نشریه محیط زیست و توسعه
پیاپی 23 (بهار و تابستان 1400)

Environmental education is one of the most important factors in promotion of public awareness about the environment. In particular, educating children will have a deeper impact. This study aims to present a model for evaluating environmental beliefs and attitudes of students and the factors influencing them. The proposed model has three scales. We studied past research, organizational experiences and viewpoints of experts on environmental education. In addition to offering a scale to measure environmental attitudes of students and the factors influencing them, we introduce a comprehensive and important model for such task. This research falls in the descriptive-review category. The results indicate the usefulness of taking three dimensions of the Manly, Johnson and Donloob model (2007) comprising the rights of nature, human liberty, and economic and critical aspects. To measure any of these dimensions it is necessary to use the approved environmental approach for children of Manley, Johnson and Dunlop (2007) and those concerning the relationship between man and nature offered by Lee and Long (2012).

The aim of this study was to investigate the protection level of the prohibited hunting and shooting zone of Kahak and to evaluate the potential of the region to improve its protection level. Firstly, identification and mapping of ecological and socio-economic resources was performed using GIS. Then, ecological data analysis was performed and the map of environmental units was formed through preparing a special ecological model and afterwards zoning of the area was completed and the map of the zones was prepared as planning units. According to the results and the special ecological model, zones for conservation (35.8%), rangeland management (22.46%), extensive recreation (31.44%) and intensive recreation (10.3%) could be identified for the sudy area. We also found no potential for agriculture, aquaculture and urban, rural and industrial development in the area. According to the results we found 27.83, 26.54, 14.88, 13.3, 9.67, 6.42, 0.84 and 0.52 percent of the area suitable for zones protection, extensive recreation, rehabilitation, buffer, strict nature reserve, intensive recreation, special use and other uses, respectively. In the second stage, using the SWOT matrix and the analytical hierarchy process, while identifying the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the region, the best strategy was found to be the treatment of the threats and weaknesses of the region using the strengths and opportunities towards promoting the area to the class protected area. The results of the SWOT model showed preference of taking an aggressive stance, using the opportunities in the region. Finally, considering the capabilities identified in the area, it is suggested that the Kahak No-Hunting area be upgraded to a protected area, namely the fifth IUCN class, named the area under management for landscape protection.

Concrete is the most commonly used material in the construction industry after water because of its special properties. However, the production process of Portland cement has major environmental drawbacks, as it is responsible for 8% of global CO2 emissions (4 billion tons per year). Therefore, it seems necessary to use an alternative to conventional cements (Portland). In recent years, geopolymer has been introduced as a new and environmentally friendly cement agent to replace Portland cement. Geopolymers are chains or networks of mineral molecules linked by covalent bonds and consist of a combination of two main components, the aluminosilicate source (secondary raw material) and the alkaline activating solution. They can have excellent technical properties such as high mechanical strength, good chemical resistance or high thermal resistance. The fact that the good performance of geopolymers can also be achieved by using secondary raw materials such as industrial waste including fly ash or slag has been proven by various studies. This shows the great attention given to this technology. The use of waste to produce geopolymers can not only solve the problem of waste disposal, but also reduce the consumption of secondary raw materials. However, there is limited knowledge about the environmental consequences of geopolymer production. In this paper, an overview of the impacts of geopolymer production from an ecological perspective is presented. In addition, the drivers of the ecological impact of geopolymers are discussed to provide guidance for the development of geopolymer compounds for diverse applications.

In the present age, tourism in general and tourism sustainability in particular have become important issues in the relevant scientific arenas. The economic, social, cultural, environmental and institutional subjects have come to the scene for evaluating the current situation and for realizing sustainable tourism development. It is obvious that achieving tourism sustainability in its various dimensions requires the existence of appropriate global measures, indicators and standards for evaluating tourism condition. In this paper we have endeavored to present an integrated framework of sustainable tourism indicators for measuring sustainability in environmental, economic and social aspects such that it is easy to understand, and technically and economically measurable. The framework provides an understanding of the relationship between tourism and the natural environment and is able to monitor management actions. To this end, the potential impacts of tourism were expressed in five different recreational resources (historical sites, mountainous regions, unique areas, protected areas, islands and coastal areas) and then a framework of 153 indicators (physical-ecological, socio-morphological, economic-political), was divided into 46 indicators of sustainability, 77 sustainable tourism and 30 tourism capacity indicators in accordance with sustainability measurement. The optimal use of these indicators can be important in achieving sustainable tourism development.

In this study, we examined the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of different students of Shahrekord University on the importance of protecting and preserving natural resources and the environment. We also investigated the factors influencing this knowledge, attitudes and behavior. The research falls in the category of documentary-field analyses and data collections was supplemented by questionnaires. The statistical sample included 490 students in all seven semesters of Shahrekord University. Using random-cluster sampling method, 180 students were selected who completed questionnaires. The results of this research indicated good knowledge, attitude and environmental behavior of the students in Shahrekord University. We also found knowledge, attitudes and environmental behaviors of the students in different faculties were significantly different with students of the faculty of Natural Resources and Earth Sciences standing higher than the others. Based on the correlation analysis, the environmental knowledge of individuals was affected by marital status, the environmental attitude was influenced by gender and ultimately, the environmental behavior of students was affected by their city of residence. We also showed the type of high school diploma affected knowledge, attitude, and environmental behavior of university students. According to the results, with increasing environmental knowledge of individuals, we realize improved attitudes and environmental behavior.

Habitat destruction has been one of the main causes of biodiversity loss. Hence, habitat restoration has a very high priority in management of these areas. The aim of this study was to introduce an applied index of habitat availability through integrating two principal components of connectivity and spatial arrangement of habitat patches. The index can be used in monitoring of habitat changes. The used tools and approaches include: suitability and resistance surfaces, patch network based on graph theory and least-cost method. The results indicated a clear picture of habitat changes in Javaher Dasht Protected Area over the years of study during which the habitat availability index was decrease by at least 52%. This index has high potential in ranking of protected areas on region and country scales and for identifying of strategic restoration patches within these areas. This information can be used in managing and redesigning of protected areas in the country.

The purpose of the study was predicting the environmental behavior of athlete students through environmental knowledge and attitudes. The research method was descriptive including correlation analyses and conducted in the field making it an applied research. The statistical population of the research comprised 6000 students participating in 13th Sport-Cultural Olympiad of University Students of whom using  Krejcie and Morgan Table and stratified random sampling 361 persons were selected as the research sample. The research tools were environmental knowledge questionnaire of Salehi and Aghamohamadi (1387) and Salehi and Pazokinejad (1392), Dunlap and Van Liere’s environmental attitude questionnaire (1978), and Salehi and Aghamohamadi’s environmental behavior questionnaire (1387). The validity of questionnaires was approved in different internal researches. The reliability of questionnaires was investigated through Cronbach's alpha and the reliability coefficients for the environmental knowledge questionnaire, attitude, and behavior were respectively calculated at 0.89, 0.76, and 0.78. For data analysis, the descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The results showed that the level of environmental attitudes and behavior of athlete student was a little more than average. However, the level of athlete students’ environmental knowledge was moderate. The results showed no significant relationship between knowledge and environmental attitudes. On the other hand, there was a significant relationship between environmental knowledge and behavior and environmental attitude and behavior. In this connection, the environmental knowledge and attitudes were significant predicators of environmental behaviors of athlete students.

Ecolinguistics intends to show how language relates with the formation, maintenance or destruction of relationships between humans, other living species and the environment. In this descriptive and critical review, we analyze three important approaches in this field of integrated research including the nature of language, the so-called Haugen approach, the bio-linguistic approach, and finally the ecological discourse approach attributted to Halliday. The analysis of these approaches shows that ecolinguistics is more than just a metaphorical attitude to linguistic communication, it is not just the analysis of texts that are directly about nature, and rather ecolinguistics entails the environmental analysis of discourse. The role of ecolinguistics in children is highly important in forming their adolescent identity making them passionate environmental protectionists.

Public participation is recognized as one of the fundamental principles of environmental impact assessment (EIA) and as an integral part of EIA reports without which such reports lose further consideration merit. The aim of the present study was to investigate the methods and levels of public participation in EIA reports in Iran and to compare it with a sample from four countries including South Africa and Pakistan (developing countries), and Australia and the United States (developed countries), five reports from each country. For this purpose, from 130 environmental impact assessment reports in Department of Environment of Tehran Province, 98 reports were randomly selected using Cochran's formula and analyzed through checklists.Findings show that lack of attention to the public participation in EIA procedure in Iran has led to a significant weakness in the quantity, methods and levels of public participation in EIA reports. In this respect only 7.1 percent of the reports in Iran showed limited public participation, while in the four other countries, sufficient attention to the importance of public participation were detected leading to public participation in 95% of the reports. One of the most commonly used methods of attracting public participation in these reports has been holding of public meetings that can, in addition to disseminating information and receiving feedback, raise levels of public participation and empower the participators.

The present paper aims at studying bio-capacity and ecological footprint of five continents and position of Iran in this regard. We used ecological global footprint network in 2021. In terms of bio-capacity, Asia, Africa, Europe, Americas and Oceania have the highest to lowest bio-capacity respectively. Asia with 3,278,060,962 hectares has the top rank and Oceania enjoys the fifth rank. Ecological footprint indicates that Asia, Africa, Europe, Americas and Oceania have left the highest to lowest ecological footprint respectively. Asia with 10,565,813,892 hectares has the top rank and Oceania with 180,360,560 hectares enjoys the lowest rank. Americas leave ecological footprint 5.03 times more that the planetary bio-capacity followed by Oceania (4.45), Europe (2.97) and Asia (1.52) respectively. Africa just enjoys 0.77 of its bio-capacity. Carbon footprint has left the highest footprint in Americas, Oceania, Europe and Asia respectively. With 60,400,000 global hectares, Iran ranks 36th in terms of total bio-capacity among all countries worldwide while in terms of ecological footprint and with 262,000,000 global hectares, Iran ranks 16th. Iranian bio-capacity per person ranks 130th with 0.7 global hectares while its ecological footprint per person is 3.2 global hectares ranking it 78th among all countries. As such, Iran currently encounters 333% of bio deficit.

The new ecocentric paradigm in urban management and planning has led to the recognition of cycling as one of the most important intra-city transportation systems. The present study seeks to achieve a comprehensive explanation of cycling-based green transportation model, its benefits, challenges, and opportunities, through documentary and thematic analysis techniques. A total of 13 challenges and 20 opportunities and solutions were extracted, by a systematic review of 31 national and 20 international studies on cycling-based green transportation. Based on the findings, four macro infrastructure areas were obtained including technical-hardware, educational-promotional, online software and services, and legal aspects. Then the required goals and programs for each area were identified and described. The next step was to focus on Milan C Area by a case study approach. The data obtained from the field observations was analyzed using the semiotic method derived from the map-based platforms. Attempts were made to determine the reasons for Milan Municipality's success in expanding and promoting cycling, by focusing on the details and applying the general propositions of theoretical foundations to field realities. The results of the research were presented in the form of a conceptual model to clarify the findings. The present study provides a picture of the eco-oriented approach achievable for urban transport management that has been successful in practice and can be significant for many metropolitan areas that are at the beginning of changing urban management and planning approaches to eco-base paradigms. Finally, practical suggestions were presented for the four groups of stakeholders including policymakers, education executives, researchers, and, ultimately, the general public, in line with their rights and responsibilities, with a synergistic approach.