مجله پژوهشهای محیط زیست
سال یازدهم شماره 21 (بهار و تابستان 1399)

By intensifing environment degradation as a result of increasing demand for ecosystem services, ecosystems will not be able to provide essential services for human communities in the near future. Therefore, it is essential to predict the effects of ecosystem change on service supply through modeling process. Hydrological models such as Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) have been proposed as robust tools for quantifying the ecosystem services in watersheds. Gorganrood watershed is one of the most important watersheds in the North of Iran which is highly affected by agricultural activities. In recent years, climate change, drought and human activities such as landuse change and deforestation have affected the potential of ecosystems in soil retention in Gorganroud watershed. Therefore, this study aimed to quantify soil erosion regulation ecosystem service under climate change using SWAT hydrological model. To achieve this purpose, after simulating monthly discharge and sediment in Arc SWAT, SUFI-2 algorithm was used to perform the combined calibration and uncertainty analysis process for 1976-1990. The model was then validated for 1991-1994. Values of NS= 0.7 and NS=0.64 indicate the satisfactory and good performance of SWAT model in simulating monthly discharge and sediment, respectively. Finally, the Erosion Control Index (ECI) was spatially quantified and mapped. The results show that the delivery level of erosion control service is severely affected by climate change. This research also shows that SWAT model can be used as a valueable tool for quantification of hydrological ecosystem services. However, further analysis is required after simulation.

One of the most dangerous natural hazards in the world is the risk of flood. Identification and zoning watershed flood can be effective in managing flood management, controlling and controlling it, and thus reducing its damages. The purpose of the present research is to zonation the khiyav chay basin in terms of potential flood occurrence. In this study, ten factors of the slope, height, precipitation, CN, runoff height, distance from the river, soil, lithology, vegetation, and land use were identified as effective factors for flood formation in the region. Then the layers of information were provided in the GIS environment. Layer weighing was done using the Critical method. The final analysis and modeling were performed using hot spots analysis as a spatial statistics method and the WLC method as a multi-criteria decision-making method. The results of this study showed that elevation, lithology, slope, and precipitation factors have the highest effect on flood formation in study basins with weight coefficients of 0.173, 0/163, 0/139, and 0/133 percent, respectively. Also, according to the results, 11.37, 48.76, and 57.54 square kilometers of the area was located in hot spot classes with a confidence level of 99, 95, and 90 percent. Highly hazardous areas (hot spot areas, with a 99% confidence interval) are mainly located in the city's Meshkinshahr area and then in the hilly and mountainous areas of the region. All in all, the results of the study show that the khiyav chay basin has very high potential in terms of happening flood, so the accomplishment of conservation, watershed, and management works and steps in the area of study is important and necessary.

This paper explores ecological vulnerability of Kerman province using Extended Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (EFAHP) for calculating relative importance of criteria and sub-criteria, and Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) method in Geographic Information System (GIS) for combining spatial information. Ecological vulnerability is the degree to which an ecosystem can tolerate changes that caused by nature or human activities. By evaluating this index sensitive and vulnerable areas are identified, therefor those humane activities that can destroy natural ecosystem in these areas must be prevented. This study has been conducted, firstly, by reviewing previous literature for identifying important criteria in evaluating ecological vulnerability, and seven criteria were identified including elevation, slope, aspect, density of vegetation, depth of soil, geology: erodibility of rocks and climate. Based on principles of EFAHP the comparison matrix of these criteria and their sub-criteria were developed, then by interviewing ten experts their relative importance were calculated. The spatial layers of these criteria were prepared in GIS and their relative importance were assigned to them. These layers were combined using WLC method to develop ecological vulnerability map of Kerman province. The results demonstrating high vulnerability in north, north east and east parts of Kerman province with 25.4% and 26.4% of the area in vulnerable and sensitive degree, respectively. These areas have very vulnerable ecosystem and spatial attention needs to be taken into account toward these areas in future development plans of Kerman province by planners and policy makers.

Zoning of protected areas is an approach that can reduce conflicts between human and conservation activities by allocating areas to land management and land use units. The present study uses methods based on GIS and multi-criteria evaluation to zoning the protected area of Oshtrankooh. For this purpose, first, the existing zones in the area are identified, and for each of these zones and using a weighted linear combination, a map was prepared. The maps obtained in this step include the map of conservation, recreation, and development goals, each of which was created using layers related to these goals and using fuzzy sets. Finally, these three utility maps were combined and the final map was divided into desired classes using the K-MEANS clustering algorithm. The results of this analysis showed that the approach used in this study can well identify and differentiate the desired zones. The results also showed that 75% of the area is dedicated to safe and protection zones, the areas selected for these zones are highly connected and close to each other, which makes the management of these areas easier. Extensive, concentrated recreation zones and rehabilitation zones occupy 15, 3, and 7% of the area, respectively.

Land-use planning knowledge in Iran includes a large body of data and information that necessitates efficient managing methods. Through definition of knowledge in land use planning studies of each sector, data exchange and sharing of information become easier and more useful. In recent years, ontological structuring of the terms related to a specific domain of knowledge and the relationships among them has developed greatly. The use of ontology approach facilitates exchange of information and understanding of the concepts and the relationships among users in different areas of knowledge. In this paper, using the software Protégé, the relationships were defined among land use information via the Web Ontology Language (WOL). Due to the vast extent of data gathered in land use planning studies in different fields, this study is limited to the environmental sector. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a model for managing land use planning knowledge based on ontology, and create a framework of concepts and different relationships in this field. In doing this, the hope is to share data and knowledge among specialists and organizations involved and increase the efficiency of these studies in Iran. As we know, the land use planning for the 31 provinces of Iran is becoming completed where each province has used its hard and software to handle and disseminate data and information produced during the process. Using the ontology concept introduced in the paper can help unify these measures and prevent reinventing the wheel as much as possible.

Forest region of South Zagros is one natural forests and due to valuable species of almonds that cover most of area, it is necessary to pay attention to its basic exploitation and development and restoration. In order to identify ecological needs of almonds, Delphi method questionnaires were prepared and provided to 64 natural resources experts and university professors. In this study, out of 37 criteria, 27 criteria were selected as definitive criteria. Evaluation of habitat conditions of studied species was done using weighting of criteria using hierarchical analysis process in 2000 Expert Choice software. In this research, criteria were evaluated using AHP method and using GIS and overlay method was used to integrate layers. Results of ecological potential assessment studies were shown on a map with a scale of 1: 25000. The results of this study showed that about 599 hectares, equivalent to 35.59% of area in excellent condition, 471 hectares, equivalent to 27.97% in good condition and 614 hectares, equivalent to 36.44% in poor condition.

The spatial distribution of trees is one of the most important structural features of forest stands, which considered as an indicator for sustainable development stage of stand, biodiversity, ecological stability, competition processes and the overall process of forest ecosystems. Therefore, every change in the spatial distribution of trees plays an important role in these functions. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency evaluating of the Distance to neighbor, the Eberhardt, Hopkins and Johnson-Zimmer indices in estimating the spatial distribution of natural forest stands in Arasbaran forest. The diameter and height of reference trees and three nearest neighbor, distance and the angle between the reference and neighbors trees measured in the 60 sampling points. Results showed that Distance to neighbor index indicated that the mean of measured distances between trees was 4.2 ± 0.08 meters and 4-6 meters distance had the highest frequency among the measures. The value of the Eberhardt, Hopkins and Johnson-Zimmer indices were 1.08, 0.63 and 1.29 respectively that showed uniform distribution pattern in studied stand. Statistical analysis confirmed the spatial distribution patterns predicted at 95% level by these indicators. Protective activities in the Arasbaran forest make it largely reliable to represent the actual pattern of species distribution. Therefore, it is possible to prepare a map of the distribution pattern, more appropriate and accurate results of the species stands structure and the possibility of completing the ecological database of the region and provide valuable data to assist the regional management plans.

Forests are one of the most important renewable natural resources and national assets of any country, which today is a valuable resource by various human and natural factors, including fire, threat, and destruction. Due to the fact that many fires occur in the forests of Kurdistan province every year, the purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting the occurrence of forest fires in Kurdistan and risk zoning in order to achieve fire control and countermeasures. In this study, after determining the ecological and human parameters using the GIS and hierarchical analysis method, the effective factors of analysis and the weight of each were calculated. Then, a fuzzy map based on the coefficient of the importance of each floor of each layer was prepared for all parameters and after overlaying the maps by weighted linear combination method, the final fire risk zoning map was obtained. The fire risk zoning map was performed in five categories (very low risk, low risk, medium risk, high risk, and very high risk) and finally, the areas with very high risk were surveyed. The conclusion is that 6.9% of the total study area is in the very low-risk area, 18.5% in the low-risk area, 26% in the medium-risk area, 30% in the high-risk area, and 18.5% in the very high-risk area. has it. The results also show that there is a direct relationship between the variable of land-use change and the increase in forest firesd.

The world population growth and the increasing expansion of industries have damaged the environment and natural resources that are the big issues of our time, have attracted the attention of many researchers and industry owners. The excessive heat of the earth, the destruction of the ozone layer, the presence of greenhouse gases and etc., are problems that are not only a major threat for a country or a region but also a danger for all creatures on the earth. Draw attention to international issues is inevitable in Iran due to the existence of massive fossil fuel reserves and inappropriate use of these reserves in oil and gas refineries as these energies contribute to a large number of environmental pollutions. In this research, therefore, emission reduction policies in these industries have been studied and prioritized to assist planners in adopting appropriate policies to reduce related pollution and, in particular, greenhouse gases. Accordingly, by interviewing academic experts, the oil and gas industry and the field of environment, indexes have been identified as an effective ways to reduce environmental pollutions. We have benefited of Analytical Network Process (ANP) technique, which is one of the effective methods in Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), to ranking of indicators. The results of this research show that the banking policy of publishing is more important than other policies in the oil and gas industry to reduce pollutions.

Nowadays, the protection of natural resources and the environment is a fundamental solution for achieving sustainable development and guarantees the welfare of present and future generations. In this regard, it is essential to provide a minimum level of benefits for environment and forest rangers through fair wages. So in this study was reviewed willingness to pay (WTP) for participation in correcting the wages of environment and forest rangers, and factors affecting on the probability of participation. Required data was collected through 640 questionnaires which were distributed based on simple random sampling approach in Mazandaran and Alborz provinces and Tehran city in 2017. The individual, social and economic factors and willingness to pay were estimated by using conditional valuation Method (CVM) and two-dimensional dual approach. The results showed that 59% of the households were willing to pay for correcting the wages of environment and forest rangers. The integral of the logit function showed that the monthly average of willingness to pay for the ethical and consequential people was 21000 and 18000 Rials, respectively. Considering the participation of 59% in the process of correcting wages and generalizing this result to the population, the total WTP for the population would be almost 377 billion Rials per year. By extending this result to the country, it is possible to predict a reliable source in the amount of 1466 billion Rials outside government resources to preserve natural resources and the environment.

Migration from the countryside is one of the most common strategies against the climate change and abandoning a large number of villages in Iran during sequential droughts in recent decades is among the available evidences. In this context, we attempt to examine the relationships between climate variables including mean temperature, annual precipitation, agriculture added value and rural migration applying Panel VAR approach to the data of Iranian provinces over the time period of 2002-2013. The results showed significant effects of all variables on rural migration. In accordance with expectations, rural migration increases as result of low precipitation and drought. On the other hand, the mean annual temperature and global warming, due to its negative effect on yields of agricultural products, increases migration. The effects of climate variables on added value of agriculture sector are similar to those on migration. Moreover, the added value of agricultural sector is negatively related to migration. The variance decomposition analysis showed that more than 72 percent of rural migration variation is explained by climate variables, 24 percent by itself and 4 percent by the added value. Therefore, it is well concluded that climate change is a main factor affecting rural migration.

Nowadays, due to the expansion of urbanization, the life of urbanites is facing many issues, including air pollution. Urban form is a significant factor in leading the current of pollutants. This issue has highlighted the role of urban design in improving air quality. The first step to achieve the concept of the relationship between urban form and air quality is to study the main elements of the city that play a determining role in the formation of a city form and also affect air pollution. These elements are residential units, industrial units, and highways. Therefore, the current research studies the amount of the produced carbon emission in this city from three perspectives of residential units, industrial units, and motor vehicles by considering Semnan as one of the most significant cities of Iran in terms of architecture and climate. In this regard, Gauss and Caline4 models are selected among the known models and analysis tools. The amount of the carbon emitted from the residential units of the study area and its adjacent high way, and also the Ferrosilicon factory, is calculated using the data obtained from the mentioned models. The results show that this city is surrounded by pollutant units. Also, the concentration of the industrial activities and highways adjacent to the city has led to increasing the carbon influence in the residential areas. On the other hand, calculation of the amount of the emitted carbon shows that the incompatible designs with clime have led to the increase in the level of fossil fuel consumption, and consequently, increased the level of the emitted carbon.

In recent decades, concern about global warming as a result of rising greenhouse gas emissions has increased. Accordingly, the identification of factors affecting the emission of greenhouse gases is important. In this regard, the main objective of this study is to investigate concurrent the short and long term relationships between economic growth, population, energy consumption, and trade with the CO2 emissions (as an indicator of environmental quality index) in the MENA region, using data from the 1990-2013 period. For this purpose, firstly, the research model has been specified and after doing usual panel unit root and co-integration tests in panel data, to estimation short and long term coefficients has been used pooled mean group method (PMG). The results indicate a positive impact of economic growth (per capita income) on the CO2 emissions for MENA countries in the long-term and short-term, indicating that these countries are on the upward side of the Kuznets curve. Also, the effect of population, energy consumption and trade on air pollution is positive in the short and long term in the MENA region countries; So that, with a one-percent increase in population, energy consumption and trade variables, CO2 emissions increase in the long-term by 0.36, 0.88 and 0.15 percent respectively, and in the short run by 0.16, 0.52 and 0.07 percent respectively. So can say that in these countries, economic growth, population, energy consumption and trade, causes the CO2 emissions.

Waste fluorescent lamps that contain mercury are a potential threat to human health and the environment are considered. When entering the body of the element mercury throughout the body and accumulate in the brain and kidneys and alters the neural and kidney function. So Recycling of fluorescent lamps thus reduce the potential environmental risks.In this study, using contingent valuation, willingness to pay for Ilam city residents to participate in recycling programs, these lamps have been investigated. Logit model used to measure the amount of willingness to payments and the maximum likelihood method, the parameters of the model were estimated. the results showed that 77.1 percent of those surveyed in this study are willing to pay for the recycling of fluorescent lamps and the average willingness to pay was estimated at Rails 14500. Based on the results of the regression model, the variables of income, education, Number of family members, the number of fluorescent lamps used in home, Charge lamp burned reasons for refusing to pay and be aware of the risks lamps, factors affecting households willingness to pay for Ilam.

The I.R. Iran has a lot of oil resources of which products are the main sources of fossil fuel in its economic sectors. Using energy sources for achieving economic growth requires countries to consider the economic rationality of fuel consumption and observe environmental considerations about emission of pollutants. Different patterns and models have been proposed for measuring the pollutants size and footprint in the economic sectors. The matrix model of the input - output table has been one of the most effective patterns for measuring the pollutants. This paper presents the results of calculation of pollution resulted from 33 economic activities in Sistan & Baluchestan  province in the form of input-output table and also the ecological footprint of pollutants in trade balance of this province with the outside world. These results show that 372617 tons of virtual gases have been exported to the outside world and 514669 tons of virtual gases have been imported. Therefore, the trade balance of pollutants in the economy of this province with the outside world is negative (142052 tons). This implies that the amount of gases in imported commodities is higher than the exported one. This technique is a management policy for trade of carbon - based products. In this trade policy, we need to export goods produced by the lowest amount of carbon emission and import commodities and goods that high level of carbon emission has been produced for their production.

The population grow trend in large cities and the expansion of social activities have increased the demand for daily travels by citizens and subsequently, problems such as environmental pollution, excessive fuel consumption, traffic congestion, Insecurity of routes and accidents have caused and has led to urban instability in general. In order to control and reduce these problems, several solutions including the use of public transportation system have been proposed. In this regard, to encourage citizens to use of public transport system, should provide their satisfaction and increased the quality of the system, so that citizens prefer the public transportation system to private car and and for relocate of it used. The aim of this study is to survey of the factors affecting the citizen’s satisfaction of urban public transport system (Case study: Shahrekord) and what factors in the use of public transport system for users with the importance and priority is.The type of research is applied and the methodology is analytic-descriptive. To collect the data, the library and survey method have been used. Data analysis was performed by SPSS software, as well as testing methods such as Pearson correlation coefficient and multi-variation regression analysis. Dimensions and indicators affecting citizens' satisfaction in four dimensions of service and equipment, system speed, general characteristics of buses and behavior of drivers have been evaluated. The results of Pearson correlation test shows that system speed and general characteristics of buses have the highest correlation with the citizen’s satisfaction. Also the results of multi-variation regression analysis imply that, the speed of the system) with beta coefficient of 569/0) is most important for users (urban travelers) and have an effective role in explaining their satisfaction.

Air physical pollution is a consequence of human activites, especially in the twentieth century, which has direct and indirect effects on human beings and its surroundings. This research was carried out in order to use a new method known as magnetism to study the amount of contamination in the rangeland multi-species leaf around the Peyvand Golestan cement factory. Sampling from leaf of three plant species of Artemisia voulgaris.L, Sorghum halepense L. and Rubus sanctus Schreber was corried out in two seasons, spring and autumn, at a distance of 200 and 500 meters from the factory and a control area away from the factory. Unplaced vegetable specimens were packaged separately in plastic bags, then the specimens were dried in roof space and after pouring, the specimens were placed in conisters of 6cm 3. The natural magnetic residual amount (NRM) of the specimens was measured by a rotating magnetometr. The results show that the amount of magnetic residue was closer to the factory (200 meters) more than the distance (500 meters) and the control area. The amount of magnetic residue in Artemisia species in spring 200, 500 meters and control intervals was 699.73, 375.66 and 88.74 amperes per meter, and in the autumn, 200, 500 meters and control were 142.03 , 70.21 and 30.50 amps per meter. In the case area, the amount of magnetic residue at 200, 500 meters and control intervals was 277.03, 91.27 and 43.73 per meter in spring, at 200, 500 meters and control in the autumn, respectively, 92.09, 19.20 and 57.74 amps per meter, respectively. In the case of raspberries, the amount of magnetic residue in the spring of 200, 500 meters and control was 564.36, 355.20 and 68.30, respectively, and in the autumn, 288.2, 196.10 and 74.13, ampere per meter was observed. The amount of magnetic residue in the control treatment was far less than 200 and 500 meters. the results showed that the species of Artemisia could absorb airpollutions more than other treatment species in spring. But Rubus had the same absorbtion in autum.

Monitoring the magnetic properties of suspended particles in the air deposited on the leaves of trees provides useful information on the spatial distribution of the suspended particles in urban and industrial areas. This study was carried out to extend and develop the application of peripheral magnometry method to investigate environmental pollution and metal contaminants resulted from vehicle traffic in some areas of Tehran with heavy traffic. The leaves of Platanus Orientalis in the inland areas of Chitgar Park as a clean area and Azadi Square and Geisha Bridge as crowded areas were collected. Magnetic components such as natural magnetic residual, mass magnetic susceptibility, isothermal magnetic residual and saturated induction magnetic residual were measured in the samples. The concentration of copper, iron, lead and cadmium was measured by mass spectrometry and the relationship between magnetic components and metals was investigated. The results showed that the highest value of susceptibility and magnetic residual of leaf saturation was associated with heavier traffic of vehicles in Azadi and Geisha. The study of the composition of particles in the Chitgar showed a combination of hard ferromagnetic minerals such as hematite with high concentration and soft ferromagnetic minerals with low concentration, which are the result of the activities of the peripheral industries and traffic in Tehran-Karaj highway. The presence of soft magnetic minerals in both Azadi and Geisha regions was higher than Chitgar. In Azadi, the size of particles was larger and the mineral behavior indicated a combination of the presence of soft and hard minerals, while the size of particle was smaller in Geisha.

In recent years, this plain has been faced with a qualitative and a quantitative crisis of groundwater due to the long time drought, improper management of water resources and irregular exploitation, using inappropriate fertilizers and poisons, decrease in cultivated area, an increase in industrial activities and improper disposal of urban and industrial wastewater. Lenjanat Plain with an arid and semi-arid climate, located in southwest of Esfahan province in Iran Therefore, in this study the effect of these factors and natural features of the‏ aquifer on the qualitative and quantitative changes of groundwater in the region was investigated. In this respect, the quantitative changes of groundwater were evaluated as a diagram as well as a zoning map by investigating the water table level in the statistical period of 1990–2016. In addition, the DRASTIC model was applied to study of the natural contamination potential of the aquifer. The model was calibrated by using nitrate data. To investigate the effect of contamination factors on groundwater resources, sampling from resources‏ and the measurement of the different qualitative parameters in the related aquifer was conducted. Then, the groundwater quality index was determined, and the concentrations of various parameters were compared with the standards. The results of quantity evaluation indicated a decrease in level of 0.24 meters per annum in the groundwater, which it was more apparent at 2007. Following this decline, the electrical conductivity of water increased by 42 percent. To evaluate the DRASTIC index seven parameters were weighted and ranked and then were combined with each other. the nitrate ion was used to calibration and modification of DRASTIC index. temporally changes in the groundwater quality parameters were determined and result showed the concentration of parameters were increased due to the period of 1995-2016. The results showed that there is a high contamination risk in the north, west and east of the plain and also Lanjanat Plain expose to the unnatural risk factors due to urban, agricultural and industrial development and direct penetration of sewage into the aquifer. According to the index of Iran's environmental organization, most of the studied samples were recognized contaminated.

As a result of mining activities in Sungun copper mine at the north of Iran acid mine drainage enters into Pakhirchay river a subbasin of Aras borderline river. In this study using laboratory and modeling studies, optimal method is provided for treating acid mine drainage. First dynamics laboratory model was employed to evaluate zeolite efficiency to remove the copper and then using a static tests the maximum absorption potential was estimated 2.85 mg/L. Thus a zeolite filter with a length of 250 m was considered for removal of copper from the acidic drainage. For simulation copper ion transport HYDRUS 2D model was employed to investigate behavior of contaminants in porous media with a body of zeolite and also evaluate efficiency of zeolite on reducing of copper concentration under various scenarios. First scenario showed for the present condition of the drainage zeolite will decrease Cu concentration down to sub-standard copper concentration (5 mg/L) for two months. In the second scenario, as the worst case scenario, it was assumed that the concentration of copper ion increase 50% of the initial value. The model revealed that filter is able to keep the copper level below the standard level only for a month. Finally, under the last scenario and also the most optimistic one that the entering copper is ceased a month after the implementation of the model, zeolite filter will absorb copper ions for two months, without needing to change the filter material.

The existence of heavy metals in the aquatic ecosystem has caused several environmental problems for many years especially in the industrial regions. These elements enter the environment as a result of natural factors, industrial activities and urban sewage, and accumulate through the food chain in the body of aquatic organisms. The mangrove plant plays an important role in the food chain due to its ability to accumulate metals in its organs. In this study, the ability of mangrove plants to adsorb heavy metals (vanadium, cobalt, lead and mercury) which contaminating the Assaluyeh area was investigated. The plants were made from semi-finished seedlings located in Deir (Booshehr province) and treated in the pilot environment with concentrations of 40, 50 mg / L and 3200, 350 micrograms / liter of pollutants at pH 7.8 for 14 days. Samples which were collected from plant organs were digested in concentrated acid and the then concentration of metals was measured using atomic absorption spectrometry. Considering the experimental data it can be concluded the purification of vanadium, mercury and lead ions from aqua medium increase while adsorption of Cobalt ion decreases by increasing time. Finally, the highest absorption by this plant was related to vanadium, mercury, lead and cobalt ions, respectively, at pH 7.8.

Societies' complexity and the ever-increasing acceleration of change in life necessitate societies to focus on ICT. The rural sector can provide further development with the use of this technology due to its wide-ranging capabilities and benefits in terms of production potential and product diversification. This research was carried out with the aim of assessing the status and impact of information technology and communication on the promotion of environmental indicators. This research is applied in terms of purpose and is descriptive-analytic in nature. The statistical population of this study is 22 villages of Hassan Abad rural district in the central part of Islamabad city of West with the population of 8783 people. The sample size was estimated to be 370 people based on the Cochran formula. The distribution of sample numbers in villages was proportional to their populations and the selection of samples in the villages was randomly systematic. In order to analyze the subject, we used five indicators of information technology and communication technology in the form of 37 items and three environmental indicators in the form of 25 items. The questionnaire was designed with closed questions in the form of a five-point Likert spectrum. The reliability of the questionnaire was 90% based on Cronbach's alpha. Shannon entropy, topsis, and multivariate regression were used to analyze the data. The results of the topsis technique indicate that the studied area is on the medium level in terms of the indicators. On the other hand, the results of multivariate regression showed that ICT has had a positive impact on the promotion of environmental indicators. And the effect index on villagers' knowledge and information with the beta coefficient of 0.852 had the greatest impact on environmental indicators. And 0.531 of the variance of environmental indicators are explained through the components of this component. Also, economic effects have the least effect, and only 0.122 of the total variance is explained.

Given the utmost importance of organizational citizenship behavior, it is essential to consider environmental citizenship behavior for the preservation and survival of the environment. The present study aimed to develop a model to promote environmental citizenship behavior among university personnel. In the present descriptive survey, the statistical population included all employees in the University of Ilam (N=487). Based on the Cochran's formula, a total of 213 participants were randomly selected. The data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was 0.70, and its validity was evaluated by university professors and experts. The factor structure of the questionnaire was checked by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Descriptive statistics (frequency counts) and inferential statistics (path analysis) were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the relationship between management environmental actions and environmental commitment (path coefficient = 0.65), employees’ environmental commitment and environmental citizenship behavior (path coefficient = 0.96) were confirmed. In addition, the moderating roles of employees’ environmental beliefs and perceptions of organizational support were confirmed with path coefficients of 0.42 and 0.65, respectively. Additionally, the mediating role of environmental commitment was also confirmed with a path coefficient of 0.17. The findings indicated that environmental management actions had a positive relationship with employee’s citizenship behavior through employee’s environmental commitment. Furthermore, employees’ environmental beliefs played a moderating role in the relationship between environmental management actions and employees’ environmental commitment. Further, the perceptions of organizational support moderated the relationship between environmental management actions and employees’ environmental commitment.

This study evaluates the risk of mercury and arsenic metals in the longtail tuna fish (Thunus tonggol) and blacrskspot snaper fish (Lutjanus ehrenbergii) in the Oman Sea for various people (adults, women and children). Mercury and arsenic concentrations in the fish muscle tissues were determined by using the standard methods D-6722 and chemical digestion, respectively. The number of 34 and 30 samples of longtail tuna fish and blacrskspot snaper fish were randomly selected, respectively. The mean mercury and Arsenic in the longtail tuna fish were obtained0.24±0.012 and 0.13±0.006µg/g wet weight, and they were in the blacrskspot snaper fish, 0.16±0.008 and 0.09±0.008 µg/g wet weight, respectively. The mean mercury concentration, only in the longtail tuna fish was exceeded than the US EPA standard set for mercury in the fish (0.1 μg/g wet weight).The mean arsenic concentration in longtail tuna and blacrskspot snaper fish were lower than the US EPA standard for arsenic (0.3 μg/g wet weight). The hazard quotient (HQ) was only higher than 1 for mercury concentration in the longtail tuna fish for children. The lowest monthly allowed consumption for arsenic were obtained in the longtail tuna fish for the women group (about 6.5 servings per month) and for mercury in the longtail tuna fish for the women group (about 3 servings per month), respectively. Generally, it is advised people apply the consumption restrictions to reduce exposure to these pollutants, while they used of the nutritional and health benefits of fish consumption.

Improving the quality and status of country’s environment through targeted research management is one of the most important goals of the research centers in this field. In this regard, administration and prioritizing the environmental research can play a significant role in achieving this goal. This paper uses the collected data from a research project called "Needs Assessment and Prioritization of the Research Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development", a systematic approach to identifying the research priorities. This process is based on five principles. These principles include beneficiaries participation, status analysis and needs assessment, identification of research bases, scoring the research bases, based on feasibility and attractiveness criterions and prioritization based on the highest agreement rates at the research institute (the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development). The experts participating in this project were, 16.66% from Environmental Research Institute, 15.15% from department of Water and Soil, 13.63% from county departments, 9.09% from department of Marine Ecosystems, 54.4% from faculty members of universities and the rest of them, from the Environmental Protection Agency. In total, there are 346 research bases, 28 titles in ecology; 5 titles in science; 41 titles in environmental engineering and technology; 44 titles in environmental economics; 31 titles in environmental law; 108 titles in environmental management; 26 titles in natural science; 22 titles in social systems; 27 titles in Biological Safety and 14 titles in Environmental Technology. These research bases were analyzed by the experts and the most important research priorities were identified.