نشریه علوم محیطی
سال پانزدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 57، پاییز 1396)

Despite the history of legislative measures in the field of the environment of Iran, the environmental situation of the country based on “the Environmental Performance Index”, “the Global Footprint Network” and “the World Bank” is significantly different from the goal of "Desirable Environment" in the Iran's 20-year vision plan4. In search of the reason, this paper from a public policy perspective seeks to prioritize and explain the challenges of environmental policy making in the Islamic Republic of Iran in the first phase of the Jones staged model
In staged model, the government and decision makers performance are ideally divided into five stages: the process of recognizing the problem and its inclusion on the government agenda(Agenda setting), the stage of the solution proposal (Formulation), the decision-making stage, the stage of implementation and the evaluation stage(Vahid,2004).
The focus of this paper is on the pathology of the recognition and inclusion of the problem in agenda. What is meant by understanding the problem and including of it on the agenda is a process by which ideas and issues are raised through various political institutions to be taken into consideration by a political entity such as the legislative or judicial body. Although there are few places - such as the legislature, the judiciary or the regulatory Commission - that are able to formally formulate policy calendars (agendas), but there are countless sources where subjects of these calendars come from (Shafritz and Borick ,2012).
Considering the nature and limitations of the subject literature in our country, from among existing approaches to research , the mixed methods and exploratory sequential designswere selected. In this formulation of the research project, first the collection and analysis of data is done qualitatively and then quantitatively and ultimately interpreted simultaneously. The main use of this type of research project is to investigate an issue deeply or for the first time for which the researcher does not have a guideline framework or measurement tool for them(Creswell,2003).
Findings of the research showed that the main challenges of environmental policy-making in identifying the problem and placing it in the agenda that led to the decline of quantitative and qualitative indices of the country's vital resources are: prioritizing the country's issues on the basis of economic, political and security considerations (rather than environmental ones), the poor citizen and interest groups participation in identifying and prioritizing local needs, the weak coordination of intergovernmental organizations and government agencies responsible for and influential in environmental issues, the neglect of local communities from the benefits of sustainable development and focus on growth-oriented demands and short-term ones, lack of bottom-to-top mechanisms to express the real public concerns to be included in the environmental policy calendar, the lack of information and accurate statistics on the status quo and future environmental trends, the lack of attention to communication channels such as the media and the press to transfer issues to higher layers for inclusion in the agenda.
Improving Iran's environmental indicators based on the Environmental "Performance Index", "Global Footprint Network" and “World Bank" with the goal of "desirable environment" in the 1404 vision document require solving the challenges of the agenda Setting.

Groundwater has long been the most trusted water source of human beings that is used in the agricultural and drinking sectors. In order to be aware of water condition and its optimized management, it is necessary to carefully examine groundwater level fluctuations and groundwater quality that are influenced by different factors. While carefully monitoring the fluctuations and quality of groundwater, we can have reliable planning in water supply and source management. Therefore, this study aims to determine the trend of changes in quality parameters of groundwater of Shabestar plain in order to understand the quality of groundwater and to specify its application.
Material and In this study, in order to understand the quality of Shabestar plain’s groundwater and to specify its application, the chemical results of 15 qualitative variables of groundwater samples belonging to 13 stations located in the study area during the years 1382-1999 were compared while using non-parametric Mann-Kendall test, and then effect of the first-order autocorrelation was eliminated from the data series. Slope of the trend line was calculated by the age method. The qualitative parameters in this study are total anions, total cations, EC, SAR, CL--, , Ca2, TH, Ph, TDS, , Na%, Na, Mg2 and K that are measured two times every year.
The results show that time series related to qualitative variables has ascending trend in most of stations (except Ali-shah station, Sefid-kamar station and low water months of Shabestar plain). They show positively significant trend at 5% level with 36 series (18%) in months of high level of water and with 17 series (9%) in months of low level of water. Furthermore, “Ali-shah” and “Sefid-kamar” stations have the highest rank in the highest negative trend in two months with high- and low- levels of water. The comparison of stations suggests that quality of Shabestar plain’s groundwater has critical condition in southern part of plain. Generally we can conclude that the quality of groundwater in the study area has decreased over time. The results achieved from investigating the values of time series correlation coefficients of qualitative variables with normal annual precipitation in the periods (1382-1388) show that none of the qualitative variables have a special significance at the 5% level with the amount of annual precipitation. The overall result of this section suggests the lack of relationship between annual precipitation and qualitative variables, while ground water level has almost steadily dropped with quality variables during common statistical years (1383-1391). Also, climatic variables such as rainfall, temperature and evaporation were not identified as factors in changing the qualitative characteristics of Shabestar plain’s groundwater and we come to this conclusion that their adverse changes were influenced by human factors.
According to achieved results, we can say that if the current condition continues, it is not possible to steadily use groundwater source in Shabestar plain. Water quality will be negatively affected by the lack of treatment of urban and industrial wastewater, the release of agricultural wastes at the plains, adjacency to Urmia Lake, and the development of salt marsh.

Policies and plans for water resources management, especially in the agricultural sector, are aimed at achieving goals such as increasing the level of self-sufficiency, reducing gaps in food, reducing crop cultivation and maximizing the economic value of irrigation water. The main objective of this research is to reduce macroeconomic objectives in the agricultural sector, reducing the food security gap (in the field of garden products) with an emphasis on optimizing water use in the agricultural sector.
In pursuit of this goal, the goal of maximizing the economic value of water has been used to determine the optimal level of cropping of major crops in the country and to reduce the gap between supply and demand. The methodology used in this study is a linear mathematical programming model. Required data were collected through the databases of the Agricultural Jihad Organization and the relevant departments in the relevant areas.
Result and The results of the research show that, suggested cropping pattern increases the economic value of water by 20%, and the level of crops such as dates, apples, citrus, grapes and pistachios increases. Changing the cropping area of major crops in some areas, such as Khorasan, Central, Central Zagros and Khuzestan, has reduced net profit, but generally increased net yield by 19 percent, and most importantly, the amount of water saved in the whole area is equivalent to the cultivar About 6869768 thousand cubic meter
The results showed that considering the economic value of water in each area, instead of using a steady state value, an effective and effective cropping pattern is necessary. The proposed cropping pattern reduces the nutrient gaps and cropping water levels and saves water consumption, which, while providing a land for allocating this amount of water to the cultivation of strategic products, can have a positive effect on the sustainability of water resources In each area.

Imposition by cities of new roles and functions on peripheral areas has provoked economic, social and spatial disturbances in those areas (Shafiei Sabet & Bozorgniya, 2013). In this regard, major global trends that have fuelled competition over land have also contributed to the development of urban imbalance (Ludlow, 2014). As a result of population density and pressure on resources in cities with rapid expansion, the environment is adversely affected with detrimental impacts on valuable agricultural land. In this regard, Karol argues that ‘urban spraw’ was not problematic at its outset, but the positive effects of this phenomenon are long gone (Lawrence, 2012). Industrialization of the economy has turned villages around cities into unplanned spaces (Deep & Saklani, 2014). This phenomenon raised concerns in connection with the metropolis and the main cities, but the gradual adoption of centralized housing policies and development approach by the state at the regional and local levels contributed to the this issue affecting the middle cities as well (Shafiei Sabet and Haratifard, 2011). Based on this, the present research intends to analyze this phenomenon accurately to help find solutions to mitigate the adverse effects by providing scientific solutions to reduce the damage caused by it in the studied area.
A descriptive-analytical method was used to measure accurately the consequences of urban sprawl in the study area. To this end, based on analysis of satellite imagery using Remote Sensing (RS) and the Geographic Information System (GIS), the land use change trends during the three periods of 1990, 2006, and 2015 were investigated for different land uses (residential construction, non-residential construction, changing arid land, agricultural land, gardens, pastures and roads). Then, the effects of urban sprawl on rural settlements around the city of Hamedan and its determinants were investigated. The data collection included the survey of Land sat TM satellite images in 1990, ETM 2006, HRVIR 2015, and a 1: 50000 map of Hamadan Province for the enhanced detection of phenomena and their comparison with land use changes in subsequent periods.
The results suggest that, in Hamedan Province, the urban development and dispersed sprawling growth of the city has caused the highest rate of land use change in agricultural lands over a 27-year period, from 1990 to 2015. As a result, these lands have seen a decrease of 1017 hectares over this period and, at the same time, horticultural lands have also diminished by about 272 hectares. In the meantime, rangelands have dwindled by about 189 hectares. By contrast, residential construction increased by 805 hectares in 2015 compared to 1990, followed by an increase of 346 hectares in non-residential construction and 20 hectares in route and road construction. Moreover, an area of 307 hectares from the total area of 6446 hectares in the study area has been transformed into desert land, and therefore the scene of various construction activities. A comparison of the statistics suggests that residential construction continues to grow, so that the statistical results of three periods indicate an increase of about 17.8% in construction the study area from 1990 to 2015. According to the results, it can be seen that in current situation of Iran, the research undertaken on the marginal area of Hamedan is consistent with the researches of Yagre, Ewing, Morot and Hernandez and other researchers who have discussed environmental issues and the lack of supportive policies to impede the spread of these structures in Europe.
In studies on spatial development and land use change of agricultural lands, it is important to note the parameters that undergo change progressively as opposed to those that change more rapidly. In this study, it was found that in the study area, farmlands (agro-horticultural lands) have undergone the highest change compared to other lands. Therefore, if policies and measures are not taken to prevent this trend to continue, the environmental damage will be caused by pressure on resources, conversion and land use change, resulting in the destruction of valuable agricultural land.

Ants are the most well-known social insects that have a significant impact on the ecosystems of their habitat. The role of these insects in the physical and chemical changes of the soil and their interaction with plants, microorganisms and other living organisms is undeniable. Iran with extensive climate conditions and diverse of habitats, has vast variety of plants and animals specie. Family Formicidae fauna in Iran is far from complete and yet 213 species of 32 genera and 4 subfamilies has been reported.
The present investigation deal with the study of ant fauna in Shiraz city. The area was divided into 18 study sites with different ecological factors. Samples were collected equally in times and numbers in the spring, summer and fall season 2014. Collected species were transferred to 70% alcohol and identified with the help of stereomicroscope and available keys. The identified specimens were confirmed by Professor Brian Taylor in Royal Entomological Society of London in England.
Ecological condition effects(as altitude, soli sedimentary organic matter (TOM), temperature, air humidity, soil humidity, soil pH and soil grading) on species richness were collected from study sites and analyzed by linear regression test using SPSS22.
Among the identified specimens, 19 species belonging to 13 genera of 3 subfamilies were identified which are as below:
Subfamily Dolichoderinae: Tapinoma simrothi Krausse, 1911 Subfamily Formicinae: Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) xerxes Forel, 1904; Camponotus (Myrmosericus) armenaicus Arnoldi, 1967; Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) aethiops (Latreille, 1798); Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) sanctus Forel, 1904; Cataglyphis nodus (Brullé, 1833); Cataglyphis frigidus subspecies persicus (Emery, 1906); Lepisiota semenovi (Ruzky, 1905); Lasius turcicus Santschi, 1921; Paratrechina vividula (Nylander, 1846)
Subfamily Myrmicinae: Cardiocondyla persiana Seifert, 2003; Crematogaster sp. (sp undet cf Safariyan, 2014); Messor melancholicus Arnol’di, 1977; Messor syriacus Thomé, G., 1969; Messor rufotestaceus (Foerster, 1850); Monomorium kusnezowi Santschi, 1928; Pheidole pallidula (Nylander, 1849); Pheidole teneriffana Forel, 1893; Tetramorium davidi Forel, 1911
All the identified species except T.simrothi, C.frigidus, C.persiana, M.rufotestaceus and P.teneriffana were recorded for the first time from Fars Province and the species T.simrothi and P.teneriffana were recorded for the first time from Shiraz City.Statistical analysis using linear regression in SPSS22 shows a significant difference between pH and species richness of ant communities.

Study of functional and species diversity plays an important role in recognizing ecosystem function and services and is shown the type of response to environmental changes. Functional diversity refers to range and values of organism traits that affects ecosystems properties and is introduced in various ways such as number and proportional abundance of functional groups.
This study was carried out based on identifying functional groups in safe regions of Ghamishloo National Park (Baghak, Aghel geni, Korelias, Kahvak, Tange Najaf abadi and Tange Varposht) to recognition of ecosystem function and evaluation of functional diversity between regions. For this purpose, eight quantitative traits and four qualitative traits were selected. In order to determin functional groups, at first, species – trait matrix was prepared and then, clustering analysis was carried out by Ward method and Gower similarity distance by InfoStat software. After determining the richness of functional groups, diversity of functional groups was analyzed by SDR4 and FDiversity software.
Main functional groups of the regions were: Chamaephytes plants that have been devoted most of the leaf nutrients to the defense structure, Hemicrypyophytes plants that their leaf area is high and are more successful in light acquisition and Terophytes plants that have leaves with a short life span. The results showed that functional groups richness is the same in the six regions (three functional groups), but, because of the difference in species composition and dominant traits of the groups, functional diversity of Kahvak region was higher. According to the results, as most functional diversity indices use more than one trait to describe the various plant performances, indices that used to measurement of species diversity (Shannon Wiener, Simpson) are inefficient.
In determining of functional diversity, it is better to use numerical functional diversity indices (Community-Weighted Mean index,) in addition to determining the functional groups richness to get more useful information about ecosystem function.

It was shown that the use of signaling molecules like nitric oxide donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) can elevate phytoremediation potential of some plant species. The aim of the study is to reveal the effect of SNP on the enhancement of the phytoremediation potential and physiological responses of zinc-stressed safflower roots.
Material and The treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design with five replicates. After 10 days, the level of oxidative markers (e.g., H2O2 and lipid peroxidation) and antioxidant compounds (e.g., glutathione, ascorbate and phytochelatins) of plants were analyzed.
SNP application alleviated Zn-induced growth inhibition of roots probably through induction of some antioxidative compounds.Application of SNP resulted in decrease in oxidative markers and the activity of SOD as compared to the plants treated with Zn only. No relationship was found between SNP supplementation and glutathione and ascorbate levels, while upon application of SNP the level of PCs increased significantly.
The results suggest that the application of SNP render safflower roots more tolerant to zinc toxicity possibly through zinc chelation by the stimulation of phytochelatin production.

Greenhouse gas emission and distractive environmental crisis such as global warming and change climate was occurred by human activation in natural ecosystems in this century. Due to this problem carbon sequestration is a win-win approach to purpose reducing of distractive human activation and emission of greenhouse gas. Accordingly, this study was carried out to purpose the assessment of carbon sequestration with economic value by Quercus brantii Lindi forest in Kermanshah province in 2015 to 2016.
Essential data for this research was collected by on farm method and random sampling method in two groups including coppice and single stem forms in oak forest in Bisetoon protected region. Then, the amount of carbon sequestration and its economic value were calculated by using the collected data and application of mathematical relations in this forests.
According to result of this study amount of carbon sequestration by trees biomass was 1622.67kgha-1yer-1 in coppice forms. This amount was 1786.47kgha-1yer-1in single stem. Therefore amount of CO2 captured and saved in wood tissue and organic matter of residual in bottom of tree layer was 5841.61, and 6431.29 kgha-1yer-1 in coppice and single stem forms. Due to the applied tax rate for every ton of carbon emissions, the annual economic value per hectare of this forest was estimated 1780856 rials.
furthermore, suitable management of oak forest ecosystems in this investigating region and subsequently around the country is very important to purpose of reduces the environmental crisis, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and change climate. On the other hand, Due to the importance of carbon credit issue and international issues surrounding it, it has benefited for the resumption and maintenance of these natural ecosystems.

Development of buildings and the widespread usage of the southern ranges of the Alborz ecosystem and Darabad watershed have led to unsustainable growth in this region such that continuation of this situation will destroy this ecosystem. The aim of this research is to identify unsustainable land use changes and practices in Darabad watershed through studying these characteristics.
The research method is a descriptive-analytical one, with the information gathering library-based and use of a spatial analytical method and the Delphi technique. Satellite images of TM1990, ETM 2004 and IRS2014 in four classes covering vegetation, built-up areas, arid areas and roads have been used for identifying unsustainable land use changes and practices in the case study area by using the Brovey algorithm and the Maximum Likelihood Method for the supervised classification algorithm and image enhancement. The research domain is Darabad watershed, and the statistical group comprised experts of environmental sciences, geography and natural resources.
Research results show that vegetation has decreased during the period 1990 to 2014, while built-up areas, arid areas and roads have increased in this period. In 1990, more than 20% of the area was vegetation, while this land use has decreased to less than 20% in 2014. Built-up areas and roads also increased from 40% in 1990 to 61.5% in 2014. This trend shows unsustainability in that ecosystem.
Results show that multiple factors affect the sustainability of Darabad watershed. These include ecological-geographical, economic-organizational and socio-cultural factors. Economic-organizational factors have the greatest efficiency among all the factors with a coefficient of 0.5824. Some effective variables in this regard are the widespread activity of ecotourism, lack of supervision procedures and an incorrect politicaleconomic relationship in developing build-up areas.

Rivers are among the major water resources and important and vulnerable inland ecosystems (Hayatolgheib et al., 2016). Today, the quality of such water resources has been threatened due to the irregular consumption of water and pollution of rivers by unnatural and human resources (Li et al., 2009). The Peer-bazar River and Anzali International Wetland has been subjected to severe eutrophication over the past two decades (Zebardast and Jafari, 2014). As a reuslt evaluation and estimation of changes in water quality the mouth area of the main feeding river estuary in the Anzali wetland (the Peer-bazar River) is in the first priority.
The present study aimed at evaluating the eutrophication status and prediction of temporal-spatial changes in nutrients concentrations, such as ammonium-nitrogen (N-NH3), nitrate (N-NO3), total nitrogen (TN), phosphorous (PO4-3), TP, in the estuary of Pir-Bazar river as the main and most important stream feeding the Anzali International Wetland. Sampling was performed from 10 points of the drainage basin within 18 months from December 2014 to June 2016. In this research, zoning maps were prepared and the status of present and future water quality parameters of the basin were accurately estimated using a researchers software-developed application and the five interpolation methods of Kriging, S-PLUS, polynomial regression, inverse distance to power, and local polynomial; and finally the optimal method was selected through a root-mean-square error (RMSE) based cross validation approach.
Result and The results showed that in this drainage basin, the second order quadratic polynomial regression (with a mean RMSE of 0.2075 for TN and of 0.1475 for TP) and the topical polynomial with power of 10 (order of 3) (with a mean RMSE of 0.331 for TN and of 0.22 for TP) were the best and the worst methods for estimation of nitrate and phosphate levels in the drainage basin, respectively, as compared to other methods. In order to prepare the zoning map, monthly and seasonal maps of spatial distribution of nitrate and phosphate concentrations were created, and temporal (seasonal) changes in nutrients at the wetland entrance (estuary of Pir-Bazar river) were expressed. The results showed that the mean levels of nutrients in Pir-Bazar river water (0.616 mg/L for TN and 0.325 mg/L for TP) were higher than the allowed limits, according to the European directive 80/778/EEC and the OECD standard, (in normal conditions, the limits are 0.1-0.5 mg/L for TN and 0.01-0.1 mg/L for TP in fresh water). Also, according to the results of software, the mean TN to TP ratio at the wetland entrance was maximally 33.7 that exceeded the limit of 16. Therefore, the region’s water is subject to an advanced and critical eutrophication. Considering the positive and high values of the coefficient of performance for TP and TN between 0.87 and 0.918 (mean 0.894), it can be argued that phosphorus and nitrogen in this water basin are likely to share the same source; meanwhile the coefficient of performance varied between 0.187 and 0.721, showing the best performance for nitrate and phosphate, respectively.
The results predicted by this software show that the mean annual concentration of ammonium, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and dissolved salts in this river will increase about 1.2%, 3.2%, 32%, 5%, and 7%, compared to the current situation in 2020. These figures will be about 3.4%, 9%, 87%, 14%, and 16.5% in 2030; this is a new finding and a reliable innovation in water quality management in the wetland.

Heavy metals are one of the most important environmental pollutants that have been highly regarded in recent decades. The accumulation of elements in the soil, especially in agricultural land, has been gradual and the concentration of heavy elements can reach to the level that threaten human food security. Among heavy metals, cadmium is considered as one of the most dangerous elements due to its high mobility in biological systems, high toxicity, high solubility in water and rapid absorption by the root system of many plant species. Therefore, in this research, the growth, accumulation and phytoremediation potential of cadmium in two species Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata) and Hindi mustard (Brassica juncea) is studied.
Plants in contaminated soils with concentrations of 0, 75 and 150 mg kg-1 of cadmium were grown in greenhouse and harvested after 7 weeks to measure some growth characteristics.
The results showed that cadmium treatments had no significant effect on growth traits and chlorophyll content of two plant in compared with control. Both plant showed high stress tolerance index and low stress tolerance to cadmium. With increasing cadmium concentration in soil, cadmium concentrations in root and shoot of both plants B. carinata and B. juncea significantly increased. The translocation factor of B. juncea was about 70% higher than B. carinata.The highest translocation factor was observed in the treatment of 75 mg kg-1 of cadmium in B. juncea.
The comparison of two plants of B. carinata and B. juncea showed that both species are able to tolerate and accumulate cadmium, but translocation factor, uptake and accumulation of cadmium in plant B. juncea was more than B. carinata. So it seems B. juncea had better performance for use in phytoremediation process.

Soil quality is considered to be one of the important indicators of sustainable agriculture and the environment. Based on sustainable agriculture goals and environmental protection, soil quality is defined the capacity of a specific kind of soil in sustaining plant and animal productivity, maintaining or enhancing water and air quality, and supporting human health and habitation”. The main objective of this study is integrating AHP and fuzzy logic system to assess soil quality based on physical, chemical soil properties and their topographical characteristics.
The study carried out in Telobin area located in northeast Shahrood County, Iran. The thermal regime of the study area is Mesic and its moisture regime is Xeric. Soil were sampled at 36 locations across study area describing all soil variability. Soil samples were analyzed for its physical and chemical soil properties and incorporated to topographical characteristics for further analysis. The map of each soil parameter and topographic index was created using the Inverse Distance Weighting Model. Thereafter, map of soil quality regarding physical, chemical and topographical indicators created by using integrated fuzzy and AHP approaches. AHP Technique was used for weighting all above mentioned indicators.
In the term of soil quality the results show that, 3.01% was classified in high quality, 49.57% (2099.87 ha) was classified in poor quality, 44.33% (1877.33 ha) was classified in average quality and 3.5% (50/131 hectares) was classified in good quality. Soil quality was determined by using all indicators, but there are always a few important indicators with a higher weight as the key indicators. In this study soil depth index from physical indicators, organic carbon index from chemical index and slope index from topographic have higher weight. Therefor it was found that using hierarchical analysis-fuzzy logic method for the soil in studied area to determine the quality is well-established. Field observations of the region show that in areas with moderate soil quality, its use is forested and pasture. In areas with good soil quality, the amount of organic carbon and potassium is high and PH is in the range of 7-6, which the absorption of nutrients is high in this areas but in areas where the soil quality is poor or very poor, the amount of organic carbon is low or negligible and the slopes of the area are more than 30%.
The results of this study show that the organic carbon has the highest impact on the quality of soil in the studied area and, about the term of soil quality, most of the area has poor quality. Therefore, it can be argue that the use of the combination of fuzzy and AHP methods in GIS can categorize the status of soil quality to the quantitative levels in different groups. Using the fuzzy technique and opinion of experts can make a database for us. In general, the fuzzy logic approach is considered as a very suitable tool for modeling the physical, chemical, and topographic quality of the area that is considered as an input parameters.

The comprehensive identification of hazard risks in order to protect against them is one of the main steps in environmental management. Given the importance of environmental impact assessment in sustainable development, the development of a comprehensive system consisting of effective indicators is vital for the creation or exacerbation of environmental risks, on the one hand, and their monitoring, on the other. This comprehensive system can provide categorized information for different levels of decision-making and management. This study aims to assess the vulnerability to zoning of environmental risks by applying an ecosystem services approach. It also aims to integrate the ecosystem services concept into environmental risk assessment.
Initially, a complete list of environmental risks was prepared by desk study, using provincial and national documents and field studies, along with meetings with different institutions. This list consists of all potential or active factors that can lead to risks. The prepared list of risks was reviewed by experts in order to have their feedbacks and to finalize it. In this study, different risks, including an imbalance in provincial development, the likelihood of water erosion and fire, land use change, and incomplete protection of biodiversity were analyzed. AHP multi criteria decision making was applied for zoning the imbalance of industry with ecological suitability. RUSLE was applied for soil erosion and MAXENT for fire and incomplete protection of wildlife. To study land use/cover changes, cellular automata and the genetic algorithm were integrated.
The results of setting priorities using the multi criteria decision making technique revealed that some risks, including imbalance of industry on land, erosion, vegetation and land use changes, fire and incomplete protection of wildlife are the major risks to be considered. Results show that quality of the ecological area of Alborz Province has significantly reduced in recent years due to human factors such as the establishment of factories, creation of various industrial zones, soil erosion and degradation, drought, depletion of water tables, loss of accessible water resources, improper cropping patterns, population growth due to immigration from other provinces and climate change. The results of vulnerability assessment show that a massive pressure was exerted on sustainable use of the environment of Alborz Province by human impacts. Alborz Province suffers from various risks for which applying environmental services, such as conservation of soil nutrients, biodiversity and diverse vegetation of land, can be effective in their reduction.
Environmental risks are major threats to the degradation of resources and environmental services in Alborz Province which should be controlled and prevented. Complete identification of pre-existing risks and their spatial analysis can help in the development of conservation strategies for vulnerable areas.