جمال مصفایی

The comprehensive management of watershed resources is considered as a new principle for planning the development and management of water and soil resources with an emphasis on the social and economic characteristics of the region in order to provide a sustainable livelihood for the vegetation and users of a basin without vulnerability. Although each country has its own conditions, there are similarities in the challenges faced by watershed management, in particular water resource management. Therefore, it is important to examine the experiences of other countries. In this research, the experiences of comprehensive watershed management approaches at the national and transnational levels were reviewed. The main aim of these plans was to improve and preserve water and soil resources, taking into account the improvement of the livelihood of local communities. According to these studies, a comprehensive watershed management approach has resulted in achievements such as attracting people's participation in projects, protecting water and soil and preventing land degradation, increasing the income of basin residents, women's participation, reducing soil erosion, reducing pollution, etc. The use of successful experiences of countries and the presentation and implementation of the compiled model can serve as a guide for decision-making and action in the field of watershed management, thereby promoting the stability and development of the country's watersheds.

Management and planning have different levels, of which the strategy is the highest level and has a long-term approach to resource allocation and decision making. Comprehensive watershed management is one of the reliable and accepted management approaches of the world community, which is a coordinated management of physical, biological, social and economic systems. The SWOT model is one of the strategic planning models. Due to its structural features and extensive capabilities, this model can easily be used in the management of diverse natural and human systems, including watershed management. SWOT analysis identifies threats and opportunities in the external environment of a system and to recognize internal weaknesses and strengths of that system. The correct identification of the problems in the field is also one of the most important steps in implementing this approach. The SWOT model can be used in comprehensive watershed management due to strategic planning because of its flexibility and ability to understand cause and effect relationships.

The watershed as a planning and management unit considering all socio-economic, physical, ecological, technical and organizational dimensions, has been accepted by the scientific community, which is being damaged and degraded due to the stresses caused especially by climate change and human activities. In such a way that climate  and land use change, damage to biological diversity, inceasing waste water and soil erosion along with many other issues indicate inappropriate human intervention. Therefore, the effective management of watersheds requires understanding the connections between its different components and dynamics in order to achieve the desired output. Apparently, the most fundamental step in watershed management plans is to recognize the potential threats to find out their causes and, as a result, identify the main management solutions. Therefore, before formulating work plans, it is necessary to investigate the root of the threats and determine the management scenarios.

The purpose of this research is to determine the management options using the DPSIR approach, which first identifies the problems of the watershed and then provides management responses. In this approach, the investigated components are driving forces, pressure, situation, impact, response and the relationship between them. Prioritizing the components through the preparation of a Likert scale questionnaire based on a descriptive-analytical study, library studies, holding meetings with experts, watershed residents, village councils, asking questions, discussing, exchanging opinions, visiting the area and the use of Friedman's test has been done.

The findings of the research show that five effective driving forces in the watershed have caused 12 influential pressures, which have resulted in four situations and nine important effects that have resulted in 18 responses. Moreover, the result shows that out of the five influential driving forces in the watershed, the development of orchards and agriculture and climate change are the most important and influential factors with an average rating of 3.74 and 3.16, respectively, which cause pressure on the watershed and reduce the natural vegetation of the area. Overgrazing, excessive exploitation of water and soil resources are important pressures that lead to increasing soil erosion, flooding, and also a decrease in water yeild of the region, which will result in a decrease in fodder production, habitat destruction, and increase in the living costs of the communities in the watershed area. Therefore, the response to these components, including the consequences and pressures, and consistent management practices can provide promising results in improving the watershed, environment, and current communities.

The results of providing educational and extension programs of natural resources behavior, employment generation and creating alternative jobs, watershed management measures at the with an average rating of 12.7, 12.16 and 12.04 were the most important solutions in this research

The cycle of soil erosion (including removal, transport and deposition) that controls the sedimentation of watersheds, includes a set of complex and highly nonlinear processes. On the other hand, the factors influencing sedimentation in watersheds are very diverse, and according to the specific conditions of climate, soil, vegetation, geology, topography, etc., in each basin, the weight and role of each of the mentioned factors in sediment production is very different. Accurately determining and measuring these factors and making mathematical relationships between them are often difficult, expensive, time-consuming and error-prone, and this is the case with the use of models based on computational intelligence and the use of a limited number of basin dynamic variables, it is possible to simulate the behavior of the watershed in sediment production. Regardless of the type of intelligent models, in most of the conducted research (especially in internal research), the simulation of suspended sediment is mainly based on the discharge variable and the role of variables such as precipitation (especially precipitation obtained from satellite images), which are effective in the sedimentation of basins, have received less attention. In addition to precipitation, the skewness of sediment measurement data is also one of the issues that lack of recognition and attention will reduce the efficiency of estimator models. In the present study, the role of variable daily rainfall (taken from CHIRPS satellite) in the simulation of suspended sediment of Qarachai River has been investigated.

Multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network was used in order to simulate the daily suspended sediment concentration of Qarachai River (at the Ramian hydrometer station in Golestan province). In this regard, the variables of discharge and previous discarge (in instantaneous and daily scales) as well as the average daily and previous rainfall of the basin (taken from CHIRPS satellite) for a statistical period of 37 years (1980-2017) as variables model input was used. In order to increase the generalization power of the models, self-organized mapping neural network (for data clustering) and gamma test was used to find the best combination of input variables. In order to improve the efficiency of network training, a variety of activation and loss functions as well as the overfitting prevention algorithm were used. In order to investigate the effect of using activation and loss functions in suspended sediment estimation, different scenarios were considered, which led to the construction of 9 models. After that, using validation indicators, the effectiveness of the models in simulating suspended sediment was investigated and compared, and then the best model was selected.

The results obtained from the present research showed that among the different models, the neural network model with Huber's activation function and ReLU loss function, having the average absolute value of the error equal to 368 mg/l, the root mean square error equal to 597 mg per liter, the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of 0.87 and the percent bias -2.2% were selected as the best model. The results also showed that the use of the rainfall variable (as one of the important factors in causing erosion and sediment transfer in the basin) has improved the efficiency of the models, therefore, considering the ease of using CHIRPS satellite rainfall data, it is suggested in order to simulate the suspended sediment of rivers, this data is also used along with other predictive variables.

In the simulation of suspended sediment, discharge variable is often used as the only predicting variable of suspended sediment, while in basins with rainy, or rainy-snow regimes, the role of precipitation in the production of surface runoff and soil erosion is very important and plays an important role in the production and transport of sediment in the basin. In this regard, although the use of rainfall data obtained from ground rain gauge stations has played an effective role in increasing the efficiency of data-based models in estimating suspended sediment, however, the preparation of hundreds of spatial distribution layers of daily rainfall from the data point data of ground stations, the use of this variable in the simulation of the suspended sediment of the basin has been faced with many problems (such as the lack or inappropriateness of the spatial distribution of rain gauge stations, statistical deficiencies, the use of inappropriate interpolation methods and time-consuming calculations). Therefore, in practice, the variable of river flow is often used as a predictor of sediment, and precipitation is used less often. One of the solutions to the problem mentioned in the present study is the use of CHIRPS satellite data, which was investigated for the first time in this study. These data, available since 1981, can easily be used to simulate suspended sediment or other applications related to watersheds. Another important point that needs to be taken into account in the simulation of suspended sediment is the presence of high skewness in sediment measurement data (both suspended sediment and flow rate), which lack of attention in the process of training (or recalibration) and testing the models leads to It will lead to the construction of weak models in terms of efficiency and the existence of uncertainty in the accuracy of their results. In this regard, it is necessary to use logarithmic transformations or suitable functions of activation and loss in the training process, which in this research, two functions, ReLU and Huber, were proposed respectively. Another important point is to pay attention to the generalization power of data-based models, which is largely dependent on the data used in their calibration or training process. These data should be selected in such a way that while they are representative of the data in the entire statistical period, they are similar and have the same distribution with other data sets (such as cross-validation or test sets). According to the results obtained from the present research and in order to increase the efficiency of artificial neural network models in estimating the suspended sediment of watershed hydrometric stations, it is suggested to use the experiences obtained in this research in other sediment measuring stations of the country.

One of the important natural hazards is land subsidence. This phenomenon has also been observed in Iran due to the indiscriminate extraction of underground water resources, and unfortunately, more areas are exposed to it. The DPSIR tool or Driving Force, Pressure, State, Impact, Response framework is a tool that describes environmental problems through cause and effect relationships between human activities and the environment. This framework provides a background to combine different types of indicators and considers not only the environmental effects but also the economic and social effects resulting from changes in the status of ecosystems. The purpose of this research is to present the cause and effect relationships for the most important issues and problems of the risk of land subsidence in one of the important and critical plains of Fars province (Seydan-Farooq) and the most appropriate management responses using the DPSIR tool. and provide non-management to improve the current situation.

First, the problems of Seydan-Farooq Plain were determined based on library studies, asking experts and referring to the region, and based on this, possible strategies were determined. Then, the DPSIR tool was used to identify the cause and effect relationship analysis between the factors that determine the characteristics affecting land subsidence in the plain, and the DPSIR table was prepared for the risk of land subsidence in this plain. In order to prioritize and determine the importance of the problems, pressures and management strategies of the plain, a Likert scale questionnaire was used as a measurement tool and 40 experts were surveyed. Friedman's test was used to rank the items and Cronbach's alpha method was used to check the reliability of the questionnaire using SPSS version 22 software. Then Friedman's test was used for two-way analysis of variance by ranking and also comparing the average ranking of different groups using SPSS software.

The ranking of the items of the driving force component in Seydan-Farooq plain of Fars province showed that the range of the average values of the ratings varies from 1.86 to 4.45. The ranking of the items shows a significant difference in the items of the driving force component, so that the item "Population" with an average rating of 4.45 and also the item "Development of Industries" with an average rating of 1/86, it has been ranked first and fifth respectively. Therefore, in the "driving force" component, according to the factors: population, agricultural development, garden development, climate change and industrial development, the highest priority in intensifying the risk of land subsidence in this plain. assigned Regarding the ranking of the pressure component items, the range of the difference in the average values of the ratings in the pressure component varies from 1.25 to 5.40. The ranking of the items showed a significant difference in the items of the pressure component, so that the item "withdrawal from the underground water table in the agricultural sector" with an average rating of 5.40 and also the item "withdrawal from "Underground water table in the domestic sector" with an average rating of 1.25 has been ranked first and sixth respectively. Therefore, in the "pressure" component, according to the factors: withdrawal from the underground water table in the agricultural sector, failure to comply with the environmental rights of the aquifer, decrease in rainfall, withdrawal from the underground water table in the garden sector, From the underground water table in the industrial sector and the withdrawal from the underground water table in the domestic sector, they have assigned the highest priority in intensifying the risk of land subsidence in this plain. The average values of the ranks in the response component vary from 2.35 to 5.75. The ranking in the items of the response component also shows a significant difference, so that the item "increasing irrigation efficiency" with an average rating of 5.75 and also the item "nutrition" Point of water in the plain" with an average rating of 2.35 has taken the first and sixth place, respectively. Therefore, in the "response" component, in the order of the factors: increasing irrigation efficiency, changing the cultivation pattern, controlling the harvesting of authorized wells, aquifer operations, blocking unauthorized wells, cultural measures and spot nutrition. Water in the plain has the highest priority in reducing the risk of land subsidence in this plain.

Conclusion and Suggestions :

Five driving forces (D) have caused six pressures (P) on the water resources of this plain, the most important of which are "withdrawal from the underground water table in the agricultural sector" and "not respecting the environmental rights of the aquifer". are The pressures, in turn, have created a disordered (S) situation (dropping of the water table) in this plain. This situation has two adverse effects (I) "land destruction" and "aquifer destruction". In order to improve the situation, seven management responses (R) were presented, the most important of which are "increasing irrigation efficiency" and "changing the cultivation pattern". In the current situation, it is not possible to stop the pressures; However, their adjustment and modification should be specially considered by planners and managers. It is worth mentioning that if these cases are not corrected, there will still be pressures (P) and will lead to more critical conditions than the existing situation (S) and finally, its effect (I), destruction of lands, aquifers. and the destruction of water and soil resources of this plain will be more. Due to the fact that the executive structure of the country's natural resources management is more in line with the components of pressure (P) and situation (S); It is suggested to develop suitable, practical and operational answers (R). It is also necessary to pay serious attention to the preventive approach in reducing the risk of land subsidence; Because, unfortunately, this matter has not been paid attention to in the country. Therefore, it is suggested to consider and implement a preventive approach that both understands the driving forces (D) and prevents the implementation of policies that cause pressure.

Dust event is one of the natural events that occur widely in the world, especially in dry areas. One of the main and effective factors in the occurrence of this phenomenon is the geographical location and climatic conditions of the regions affected by this phenomenon. The purpose of this research is to analyze the cause-and-effect relationships of dust events in Hendijan region with the approach of the Driver-Pressure-Situation-Effect-Response (DPSIR) framework. 

The DPSIR process is an analysis based on the "cause-disability" relationship of factors for policy-making and management planning. The DPSIR framework is a systems thinking framework that assumes cause-and-effect relationships between environmental and socio-economic systems. This conceptual framework uses a cycle of causes and results for the proper integration of basic economic, social and environmental data and information, specifies the relationship between environmental processes and human factors, and also leads to an understanding of the relationship between policy levels and environmental studies. The trend of each component of DPSIR was also evaluated by applying quantitative criteria for the time period of 2007-2019. 

The results of the research showed that the total index of all DPSIR components has an upward trend for the studied period. The slope of the trend related to D, P, S, I and R components was equal to 0.06, 0.03, 0.02, 0.05 and 0.02, respectively. Although some responses were made to reduce the influence of others. The components of DPSIR have been adopted to improve the dust situation, but the research results and the process of changes showed that they were not sufficient and integrated. In this research, a variety of answers related to the components of the driving force, pressure, situation, and effects were identified. The results showed that dust concentration and dusty days in the region increased during the study period and more attention was paid to reactive responses and less focus on preventive responses. Also, paying attention to the response of increasing the efficiency of irrigation due to the high correlation between the state of dust concentration and pressure factors such as the amount of rainfall, soil moisture, and exploitation of water resources in the research area, special attention to the development of water extraction systems as one of the most important responses. Management issues due to the existence of negative and high correlation with the dust situation during the years of research, adequate and sustainable supply of water resources by reducing and minimizing the diversion dams downstream of the Kowsar and Ask dams due to the increase in dust concentration with the increase of flood diversion operations and construction Reservoir and diversion dams since 2009, Considering the water rights of wetlands in the region with the aim of preventing wetlands from drying up and creating a dust center, especially in the west of Hendijan city, and carefully choosing the appropriate plant species, as well as carrying out desertification operations (planting saplings, mulching, building windbreaks). With the ecological conditions of the region, due to the negative correlation between the desertification operation and the reduction of dust concentration since 2014, it can help to improve the dust situation in the research area. 

In this regard, it is recommended to respond to driving forces (D) and pressures (P) so that while improving the conditions and adverse effects caused by it, the drivers and pressures that create the current situation can also be controlled. Based on this, the incomplete implementation of the answers is another reason for not achieving management goals and making the situation and the number of dusty days more unfavorable. It is also suggested to implement the integrated watershed management program in Hendijan city through the development of a joint water, agriculture, and natural resources program upstream of the watershed in order to clarify the effective measures of the water production, distribution, and consumption chain in the upstream lands.

People's participation in watershed development projects is an important factor in their success or failure. Therefore, in any watershed, it is necessary to identify the factors affecting the weakness of public participation. Previous studies have rarely analyzed the factors preventing people's participation. One of the most important measures that can be taken to remove barriers to the participation of local communities in watershed management projects (biological, mechanical, biomechanical, and managerial operations) is to identify, categorize and rank the factors that weaken their participation in these projects. The purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize these factors in the Ninehroud watershed of Qazvin province. A comparison was also made between the views of experts and the local community's viewpoints on the importance of these factors.

Ninehrood watershed with an area of ​​12,336 hectares is located 30 km northeast of Qazvin. Detailed-executive studies of this watershed were approved by the technical committee of the Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization of Qazvin province in 2006 and various biological, mechanical, biomechanical, and managerial projects were implemented during the years 2009 to 2016. Identifying the factors affecting the weakness of public participation in the watershed management projects was done based on questions from experts, visits to the area, and face-to-face interviews with residents, as well as previous studies. These factors were classified into four managerial, economic, social, and educational-promotional categories which totally include 18 sub-indicators. In this study, the data collection tool was two types of questionnaires including pairwise comparisons and Likert scale questionnaires were designed and their validity was confirmed by a group of experts. In order to know the views of local communities about the importance of these factors, according to Cochran's formula, 298 samples were selected from 1323 household heads in the watershed, and questionnaires were completed. To find out the views of experts on the importance of these factors, questionnaires were also completed by 19 experts. The reliability of the questionnaires was assessed by Cronbach's alpha test. Then, the FAHP technique and Friedman test were applied respectively to prioritize the indicators and sub-indices preventing public participation in watershed management projects.

The results showed that from the perspective of both groups, managerial and economic indicators had a greater role in weak public participation than social and educational-promotional indicators. The results also indicated some differences in the importance of the sub-indices from the perspective of the two groups. From the experts' perspective, "lack of full allocation of operating funds on time" and "local and tribal disputes" with an average rank of 13.72 and 7.03 had the most and least importance respectively. This is while the watershed residents have introduced "Non-matching of proposed projects with their needs" and "lack of full allocation of operating funds on time" with an average rank of 14.96 and 3.98 as the most and the least important sub-indicators respectively. From the perspective of both groups, three sub-indicators including the lack of multipurpose projects design, the concentration of decision-making power at headquarters, and the lack of employing local laborers in project implementation (Employment), were also ranked as the first six priorities which have had more role in the weak participation of people.

In general, the results of this study showed some similarities in the views of the two groups on some of the participation barriers, but in some cases, there were significant differences. Therefore, group decision-making with the presence of local communities on watershed management projects is proposed as a way to converge the views of these two groups.

Landslide risk assessment is essential for all landslide damage mitigation plans. The purpose of this research is to assess the risk of landslides in the Shahrood watershed of Qazvin province. First, the landslide susceptibility map was prepared using fuzzy operators. the landslide distribution map and also 11 effective factor layers including slope, slope direction, altitude, land use, lithology, distance to road, distance to stream, distance to fault, earthquake acceleration, precipitation, and maximum daily precipitation were first prepared. After determining the frequency ratio and fuzzy membership values for the map classes of different factors, the landslide susceptibility map was prepared using different gamma values. Then, after preparing the fuzzy map of vulnerability for different land use units, the amount of landslide risk was determined from the product of two maps of landslide susceptibility and vulnerability. In general, 104 landslides with a total area of 1401 hectares were recorded in this region, 70% of which were used for modeling (73 landslides with an area of 982 hectares) and the remaining 30% (31 landslides with an area of 418 hectares) were used to assess the accuracy. The evaluation results showed that the highest value of Qs index (equal to 1.34) belongs to the gamma equal to 0.93 and therefore this model has higher accuracy than other gamma values. The importance of features at risk ranges from 0.05 (no coverage) to 1 (residential and industrial areas). To deal with landslide damages, three general policies including suitable for development, prevention, and treatment were proposed, which should be applied based on the two factors of risk and vulnerability for different areas of landslide risk. Finally, in order to reduce landslide damages, suitable land uses for high-risk regions were introduced.

Landslide is one of the most destructive types of erosion on slopes, which causes a lot of financial and human losses. Identifying the effective factors in landslide occurrence and preparing a landslide hazard zonation map is one of the basic tools to manage and reduce potential damage. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of fuzzy gamma operators and landslide hazard zonation in the Qezelozan watershed of Qazvin province. The landslide inventory map and also 11 effective factors including slope, slope direction, altitude, land use, lithology, distance to road, distance to stream, distance to fault, earthquake acceleration, precipitation, and maximum daily precipitation were first prepared. Then, the values of frequency ratio and fuzzy membership were calculated for each class of effective factors. In the next step, the landslide susceptibility maps were produced using fuzzy gamma operators. A total of 17 landslides were identified, 70% (11 landslides with an area of 153 hectares) of which were used to model and 30% (6 landslides with an area of 60 hectares) of which were used to evaluate the results of the models. The evaluation process using Density Ratio and Sum of Quality indices showed that the gamma of 0.96 has higher accuracy than other gamma values in the study area. The landslide hazard zoning map of the superior model will be useful in land use planning and reducing the landslide risk of the region.

Since flood dwindles the assets of local communities in villages and cities by destroying agricultural products, infrastructure, buildings, and machinery, flood management is an absolute necessity for rural development. Accordingly, one of the basic strategies to control and mitigate floods in this province is to identify issues in the upstream areas and provide appropriate management responses to tackle them. Our objective can therefore be stated as follows: (A) Identifying, prioritizing and determining the trend of changes in the factors affecting flood potential in Khorramabad watershed during statistical periods, and (B) proposing and evaluating appropriate management solutions to mitigate driving forces and pressures, improve the state and reduce the relevant impacts.

The Khorramabad watershed constitutes a major part of the Kashkan basin, surrounding Khorramabad County. The study area covers 1609 km2. In this research, the issues of the watershed were identified based on the literature review, questions from experts and also field visits to further formulate possible coping strategies. The conceptual model included the components of driving force, pressure, state, impact and response. Based on expert opinions, a conceptual causal-effect diagram of flood in the region was designed. Appropriate indicators were defined and quantified for each component of the model. Prioritization problems as well as to determine the most important management strategies for watershed flood management in Khorramabad, the expert opinion was used. For this purpose, a Likert scale questionnaire was used as a measurement tool. And the Friedman test was used for ranking. Also, the trend of changes in each of the DPSIR components was evaluated to evaluate the problem in time periods.

Results showed that forests and pastures area has decreased by nearly 5% from 2003 to 2019. At the same time, cultivations have grown significantly by about 4%, where most of the forest and rangeland areas have been converted into agricultural lands and the natural vegetation cover of the region has been significantly reduced. The remaining one percent is devoted to the expansion of cities and villages from 3.3 in 2003 to 4.2 in 2019.According to the obtained results, the driving force of climate change (average ranked 2.93), population pressure (average ranked 2.78), and traditional livestock (average ranked 2.45) have the most important effect on the occurrence of floods, which in turn leads to reduced vegetation and land use change. The combination of these factors has caused the production of runoff and flood discharge in the region to increase sharply and the human and financial damages to increase every year. To combat this phenomenon, policies have been proposed by experts that are being implemented or can be implemented. The general results of this study show that the trend of flooding in this watershed is increasing, the pressure caused by driving forces, especially the number of surplus livestock in the watershed (with an average rank of 3.15) is intensifying. Managers' ability to reduce the power of the driving forces was very limited and the policies introduced were not able to response the need. Natural resource management protection measures (average ranked 4.95) and government financial support for flood compensation (average ranked 4.73) are the first and second ranks of managerial responses, respectively.

 Indicators for the pressure component include road development, drought, excessive livestock grazing, and poor land management. Accordingly, the road network has expanded in the region over time. Road development is one of the general policies of any country to be able to access remote areas and to simplify their development. In this research, consulting experts introduced various policies that have been implemented or could be implemented to improve the watershed’s condition. Response policies introduced included depopulation, promoting modern livestock production methods, coping management programs including structural and biological methods, and finally providing flood mitigation assistance grants. Based on the pairwise comparisons, depopulation and modern livestock production methods are the two top management priorities in the region. But as was mentioned earlier, the pursued policies have failed to control the maximum flood discharge. As the weight of the driving force component suggests, the introduced responsive policies are either insufficient or ineffective in lowering flood risk in the watershed.

Watershed management in Iran requires a new attitude toward its management patterns. The implementation of existing sectoral policies in the country has increased the pressure on the quality and quantity of valuable natural resources. However, in the current situation, the country's watersheds, with their current management patterns, are still in unstable situation.The existing management challenges suggest the fact that watershed management is still facing a major crisis in Iran and has not been able to improve the health status of watersheds. Structural weakness of organizations, weakness of rules, lack of evaluation, monitoring and accurate monitoring can be the main root of these problems. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to address the necessary to conceptualize integrated watershed management approaches by collecting available documentation and findings. Then, the structure and administrative framework with appropriate strategies have been formulated based on identifying effective factors in the success and failure of managerial patterns. Changing the attitude from an island approach to an integrated approach in watershed management, increasing the internal and external cohesion of organizational structures, utilizing stakeholder participation-oriented management models and formulating relevant supporting laws are effective factors in the effective implementation of integrated watershed management. Increasing the sustainability, resilience and health of watersheds depends on the implementation of the principles of integrated watershed management.The achievements of this study can be a clear policy for managers and politicians in the country's natural resources.

Landslides are one of the most destructive types of erosion on slopes, which causes a lot of financial and human losses. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of landslide potential zoning models in Qazvin province and to provide management strategies to reduce landslide risk. The proposed relationships of this model were used for the Haeri-Samiei experimental model. For the statistical model, after preparing the layers of effective factors (land use, slope, slope direction, height, etc.) and cutting them with a landslide distribution map, the area and percentage of landslide in each floor were determined from the effective factors map. Then, using the frequency ratio, the importance of each class of effective factors was calculated and a map was prepared based on the importance of effective factors in the GIS environment. Finally, to prepare a landslide hazard map, the maps were grouped together based on the rate of factors and classified according to the method of intervals equal to seven floors. Density ratio and total utility indices were used to evaluate the efficiency of the models and select the superior model. The results showed that the bivariate statistical model with Qs equal to 0.938 has a higher accuracy than the Haeri-Samiei model with Qs equal to 0.622. To reduce damage and manage landslide risk, three non-action management policies for low risk classes, prevention for medium risk classes and treatment for high risk classes were considered and some necessary measures were provided for each management policy.

Understanding the barriers in achieving people¢s persistent participation, resolving problems and participating in watershed management plans have an important role to play in increasing the effectiveness of the watershed management plans and reducing the related costs. Arad district is located in Ray County, the Province of Tehran, and is one of such areas where has been implemented the operational proposals from detailed studies of watershed management implemented. Several factors may contribute to a lack of people¢s participation in watershed management plans. These factors were identified by experts based on desk studies, queries from experts, as well as face-to-face interviews with residents of the area as four indicators and 11 sub-indicators, whereby their validity were confirmed by experts. These indicators were prioritized based on the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method as well as the Friedman nonparametric test based on the expert group (28 experts) and the residents based on the sample size derived from Cochrane's formula (220 locals). The two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was also used to examine the agreement of the two views on the importance of the items. The range of consistency ratio of judgments and Cronbach's alpha varied from 0.035 to 0.079 and 0.710 to 0.815, respectively. Accordingly, the priority of effective indicators and sub-indicators on a lack of people participation from the viewpoint of expert and residents from the importance of high to low were determined and an agreement of the views was established. It is suggested that the solutions to remove the barriers of participation, be considered in the future detailed studies of watershed management in the study area based on the priorities presented in this investigation.

Peoples’ participation in watershed development projects, in addition to reducing operating costs, can lead to more effective project implementation. Various factors causes the lack of public participation in watershed development projects. The purpose of this study was to identify, classify and prioritize these factors based on local people as well as experts viewpoints in Niarij watershed of Qazvin province. So first, these factors were identified and categorized based on the previous studies, interviews with experts, and residents and stakeholders of the watershed. Then,  pairwise comparisons and likert questionnaires were prepared as a measuring tool and the validity of the questionnaires was confirmed based on the opinions of the experts. In the next step, the sample size was determined by Cochran formula and the questionnaires were completed. Finally, the indicators and sub-indicators which preventing the participation of the people were prioritized using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process and Friedman Test. The results showed that, from the perspective of both groups of experts and peoples, management and economic indicators have a greater role in preventing people participation in relation to social and educational indicators. The results were also indicated some differences in the importance of the sub-indices from the perspective of the two groups. From the expertschr('39') perspective, "lack of full allocation of operating funds on time" and "local and tribal disputes" are the most and least important, respectively. But from the local communities point of view, the sub-indices " lack of stakeholders consultation in the design and development of projects" and "mistrust about the benefits of projects " are ranked as the most and least important, respectively. The overall conclusion is that factors such as stakeholder consultation, decentralization of decision-making from the headquarters, NGOs activities and training of local communities along with the considering the benefits of stakeholders, and multi-purpose projects can provide the basis for local peoples’ trust and will result in participation of people in the watershed development projects.

Recognizing watershed problems and investigating the causes which arose them is the most fundamental step in watershed management plans, which results in identifying key management responses in each watershed. Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly analyze the problems and determine management strategies before developing operational plans to solve them. The aim of this study was to analyze the environmental problems of the Gorganrood Basin to determine the main managerial responses. Identifying and analyzing the main environmental problems resulted in developing management responses for the region. To prioritize different components of the DPSIR, a Likert questionnaire filled with expert opinions and the Friedman test were used. The results indicated that four driving forces, namely climate change, population growth, management structure, and rules have caused 25 pressures on the Gorganrood Basin resources. The most important pressures were part-thinking organizations, incorrect agricultural expansion and excessive exploitation of water resources. These pressures, in turn, have caused 10 disturbed states, the most important of which are water resources depletion, flooding and soil erosion. These situations have 13 adverse impacts, the most important of which are flood damages, reduced downstream water rights and reduced public confidence in the government agencies. To improve the situation, 28 management responses were presented, of which the most important are integrated watershed management, land use planning and proper organizational structure. The overall result is that cause and effect analysis using the DPSIR framework provides an appropriate conceptual infrastructure, which is a prerequisite for developing the Basin's operational management plan. Therefore, it is suggested that executive organizations identify suitable responses by using this approach before developing operational plans for each watershed.

The desertification process, by reducing the biological production potential, leads to the destruction of ecosystems. In this research, to assess the role of edaphic factors on desertification in rangelands surrounding Eshtehard, Halgh-e-Darreh highlands, first, the map of units was created by crossing maps of slope classes, land uses, and geology using ArcGIS 10.3 software. Three indices of erodibility, salinity and permeability for each land unit were considered and classified. 185 and 179 samples were taken during 2018 and 2019 for indices of salinity and permeability for zoning of  the study area, respectively. Then, weights of indices and consistency ratio were calculated by the AHP method. Method of multicriteria optimization and compromise solution, VIKOR method was used to prioritize the alternatives. After calculating the weighted normalized values, priority was given to desertification potential of the units. Also, the results of AHP showed that from the experts' point of view, salinity is the most important factor in desertification. Other factors such as susceptibility to erosion and permeability coefficient are in the next rank order, respectively. The AHP-VIKOR model has very high degree of adaptation to the corresponding classes in the control map. The percentage of compliance and non-compliance of the classes of the potential of desertification risk were 92.91% and 7.09%, respectively. The range of changes of Vikor index based on AHP-VIKOR method varies from 0.443 to 0.967. Accordingly, the study area has three classes of potential or severity of desertification areally 0.5% moderate, 7.06% high and 92.43% very high class respectively.

One of the natural and common hazards in recent years is the phenomenon of dust, which causes damage, especially to urban and human environments, and is very difficult to control and manage. One of the main and effective factors in the occurrence of this phenomenon is the geographical location and climatic conditions of the regions of origin and the areas affected by this phenomenon. In this research, which has been done in Hindijan City of Khuzestan Province, first, issues and problems have been identified based on library studies, questions from experts, referring to the research area. Then, the Driving force-Pressure-Status-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework was used to analyze the most important factors that have caused the occurrence of dust in the city of Hindijan. The DPSIR framework is an analysis of the "cause-effect" relationship of factors for policy-making and management planning. In this study, the factors related to each of the components of the DPSIR framework were identified and prioritized using a questionnaire of experts with a Likert scale and based on nonparametric Friedman tests. Explain that, to complete the questionnaire of experts, experts from the Departments of Natural Resources, Environment, Regional Water and Agricultural Jihad of Khuzestan Province were surveyed. Results showed that population growth, agricultural development, livestock development, industrial development and climate change are important from maximum to minimum, respectively, the most important drivers affecting the occurrence of dust in the study area. Attention to both reactive and preventive responses has an important role in improving the situation and reducing the adverse effects of dust occurrence in the research area.

Landslide is one of the most destructive types of erosion on slopes, which causes a lot of financial and human losses. Since it is difficult to predict the occurrence of landslides, it is very important to identify landslide-sensitive areas and the zoning of these areas based on the potential risk of this phenomenon. Evaluation of landslide susceptibility is one of the basic tools for managing and reducing potential damages. The present study has attempted to assess the efficiency of various fuzzy gamma operators for landslide susceptibility zonation in Taleghanroud watershed of Qazvin province. Therefore, the landslide distribution map and also 11 effective factor were first prepared which include layers including slope, slope direction, altitude, land use, lithology, distance to road, distance to stream, distance to fault, earthquake acceleration, precipitation, and maximum daily precipitation. A total of 15 landslides were identified, 70% of which were used to model and 30% of which were used to evaluate the results of the models. Then, after determining the values of Frequency Ratio and fuzzy membership for different classes of effective factors, landslide susceptibility maps were produced using fuzzy gamma operators (for gamma values equal to 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 , 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 and 1). The evaluation process using Density Ratio and Sum of Quality indices showed that the gamma of 0.7 has higher accuracy than other gamma values in the study area. The landslide hazard zoning map of the superior model will be useful in land use planning and reducing the landslide risk of the region. Keywords: Fuzzy membership values, Frequency Ratio, Hazard zoning, Density Ratio, Sum of Quality. Extended Abstract

Landslides are one of the most destructive types of erosion on slopes, which causes sediment, muddy floods, filling dam reservoirs, and also lots of damage to engineering structures, residential areas, and agricultural lands. Due to landslide damage, it is necessary to prepare a landslide susceptibility zoning map using appropriate methods, especially in areas that are prone to landslides. These types of maps are among the basic and essential tools for managing and reducing possible damages of this phenomenon. The method of gamma fuzzy operators is one of the relatively conventional and new methods for landslide susceptibility zoning, which, due to the use of fuzzy logic, has no limitations of algebraic addition or multiplication of layers. The present study aims to evaluate the efficiency of various fuzzy gamma operators for landslide susceptibility zonation in Taleghanroud watershed of Qazvin province.

In this study, the landslide distribution map and also 11 effective factor were first prepared which include layers including layers including slope, slope direction, altitude, land use, lithology, distance to road, distance to stream, distance to fault, earthquake acceleration, precipitation, and maximum daily precipitation. A total of 15 landslides were identified, 70% of which were used to model and 30% of which were used to evaluate the results of the models. All factor layers were crossed with the landslide distribution map to determine the importance of each class of the factor layers. The area of the factor classes and also the area that covered by the landslide in each class were determined to calculate the importance of each factor class via frequency ratio relationship. Then, landslide susceptibility maps were produced using fuzzy gamma operators (for gamma values equal to 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 and 1). Density Ratio (Dr) and Sum of Quality (Qs) indices were applied to evaluate the validity of the used models.

A total of 15 landslides with the minimum, maximum and total areas of respectively 3027, of 534779 1669377 m2 were recorded in this watershed. The results of the frequency ratios and fuzzy memberships of factors showed that the classes including slope 35°- 45°, northeast slope direction, altitude 1050-1400, precipitation 280-380, maximum daily precipitation 51 -55 mm, 0.246-2242 earthquake acceleration, 1000-2000 m distance from fault, 100-200 m distance from waterway, distance of more than 400 m from road, rainfed agriculture, and class 4 lithology units (high sensitivity) have had the highest values. Therefore, the have the most important role in the occurrence of landslides of the study area. The different landslide zonation maps showed that the percentage of area under more susceptible classes has increased steadily by increasing gamma values from zero (fuzzy multiplication) to one (fuzzy sum). Therefore fuzzy multiplication operator has resulted in most of the surface area with very low landslide hazard, and the fuzzy sum operator has resulted in most of the surface area with very high landslide hazard. This is due to the decreasing nature of the fuzzy multiplication operator and the increasing nature of the fuzzy sum operator. Evaluation of hazard zonation maps using Dr and Qs indices showed that the Qs index values for different fuzzy integration models range from 0 (fuzzy sum) to 93.3 (Gamma = 0.7) which indicates that the fuzzy combination method with gamma equal to 0.7 has provided the best zoning map. In addition, the values of the Dr Index in fuzzy integration model with gamma 0.7, have an increasing trend for hazard classes from one (very low) to 5 (very high) which indicates that the zonation map of the superior model is classified correctly.

The Fuzzy Gamma operators are among the conventional and relatively new methods for landslide susceptibility zoning. These methods have no limitations of algebraic addition operators or multiplication of layers due to the use of fuzzy logic. The landslide susceptibility map obtained from this study provides proper information for designers, managers, policymakers, and engineers who can develop various measures to reduce landslide risk in the region. However, the conditions and degree of instability of areas under high and very high hazard classes should be studied more accurately by experts before development plans of the region. Landslide is one of the most destructive types of erosion on slopes, which causes a lot of financial and human losses. Since it is difficult to predict the occurrence of landslides, it is very important to identify landslide-sensitive areas and the zoning of these areas based on the potential risk of this phenomenon. Evaluation of landslide susceptibility is one of the basic tools for managing and reducing potential damages. The present study has attempted to assess the efficiency of various fuzzy gamma operators for landslide susceptibility zonation in Taleghanroud watershed of Qazvin province. Therefore, the landslide distribution map and also 11 effective factor were first prepared which include layers including slope, slope direction, altitude, land use, lithology, distance to road, distance to stream, distance to fault, earthquake acceleration, precipitation, and maximum daily precipitation. A total of 15 landslides were identified, 70% of which were used to model and 30% of which were used to evaluate the results of the models. Then, after determining the values of Frequency Ratio and fuzzy membership for different classes of effective factors, landslide susceptibility maps were produced using fuzzy gamma operators (for gamma values equal to 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 , 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 and 1). The evaluation process using Density Ratio and Sum of Quality indices showed that the gamma of 0.7 has higher accuracy than other gamma values in the study area. The landslide hazard zoning map of the superior model will be useful in land use planning and reducing the landslide risk of the region. Keywords: Fuzzy membership values, Frequency Ratio, Hazard zoning, Density Ratio, Sum of Quality. Extended Abstract

Landslides are one of the most destructive types of erosion on slopes, which causes sediment, muddy floods, filling dam reservoirs, and also lots of damage to engineering structures, residential areas, and agricultural lands. Due to landslide damage, it is necessary to prepare a landslide susceptibility zoning map using appropriate methods, especially in areas that are prone to landslides. These types of maps are among the basic and essential tools for managing and reducing possible damages of this phenomenon. The method of gamma fuzzy operators is one of the relatively conventional and new methods for landslide susceptibility zoning, which, due to the use of fuzzy logic, has no limitations of algebraic addition or multiplication of layers. The present study aims to evaluate the efficiency of various fuzzy gamma operators for landslide susceptibility zonation in Taleghanroud watershed of Qazvin province.

In this study, the landslide distribution map and also 11 effective factor were first prepared which include layers including layers including slope, slope direction, altitude, land use, lithology, distance to road, distance to stream, distance to fault, earthquake acceleration, precipitation, and maximum daily precipitation. A total of 15 landslides were identified, 70% of which were used to model and 30% of which were used to evaluate the results of the models. All factor layers were crossed with the landslide distribution map to determine the importance of each class of the factor layers. The area of the factor classes and also the area that covered by the landslide in each class were determined to calculate the importance of each factor class via frequency ratio relationship. Then, landslide susceptibility maps were produced using fuzzy gamma operators (for gamma values equal to 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 and 1). Density Ratio (Dr) and Sum of Quality (Qs) indices were applied to evaluate the validity of the used models.

A total of 15 landslides with the minimum, maximum and total areas of respectively 3027, of 534779 1669377 m2 were recorded in this watershed. The results of the frequency ratios and fuzzy memberships of factors showed that the classes including slope 35°- 45°, northeast slope direction, altitude 1050-1400, precipitation 280-380, maximum daily precipitation 51 -55 mm, 0.246-2242 earthquake acceleration, 1000-2000 m distance from fault, 100-200 m distance from waterway, distance of more than 400 m from road, rainfed agriculture, and class 4 lithology units (high sensitivity) have had the highest values. Therefore, the have the most important role in the occurrence of landslides of the study area. The different landslide zonation maps showed that the percentage of area under more susceptible classes has increased steadily by increasing gamma values from zero (fuzzy multiplication) to one (fuzzy sum). Therefore fuzzy multiplication operator has resulted in most of the surface area with very low landslide hazard, and the fuzzy sum operator has resulted in most of the surface area with very high landslide hazard. This is due to the decreasing nature of the fuzzy multiplication operator and the increasing nature of the fuzzy sum operator. Evaluation of hazard zonation maps using Dr and Qs indices showed that the Qs index values for different fuzzy integration models range from 0 (fuzzy sum) to 93.3 (Gamma = 0.7) which indicates that the fuzzy combination method with gamma equal to 0.7 has provided the best zoning map. In addition, the values of the Dr Index in fuzzy integration model with gamma 0.7, have an increasing trend for hazard classes from one (very low) to 5 (very high) which indicates that the zonation map of the superior model is classified correctly.

The Fuzzy Gamma operators are among the conventional and relatively new methods for landslide susceptibility zoning. These methods have no limitations of algebraic addition operators or multiplication of layers due to the use of fuzzy logic. The landslide susceptibility map obtained from this study provides proper information for designers, managers, policymakers, and engineers who can develop various measures to reduce landslide risk in the region. However, the conditions and degree of instability of areas under high and very high hazard classes should be studied more accurately by experts before development plans of the region.

Flood is one of the natural hazards that causes numerous financial and life damages each year. Therefore, flood potential prioritizing is crucial to reduce the damages caused by it. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in flood potential prioritizing of Barajin sub-catchments. So, flood potential of sub-catchments was determined using AHP and the results are compared with the outputs of the HEC-HMS model as observed data. The results showed that in addition to full compliance of the two maps, there is a significant correlation (0.9299 and 0.934) between flooding potential ranks and peak flood discharge ranks with the return periods of 25 and 50 years of sub-catchments. The weights of AHP were also showed that in the flood of sub-catchments, generally, hydro-climatic criteria (weight = 0.65) is more important than morphometric criteria (weight = 0.35); and the rainfall intensity is the most important sub-criteria (weight = 0.373). Based on the final ranking, sub-catchments of 5, 3, and 4 that are located in upland and mountainous areas, have high flood potential due to the high weight of tow sub-criteria, one rainfall intensity, and the other 25-years rainfall. The results of this study could be a good guide for controlling floods of the study area in addition to understanding the processes governing the watershed.

The proper estimation of the amount of suspended sediment in rivers has an important role in erosion and sediment studies, hydrology and management of watersheds. The simulation of suspended sediment in hydrological systems that has a lot of complexity and at the same time our understanding of the components and processes within them is always uncertain led to the use of many intelligent models, including artificial neural networks (ANNs). However, the use of these smart models also faces challenges. Determining the proper structure of the network requires optimization of the parameters used (such as the optimal number of neurons and layers, weight and bias, and the type of activation functions), which their proper calibration, using test and error, leads to a lot of time spent in low efficiency. In this study, a multilayer perceptron (MLP) was used to simulate the daily sediment load of the Nirchai River at the site of the Nair hydrometric station in Ardebil province. In order to train the models, in addition to the error back propagation (BP) algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm was used to optimize the weight and bias of ANNs. The fuzzy clustering method was also used to increase the power of generalization of the models. The results showed that training of ANN models with PSO algorithm with decreasing estimation error (decreasing the PBIAS of estimation and root mean square error up to 0.3% and 10.4 tons per day respectively) is more effective than ANN models that use only error BP techniques. Due to insufficient recorded sediment data in most hydrometric stations of the country on the one hand and the need to train ANNs with sufficient data on the other hand, the use of evolutionary algorithms (e.g. PSO algorithm) can be a good solution for improving the efficiency of intelligent models.

Evaluation of the impacts of past watershed projects provides useful insights for future projects. In this study, the hydrology and water resources status of Akujan Catchment of Qazvin Province has been the object of the study in which the effects of various measures of watershed managements were evaluated. For this purpose, the changes of water resources discharge, increased infiltration, water storage, peaks and volumes of catchment floods, were compared before and after the implementation of watershed management projects. Results showed that 114000 m3</sup> more runoff storage has been carried out by watershed management operations that 20.1% of this volume was related to the structural operations and 79.9% of it was due to biological and biomechanical projects of the catchment. Results of the flood analysis indicated that the role of structural measures in the change of time of concentration is low and even negative. Therefore the reduction of the peak flow and flood volume at the outlet of the catchment is due to the implementation of biological and biomechanical measures which reduces the peak flows by 42.7, 25.4, 20.8, 17.1, 15.3 and 13.8% and flood volumes by 41.8, 24.8, 20.2, 16.5, 14.8 and 13.3% respectively for the return periods of two, five, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years. Another observation is that the effect of watershed management practices on the reduction of flood peak and volume decreases when the return period of flood is increased.

People participation in the implementation of natural resources practices is one of the approeches that ensure the fulfillment of the goals and success of the projects. In this study, based on expert experience and different projects of natural resources implemented in watershed area surrounding city of Tehran, the preventing social indices and sub-indices affecting on people participation were recognized and determined into three indices and 10 sub-indices. Obtained results from prioritizing effective social indices on preventing people participation in natural resources plans based on obtained weights from AHP method and expert questionary indicate that “unfavorable behaviorial indices” with weight of 0.623 and “unfavorable demographic indices” with weight of 0.130 have respectively maximum and minimum priorities, in the manner that prioritization of indices based on weights from maximum to minimum importance are “unfavorable behaviorial indices”, “cultural problems” and “unfavorable demographic indices”.Obtained results from prioritizing effective sub-indices based on expert questionary and the Kendalls' W rank test indicate that sub-indices have different roles on preventing people participation in natural resources plans, in the manner that the indices of “shortage of people trust in considering their ideas” with rank mean of 6.80 and “being low literacy and knowledge” with rank mean of 3.16 have respectively maximum and minimum priorities. The results also show that the index of “shortage of people trust” has the most priority as a preventing factor affecting on people participation, in the manner that two sub-indices of “shortage of people trust in considering their ideas” and “shortage of trust to continue projects”are two first priorities, respectively. Sub-indices of “shortage of young people in villages” from index of “unfavorable demographic indices” and also “being low or lack of culture of participation” from index of “cultural problems” were ranked as the most important social sub-indices.

Land degradation in different climates drastically disturbs natural ecosystems and reduces the biological production potential of the resources. To investigate the role of geological criteria on land degradation in rangelands surrounding Eshtehard, the map of units was prepared by overlaying and crossing maps of slope classes, land uses, and geological formations using the ArcGIS 10.3 software. Three indices of erodibility, salinity and permeability for each unit were considered and classified. The weights of criteria and consistency ratios were calculated by the AHP method. The TOPSIS method was used to prioritize the alternatives. The weighted normalized values, Euclidean distances, and the relative closeness to the ideal solution were calculated and top priority was given to the land degradation potential (DP) of the units. The results indicated that the relative closeness to the ideal solution obtained from the AHP-TOPSIS technique ranged from 0.002 to 0.991. Accordingly, the study area contains four categories of potential or severity of land degradation, namely: 20872.709 ha (37.97%) of the area with low DP, 1470.297 ha (2.67%) of the area with moderate DP, 1844.861 ha (3.36%) of the area with high DP, and 30788.02 ha (56.00%) of the area with high DP.

Investigation of desertification trend needs an understanding phenomena creating changes singly or action and reaction together in the manner that these changes end up in land degradation and desertification. In the investigation of pedological criterion affecting on land degradation in alluvial fans, first, maps of slope classes, land use and geology were created, then a map of units was founded by overlaying and crossing these maps and grid layer created by extension of ET GeoWizards in ArcGIS 10.3 software. In this research three indices of erodibility, salinity and permeability of soil were considered, finally according to the seven level scales, each of them was shown as the classified map. In this research, nonparametric methods of Friedman and Kendalls' W rank tests were used to prioritize the options, in the manner that after defining crisp numbers in seven level scales, the rank means were calculated. The rank means obtained from Friedman and Kendalls' W rank tests alter from 7/00 to 17/33. Obtained results from the nonparametric methods showed that 74/18 % (4245/77 ha) and 25/82 % (1477/67 ha) of the area were classified into two classes of medium and very heigh desertification potential, respectively. The results also showed that the youngest and old gravel fans of the area have desertification potential of very high (798/75 ha) and low (152/23 ha), respectively.

In land use planning and sustainable development strategy, the selection and arrangement of land use options, project design and environmental management practices with legal and technical requirements are based on capability mapping and zoning of the severity and type of environmental hazards such as landslide and land instability. Landslide can be defined by mass movement of massive materials influenced by gravity and environmental factors such as earthquakes, floods and flood rains .This phenomenon has an effective role in destroying communication roads, residential areas and creating erosion and sediment in catchment areas. By zoning the risk of occurrence of landslide, it is possible to identify sensitive areas with high risk of land slipping and, by presenting solutions, appropriate control and management methods to some extent prevent landslides from occurring or reduce the damage caused by their occurrence. Landslide hazard zonation is in fact the division of the land surface into separate areas and the ranking of these areas based on the potential risk of landslide occurrence. In this research, the zoning of landslide hazard in Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad province has been done using the empirical Haeri-Sami method and the integration of thematic maps of rocks, slope angle, fault length, road and river length, rainfall, rainfall intensity and earthquake on a scale of 1: 1,500,000. After preparing of landslide zoning map, by carefully examining the images of Google Earth, areas of the province that were expected to have more potential for landslides were identified. Then, during extensive field observations, the geographic coordinates of the observed landslides were recorded and by providing the coordinates of the landslides in the Arc Map software and transferring them to Google Earth images, the location of landslides was identified and the respective area was prepared as a polygon file and transferred to the Arc Map software environment, and a digital map of the landslide distribution of the province was prepared. The Density Index (DR) was used to assess landslide hazard zonation map. The results showed that only in term of geology about 40% of the area of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province has a high sensitivity to the occurrence of landslides, in the case of other factors such as slope angle, fault length, road and river length, rainfall, rainfall intensity and earthquake, about 95% of the area of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province has a small sensitivity to the occurrence of landslide. After integrating the numerical score of the thematic maps of the Haeri-Sami model, the landslide hazard map was prepared in four classes without danger, very low, low and moderate risk, with a distribution of area of 26.3, 33.8, 36.9 and 2 percent respectively. In relation to the evaluation of the performance of the model using the density ratio index, the results showed that the model has been able to distinguish between landslide hazard zones and are very accurate in the low risk class. Based on the results of zoning, it can be said that the occurrence of landslide hazard in Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad province in the current situation is almost negligible and can only be managed by management plans for risk control or the principle of prevention, the occurrence of landslides in the province were prevented in the future. In general, for land risk management, there should be two components of the management tool and management method. The preparation of a hazard zonation map, the acquisition and use of the necessary techniques and training and promotion can be used as management tools and risk prevention, control and risk reduction in areas susceptible to landslide, can be considered as management practices. The results of this study are an effective step in planning and managing the land in Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad province.