Assessment of the environmental impacts of wind erosion in three economic, social and environmental environments using the DPSIR model. (Case Study: Regan County)

In today's world, population growth and industrialization, regardless of the potential of the lands, have put pressures on the environment, upsetting the balance of nature, creating environmental challenges and affecting the quality of human life today.  Wind breaking is a complex process that takes place in various forms such as excavation, transfer, granulation, abrasion and finally sedimentation. One of the most important environmental crises in arid and semi-arid regions is the destructive phenomenon of desertification and windfall, the occurrence of which is the occurrence of dust storms and the movement of fine dust. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of wind in Reagan County on economic, social and environmental sectors using the DPSIR model. Since wind is one of the major problems in the Reagan area, it is necessary to draw a chain of cause-and-effect relationships involved in the three economic, social and environmental environments of the region.

In order to conduct this research, three indicators were selected from three environments:  economic, social and environmental. Then, the available information was collected from relevant organization of each indicator, they were placed in the DPSIR framework. And then was shown a chain of cause-and-effect relationships in relation to those indicators.

The results of the research indicate that the damage to the agricultural sector due to the dust phenomenon has had an upward trend from 2007 to the first 6 months of 2018. In the social sector, according to the suspended particle measuring device (pm) in the two months of April and May 2018, there were few clean days and according to the statistics of the health center, the number of people referring to medical centers due to respiratory problems has been high. Also in the field of environment, in Reagan area, an area of 158,200 hectares of critical hotspots was identified with great intensity and has affected the biodiversity of the region, especially Persian Kahour trees.

The result of the research showed that the wind phenomenon in Reagan area with improper human management and exploitation of the environment as a positive feedback has fueled this phenomenon and has created adverse effects such as dust storms.