Hamidreza Jafari Nadoshan; saeideh kalantari; Mehdi Tazeh
Volume 30, Issue 2 , September 2023, , Pages 286-301
Abstract
Background and objectivesSocial and economic studies are important in investigating rangeland destruction. Investigating the role of social and economic issues in rangeland destruction can reduce destruction in this ecosystem. For this reason, this research has been done to identify the most important ...
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Background and objectivesSocial and economic studies are important in investigating rangeland destruction. Investigating the role of social and economic issues in rangeland destruction can reduce destruction in this ecosystem. For this reason, this research has been done to identify the most important socioeconomic factors affecting rangeland destruction in the Niyuk region and prioritize the mentioned criteria using an Analytical Hierarchical process to provide complete information about the causes of rangeland destruction in the region. Considering that no research has been done in this area so far, it increases the necessity of conducting the present research. MethodologyNiuk area is located in Yazd province according to country divisions. In this research, first, by studying the sources and consulting with the relevant experts, the most important socioeconomic criteria involved in the destruction of rangelands in the area were determined, and a questionnaire was designed to score and calculate the weight and priority of these criteria. Enough experts completed it. The region's socioeconomic indicators, criteria, and sub-criteria were identified using experts' opinions and research records, and a hierarchical structure was formed. The main criteria include economic and social indicators. Economic indicators are divided into three sub-criteria: livestock and animal husbandry, cutting and harvesting, and change of land use and plans.The sub-criteria considered for the standard of livestock and livestock farming includes a large number of livestock, indiscriminate grazing of rangelands, type of livestock, change of livestock farming method from traditional to industrial, non-observance of livestock entry and exit time, improper distribution of livestock in the rangelands and improper grazing system. Three main sub-criteria of population, poverty, and institutional factors were identified for social indicators. Three main criteria and 14 sub-criteria were identified for social indicators. ResultsA paired comparison between economic and social indicators showed that economic indicators weighing 0.667 have the priority in destroying rangelands. Social indicators with a weight of 0.333 have second priority. Among the main criteria examined by economic indicators, the sub-criterion of change of use and plans with a weight of 0.683 has been allocated the most. It is below the livestock and animal husbandry standard with a 0.200 weight. It was ranked third for cut and harvest with a 0.177 weight.Among the main criteria of social indicators, the criterion of institutional factors with a weight of 0.637 is the priority, and the factors of poverty and population are in the next ranks with weights of 0.258 and 0.105. The results showed that the sub-criteria of converting rangelands into mines, building access roads to mines, and political interference in natural resources were ranked first to third with weights of 0.176, 0.083, and 0.082. The first two sub-criteria of economic indicators and the third criterion of social indicators are the destruction of rangelands in the Newek region. The sub-criteria of literacy status and age composition of the population with weights of 0.004 and 0.003 were placed in the last priority. These sub-criteria were related to social indicators. ConclusionIt can be concluded that the most important factors of the region's destruction are the change of land use and conversion of rangelands to mines, construction of access roads to mines, institutional factors and interference with natural resources, and lack of integrated management of natural resources. To prevent the destruction of rangelands in the region, it is necessary to minimize the construction of any mines and communication ways related to mines, and it is suggested that considering the activity of mines, the customary rights of pastoralists should be considered and the participation of ranchers in decision-making should be expanded to maximize the possibility of the success of projects with the support of stakeholders.
Mohammad Darvish
Volume 10, Issue 3 , September 2019, , Pages 301-320
Farshad Soleimani Sardoo; Ali Azareh
Volume 26, Issue 1 , June 2019, , Pages 131-142
Abstract
Over the past few decades, there have been many global efforts to combating and mitigating desertification, and one of the most important actions is the United Nations Convention on the combating desertification. The present study aimed to assess the severity of desertification and identify the most ...
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Over the past few decades, there have been many global efforts to combating and mitigating desertification, and one of the most important actions is the United Nations Convention on the combating desertification. The present study aimed to assess the severity of desertification and identify the most important factors affecting land degradation in the Jazmurian basin. In this study, the IMDPA model was used to assess the desertification severity. Due to the time and cost limitations, two criteria for water and climate were selected. At first, by determining the geometric mean of the indices and then the criteria, the total desertification was calculated and the quantitative value of the indices and criteria and the final desertification were divided into four classes: low, moderate, severe and very severe. Then, using GIS, the desertification intensity map of the area was drawn up in the study periods. The results showed that in the study area, the water criterion was dominant and classified with a weighted mean of 3.2 in the sever class. Subsequently, the climate criterion with a weighted mean of 2.4 was in the next rank. The results indicated that the most important desertification indices in the study area were groundwater drop, electric conductivity of water, precipitation, TRANSO Drought Index, Drought Continuity Index and SPI index.
Morteza Mofidi chelan; hosein Barani; Ahmad Abedi sarvestani; javad Moetamedi; Alireza darban Astane
Volume 24, Issue 2 , July 2017, , Pages 309-324
Abstract
Evaluation of environmental-ecological sustainability is considered as one of the most important tools in sustainable development planning process. Therefore, attention to this issue is inevitable in policy-making and planning. There are no definite indices in relation to assessing environmental-ecological ...
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Evaluation of environmental-ecological sustainability is considered as one of the most important tools in sustainable development planning process. Therefore, attention to this issue is inevitable in policy-making and planning. There are no definite indices in relation to assessing environmental-ecological sustainability in rangelands and range allotments. Consequently, developing and validating of environmental sustainability evaluation indices in order to assessing sustainability in range allotments seem to be necessary. In the present study, 40 assessing indices of environmental-ecological sustainability were studied through exploratory interviews and literature review and then were subjected to the judgment of university professionals, experts and local elites using questionnaires. For validation and consensus, in addition to descriptive statistics, Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance was used. Indices like animal diversity, visual quality, sonic pollution level and air pollution level received low scores due to lack of suitability with rangeland allotments in regional scale. Among the indices, the highest and lowest scores were related to rangeland area and air pollution level, respectively. In the present study, 16 indices, as six components, were introduces, which could be a start point for developing a national model of evaluating sustainability indices, creating database of sustainability indices and quantifying them for obtaining sustainable development in natural resources, especially rangelands. Also, executive organizations could apply these indices for improving rangelands and beneficiaries’ condition as well as moving toward sustainability.
masoud masoudi; maryam vahedi; alireza nematollahi; seyed rashid fallah shamsi
Volume 22, Issue 4 , March 2015, , Pages 802-820
Abstract
This research was aimed to present a new model to determine the areas with higher degradation risk through considering various indicators of land degradation and desertification aspects or criteria, namely, natural, human and trend of degradation. For this purpose, two areas were selected in the north ...
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This research was aimed to present a new model to determine the areas with higher degradation risk through considering various indicators of land degradation and desertification aspects or criteria, namely, natural, human and trend of degradation. For this purpose, two areas were selected in the north (Sepidan) and south of the province (Lamerd). These two areas were selected because of their differences in climatic conditions. The final land degradation risk map was produced by overlaying all three natural, human and trend of degradation layers in comparison with the current status of degradation in GIS. The areas under risk were classified into subclasses with different probability level to show a statistical picture of risk in future. In this study, the percentage of risk probability was evaluated according to the trend and potential of degradation. The results showed that the dominant risk class in Sepidan was moderate, in Lamerd the dominant risk class of natural factors was moderate, and in other cases, the dominant risk class was low or no risk. In addition, the comparison of risk assessment in both areas based on the weighted average indicates that the degradation risk of human factors, current degradation trend and finally land degradation risk in Sepidan is sever as compared with Lamerd. In general, degradation risk in Sepidan with a semi humid to humid climate condition is more sever than that of Lamerd with a dry climate.
Saeedeh Nateghi; Gholam reza Zehtabian; Hasan Ahmadi
Volume 19, Issue 4 , March 2013, , Pages 590-600
Abstract
Segzi plain is one of the most critical areas of the province in terms of the extent and severity of desertification process. This area has a special strategic position due to the industrial centers, Shahid Babaee airport, Shahid Beheshti International Airport, railroads, transit road of Bandar Abbas- ...
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Segzi plain is one of the most critical areas of the province in terms of the extent and severity of desertification process. This area has a special strategic position due to the industrial centers, Shahid Babaee airport, Shahid Beheshti International Airport, railroads, transit road of Bandar Abbas- Esfahan, agricultural centers and vicinity to historical city of Esfahan. Consequently, investigation on the main cause of desertification phenomenon is the main objective of this study. Therefore, the IMDPA model was used to study desertification intensity in Segzi plain. In this research, two criteria including geology – geomorphology and soil, consisting of seven indicators (sensitivity of the formation, land use, and slope based upon geology–geomorphology criterion, and soil texture, soil depth, percentage of stone and gravel, and EC based upon soil criterion) were studied. Desertification intensity map was generated by using geometric mean of criteria. With regard to the geometric mean of criteria, soil criterion, with a numerical value of 3.4, and geology – geomorphology criterion, with a numerical value of 3 were classified in severe desertification class. Finally, the severity of desertification (DS) was calculated to be 3.26 indicating that the region was in severe desertification class. Results showed that EC, with an average value of 3.75, was classified as very intense indicator and had the most impact on desertification of the region.
Gholam reza Zahtabian; Mohammad Jafari; Fatemeh Movahedian; Maryam Naeemi
Volume 16, Issue 4 , January 2010, , Pages 468-480
Abstract
Nowadays, desertification as a great problems affect most of the countries in the world especially developing countries. Desertification phenomenon that occurs in arid, semi-arid and dry semi-wet regions will reduce the land potential. For evaluation and mapping of desertification many researches have ...
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Nowadays, desertification as a great problems affect most of the countries in the world especially developing countries. Desertification phenomenon that occurs in arid, semi-arid and dry semi-wet regions will reduce the land potential. For evaluation and mapping of desertification many researches have been conducted leading to regional and local models. In this study MEDALUS model because of easy style and data accessibility and also compatible with the effective indices on land degradation was applied for land degradation intensity mapping with emphasis on soil criterion in Hablerood catchment. So in this study, soil criterion and 6 indices including: EC, Rock fragment, depth and texture of soil, slope, and percentage of soil organic matter were assessed. At the first work units was prepared; in each work unit, one soil profile was dogged (10 profiles) and desired indices were measured in laboratory. Finally, sensitive map of region was extracted using assigned score to each index and geometric average of all indices. Data were analyzed by using spss software and analysis method of various one- way ANOVA. The results showed that, about 4.16 percent of the area is classified under low class and in the level of 0.05 there was no significant differences between indices, and the only significant difference was in the gravel percentage of soil surface in 0.01 levels.
Mohammad Jafari; Fatemeh Panahi; Hasan Ahmadi; Hamid reza Abbasi; Mohammad Musavi; Mohammad ali Zare; Ali Tavili
Volume 13, Issue 3 , February 2006, , Pages 278-283
Abstract
The desertification phenomenon with all the problems it causes , most great effect will remain in soil, so by assessing soil variations we can reach the intensity of desertification. In the Iranian model for desertification assessment some indices including EC, soil depth, soil texture and the amount ...
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The desertification phenomenon with all the problems it causes , most great effect will remain in soil, so by assessing soil variations we can reach the intensity of desertification. In the Iranian model for desertification assessment some indices including EC, soil depth, soil texture and the amount of subsoil gravel are recommended in order to assess the intensity of desertification. Here, we chose fields in different environments such as Soleyman, low desertification risk, Gazeran, desertification risk & Hossein Abad Mish Mast, already desertified field. We selected 5 profiles in each station and studied topsoil and subsoil layers in each profile and measured soil’s physical and chemical properties in the laboratory. We used spilt plots design to regard different properties of soil in each station in topsoil and subsoil and their effects on each other. In order to appoint the desertification potential in each area and in each soil unit we used the formula following: where x is score of soil indicator and x are scores of Ec, depth, and texture and subsoil gravel rate. The obtained results based on this formula indicate that the desertification of each area is moderate. Statistical analysis showed a meaningful difference for gravel and texture. The results of Duncan test selected Soleyman and Gazeran stations in one unit subset. The method used here is designed according to soil information bank and apt to arid and semiarid climate. Of its defects we can point the unreality of its scoring because there is just 4 degrees for the intensity of desertification which limits the range of scoring. Certainly in order to evaluate the desertification phenomenon we should match the results with other sections’ results. Their results will help to precede the desertification evaluation and present indices fit to Iran pattern and conditions.