Managing the Complexity of Poverty in Underdeveloped Oil-Rich Regions in the Iranian Province of Ilam: An Application of the System Dynamics Approach

Despite the presence of legislation aimed at promoting the development of oil-rich and less-developed regions in Iran, the Western Ilam province continues to face significant deprivation in various areas, despite its abundant oil and gas resources. The primary focus of this study revolves around the intricate management of poverty through the implementation of a comprehensive intervention plan. The objective of this study is to identify policies for reducing deprivation through sustainable development in the oil and gas regions of Ilam province.

For this purpose and based on the sustainable development of deprived oil-rich areas, the dynamic model of the poverty system was designed with the participation of regional policymakers. After validating the model, the simulation was carried out on a twenty-year horizon. According to the behavior of the variables and the sensitivity analysis of the model, poverty alleviation policies were identified based on the sustainable development of deprived areas, including economic, social, and regional environmental sustainability. The results of the comparison and the behavior of the target variables were analyzed.

The findings from the simulation of the model revealed the effectiveness of selected combined policies including: 1) Providing government and non-governmental financial resources and investing in regional development and poverty alleviation; 2) Investing in job opportunities within the oil and gas industry; 3) Investing in job opportunities within the agricultural sector; 4) Investing in job opportunities within the tourism sector and international border customs; 5) Enhancing accountability and transparency to combat political corruption and undue influence in government resource allocation within the province; 6) Empowering the agricultural workforce in line with available job opportunities in the agricultural sector; 7) Empowering the workforce of the oil and gas industry in accordance with the job opportunities available in the industry to reduce non-native employment; 8) Empowering the workforce of the service sector according to the job opportunities of tourism and international border customs; 9) Investing in the productivity of water resources to manage the demand for water resources in agriculture and the oil and gas industry; and 10) Strengthening monitoring of the implementation of environmental requirements and the imposing penalties for environmental offenses for industrial development operators in the region along with the requirement to publish the sustainability report of oil, gas and petrochemical companies as the best poverty alleviation policies. These policies have been identified as the best poverty alleviation policies based on sustainable development in deprived oil-rich regions of Ilam.

The present study could demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed practical model for managing the complexity of poverty and implementing sustainable development policies in deprived areas, specifically focusing on the oil-rich regions of Ilam Province.