey methods. First, the literature and basics of the subject were reviewed to calculate the indicators. Then, referring to the expert community (100 people), these indicators were finalized in the form of three dimensions. In the next step, the current status of these indicators was measured in the field and through observation and interview. The assessment of the current situation showed that the functional dimension with 0.65 is in the best state, the semantic dimension with 0.6 is in the middle category and the physical dimension with 0.58 is in the last category. Conclusion In the end, the trustee institutions can improve the existing situation by establishing street arts, gathering activities, recreational places (parks), games and sports, and the existence of facilities for disabled people.

The primary purpose of park design is to improve the environment, bring together community members, and create a space for fun and entertainment, but the point that has received less attention in the design of parks is to preserve the biodiversity of animal species in cities. Birds tell the ecological situation of their environment. Therefore, in this research, the diversity and richness of bird species in different parks of Mashhad city were evaluated, and the effect of green space variables and land features on the presence of different populations of bird species was evaluated. For this purpose, 11 parks were selected based on the area and spatial distribution suitable for the geographical location. Then, based on the area of the park, between 3 and 92 sampling points were selected and birds were observed up to a radius of 50 meters. Kolmogorov-Smirnov method was used for data normalization and multivariate regression method was used for data analysis in Minitab software. The results of this research showed that by removing the variables with high correlation, the remaining independent variables have a direct effect on increasing the bird’s species richness. As the area of the parks increases, the density of the edge increases and it accommodates a greater variety of birds. With the increase in the age of the park, the age of tree and shrub species has increased, and despite the variety of trees, shrubs and grasses, proper landscaping has resulted in a rich micro-economy, and finally, increased the bird species richness.

The Earth's limited resources can be sustainably maintained by its human population, if are used optimally and in a balanced way. Assessing the ecological land capability examines the ability of the land to support human activities in a sustainable manner and determines the most desirable type of land use by humans. In this study, the assessment of the ecological capability of Sistan plain for agriculture and pasture, urban and rural development, ecotourism, forestry and afforestation, ecological protection and aquaculture land useses in 2019 has been carried out by integrating the multi-factor ecological models of Makhdoum with Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS). Data and information related to 24 ecological, physical, climatic and biological parameters of the region, obtained from satellite images or existing maps, have been processed and analyzed in the environment of remote sensing and GIS software. The results showed that 100% of Sistan plain has ecological capability for protection, 63% for grade 2 of extensive ecotourism and 19% for grade 4 of rangeland and has no suitable potential for other land uses including agriculture and forestry. The results of this study showed the need to pay more attention to conservation measures and reduce agricultural and industrial activities in the Sistan plain. By comparing the ecological capability of the area with its current land use, it was determined that in a large part of the northeastern area, which has the capability for protection, agricultural activities are currently carried out, and in most of the areas that are intended for extensive protection and recreation, there are bare lands, pasture and forest land uses. The results showed the need to pay more attention to protective measures and reduce agricultural and industrial activities in this vulnerable area. Since the process of evaluating the ecological capability often requires spending considerable time and costs, another goal of the research was to combine RS and GIS with the existing ecological models, in order to assess the ecological capability of the Sistan plain. Because it is very effective in speeding up, increasing the accuracy and updating the information and outputs of existing models and finally speeding up the process of land use planning - which is currently one of the most important challenges to achieve sustainable development in Iran.

Today, dust phenomenon is one of the dangerous phenomena in most countries of the world that, hot and dry country like Iran and even its western provinces in Kurdistan are witness to this phenomenon. For this purpose, dust data from ten synoptic stations used in a period of 20 years (2001 to 2021 AD) to investigate the risk of dust in this province. Using the factor analysis method, the months with the highest number of dusty days identified. Then, the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) obtained from the MODIS sensor and Terra satellite analyzed using the Google Earth Engine satellite image processing system. Finally, after validating the index with days with dust, the trend of this index investigated by the Mann-Kendall test method, and maps of temporal and spatial distribution of dust were drawn. The results indicate that the distribution of dusty days in this province affected by eight main factors, the first and second factors are explained respectively; 68 and 13.45 percent of the variance of the number of dusty days in the province. In addition, the months of April to September have the highest dust concentration that in the eastern half of this province; Saqez, Diwandara, Bijar, Qorveh, Dehgolan stations have a positive and increasing trend, and in the western half of the province, Marivan, Bane, Kamiyaran, Sarovabad and especially Sanandaj stations have a decreasing and negative dust trend. In addition, the results showed that, in recent years, larger area of the province has faced an increasing trend in the concentration of aerosols and especially dust. Moreover, the summer season has the highest density and concentration of aerosol conditioners, especially in the months of July and August in this province, and after that, the spring season ranks second. The increase for dust in these two seasons can be due to the establishment of Azores high pressure and the dryness of the air due to low surface humidity in Iran and neighboring countries. Therefore, the results of this research can help urban planners and community health custodians to build culture and improve the education of citizens in dealing with the dust phenomenon, improving environmental conditions, identifying the most suitable travel time and starting tourism activities in Kurdistan province.

Creating sensitivity towards the environment is one of the new concerns of human society, which has gradually turned into a political matter by entering the legal and international arenas. This research has been compiled with the practical purpose of examining the challenges of applying the principles of environmental law to the implementation of oil contracts in the light of the Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment Convention and based on a field research. In this descriptive-analytical research, after library studies, field data have been collected with observation tools, documents and international opinions, which includes the qualitative method. Commitment to care requires governments to prevent transboundary pollution. Of course, this does not mean that they guarantee that no environmental damage will be caused to other countries. The commitment of governments in this regard is a commitment by means of which sufficient measures are taken to prevent cross-border damages. The concept of the principle of payment by the polluter is based on a simple legal logic that the agent of an activity or action that benefits something must also bear the losses caused to the environment. This principle has a very wide scope and has been mentioned in the legal systems of many countries with slight differences, although this principle has been accepted and implemented more prominently in international environmental law than other legal fields.

The growing and diverse trend of human social needs has led to a change in people's attitudes about the environment and natural resources. As a result, the importance of ecological and environmental functions of forest resources is increasing. This change of attitude has led to the development of the philosophy of sustainable and multi-purpose management of forests. The aim of the present study is the spatial zoning of the environmental capability of Kheyrud forest ecotourism based on special environmental model with a sustainable management approach. The ecological, socio-economic and environmental capability models presented for Hyrcanian forests were used as the basis of the present study. After preparing the required layers, the evaluation of the environmental capability was done based on three scenarios of high, medium, and low severity, and a spatial zoning was done. In this research, the smallest planning unit was selected based on the hydrological response units (HRU). The results of the implementation of the special model of the environmental capability of ecotourism, which is the integration of ecological and socio-economic models, showed that the integration of layers in scenarios with high, medium and low severity, for determinitig of suitable areas for ecotourism in the study area is appropriate.

The increase in the growth rate of the world population and the growth of the demand for the use of food resources has led to the development of food production and packaging. The food packaging industry is one of the most abundant industries, therefore it has significant polluting effects on the environment. Evaluating the harmful effects and identifying the origin of these effects in designing effective measures to reduce the harmful effects of this industry through reducing consumption, improving consumable raw materials and recycling is a way forward. With the aim of knowing the environmental effects of the packaging industry based on the life cycle approach, the environmental consequences of this industry have been applied to the vegetable packaging factory located in Dehak industrial town in the west of Tehran province. The destructive effects of this industry have been quantified based on the global ReCiPe method. The results of estimating the environmental effects of the process of food production and packaging (vegetables) in this study have shown the greatest environmental effect among the three groups of effects of resources, ecosystem and human health on human health. The origin of the greatest environmental load in this research has been shown as the source of damage through the investigation of effect groups, greenhouse vegetables and transportation. The results of the list of pollutant emissions obtained from the evaluation of environmental effects based on the life cycle in the studied factory indicate the emission of 2.2 kg due to fossil fuels and 74.7 grams of other activities in the air, the amount of carbon monoxide emission is 132 grams and also 7.96 grams in Air is also 874 milligrams and 2.83 grams in air per production of a package of vegetables (200 grams).

The city of Sari, as one of the most populated cities in Iran, is facing the increasing growth of urbanization, which has led to many transformations in this city. The aim of the current research is the comparative analysis of the effects of vegetation on increasing thermal energy and increasing temperature in Sari city. Considering that the current research has done a comparative analysis of the effects of vegetation on increasing thermal energy and increasing temperature in Sari city in three time periods from 1378 to 1398, it can be said that the community studied in this research was the local situation (temperature and vegetation cover) of Sari city. Is. Also, the data of the current research in the field of air pollutants includes Landsat and Sentinel data. The data analysis of the current research is based on the processing of Landsat and Sentinel satellite data and using ArcGIS and Terrset software. The results of the present research showed that in the above three periods, the temperature of the earth's surface has increased in parallel with the reduction of vegetation in Sari city, and in 1378, with the lowest degrees Celsius from 19 to 32, it reached 23 to 41 degrees Celsius in 1398. And with the reduction of the amount of vegetation based on the constructions and the physical expansion of the city, the temperature has increased significantly. The results of the calculation of the correlation between the surface heat of Sari city areas show that there is a spatial correlation (point to point) of 0.47 between the surface heat energy of Sari city areas in 1378 and 1398, which means that 0.053 of the area of Sari city during The temperature pattern has changed in the last two decades.

Residential and non-residential buildings consume more than 40% of the country's total energy consumption and are considered one of the main energy consuming sectors in the country. Therefore, it seems that there are many potentials for saving energy consumption in this sector through the use of tools and solutions to reduce energy consumption, which attention can create significant economic and financial benefits from the point of view of reducing The pressure on the government budget, reducing air pollution and the resulting environmental challenges are also of great importance.