Assessment of marine environment resilience in the northQeshm Island - Strait of Hormuz based on the DPSIR model

There is always an adamant need to comprehend and draw the complex challenges of sustainability and help to organizing studies due to the increasing human-related pressures on coastal zones. Hence, by formulating such a comprehensive framework, it could be possible to anticipate changes and supporting managerial decisions, as well as the degree of environment resilience in the region. One of the approaches utilized in littoral zones is the conceptual framework of drivers, pressure, status, impact and responses, DPSIR. Qeshm Island, the largest island in the Persian Gulf, accounts for being the most vital and strategic area in the region. In recent decades, Qeshm has become one of the major cultural, natural, geological as well as tourism hubs of the country due to its unique regional characteristics, along with its biodiversity and environmental sensitivity. Thereby, in the present research, a combined approach was followed to explore the resilience of the marine environment in the northern coast of the Qeshm Island by taking advantage of the socio-economic criteria. In this respect, the conceptual framework of the DPSIR model is utilized in combination with the structural squation model (SEM-PLS), which is one of the non-experimental techniques, to quantify the results in the best possible manner. On the basis of the fuzzy cognitive map (FCM), the Regional economic index bears the weights of 0.62, 0.62 and 0.5 along with the Institutional-managerial and Biological indexes, respectively, denoting a two-way positive correlation whereas having a two-way but adverse correlation with a weight of 0.65 in terms of the Socio-cultural index. There is also a one-way and negative relationship, as to the Economic index, with a weight of 0.69 in relevance with the Physio-chemical index likewise.