Recognition and Prioritization of the Economic, Social and Environmental Consequences of Drying of Lake Urmia in the Surrounding Villages

This research is an applied studies and the research method is descriptive-survey type and in order to achieve the goal, a causal-comparative method was used. The statistical society of this study consisted of experienced experts and specialists in the field of Lake Urmia. The sampling method was snowball. The research instrument was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed based on and the opinions of professors and experts. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to determine the degree of reliability and was calculated separately for each of the economic, social and environmental indicators. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. In addition to descriptive statistics, inferential statistics such as comparative tests were used. The results showed that the drying of Lake Urmia has affected the economic, social and environmental situation of the surrounding villages. Also, the results of (AHP) showed that in order to prioritize the economic, social and environmental consequences of the drying of Lake Urmia, the environmental consequence with an average final weight of 7.407 is the most important, the social consequence with an average final weight of 2.623 has secondary importance and economic consequence With an average final weight of 1.393 has third importance. Therefore, in order to prevent the environmental catastrophe and its devastating consequences, it is suggested that urgent measures be taken to save Lake Urmia by government officials, scientific centers and experts using all domestic capacities and international assistance to prevent a recurrence of the environmental catastrophe. The Aral Sea biodiversity in this area of the country should be prevented.