Investigating the Relationship between the Environmental Consequences of the Oil and Gas Industry and the Quality of Life of Citizens in South Pars

Subject Areas :

seyedmohammad ahmadpour ¹ (PhD Student of Sociology, Bushehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran)
gholamreza jafarinia ² (Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Bushehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran)
habib pasalarzadeh ³ (Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Bushehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran)

Received: 2019-12-11 Accepted : 2020-01-10 Published : 2020-04-20

Keywords: Quality of life, Environmental Consequences, South Pars Basin, Oil &amp, Gas Industry,

Abstract :

         There are many factors that affect people's quality of life, including the degree of industrialization of life. Continuing one's commitment to the social system rooted in satisfaction with one's quality of life, community status, and overall living conditions. Anyone can analyze and evaluate their situation by analyzing their own circumstances. Although positive emotions about one's condition is a mental element, rooted in objective conditions Considering the importance of discussing the feeling of quality of life, this study by using field method, surveys technique and questionnaire research, tries to answer the main question if there is any  connection between  the environmental consequences of oil and gas industry with the life quality of citizens in Pars area.The statistical population of this study is all citizens over the age of 18 in Asaluyeh and Kangan, 376 person's were surveyed by cochran formula as sample. SPSS software and Smart PLS structural equations were also used for data analysis. The results indicate there is negative and inverse relationship between the quality of life and environmental consequences of oil and gas industry with total quality of life (P = -0.34) and its indicators social (P = -0.37), mental (P = -0.36)  physical (P = -0.30) and quality of family life (P = -0.39). Also the results of Structural Equation Model (Smart PLS) show that environmental impacts of oil and gas industry have moderate effect (-0.513) on quality of life and variable environmental consequences of oil and gas industry Explains the variance of (0.263). of quality of life in total.
Extended Abstract
Introduction:
         Quality of life is One of mental health the indicators. In debate about quality of life, not only life, but quality is important. Concern for quality of life is one of the hallmarks of contemporary society, and the scope for quality of life and its measurement may not have been as wide as it is today. Eeach of economists, scientists, and governments look at it from a different point of view. Quality of life is a complex and multidimensional concept influenced by components such as time and place and individual and social values, So it has different meanings for individuals and different groups. Some have interpreted it as the viability of an area, others as a measure of attractiveness and some as general welfare, social well-being, happiness, satisfaction, and so on. Continuing one's commitment to the social system rooted in satisfaction with one's quality of life, community status, and overall living conditions. Anyone can analyze and evaluate their situation by analyzing their own circumstances. Although positive emotions about one's condition is a mental element, rooted in objective conditions.
Methodology:
           The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between environmental consequences of oil and gas industry and quality of life of citizens in South Pars area. The present study is a quantitative research based on the type of data collected and analyzed, and is a field study in terms of the type of approach to the problem under study. The technique used in this study is surveying. In the field study, a questionnaire was used to collect the required information. Prior to the beginning of the survey, the initial questionnaire was tested initially and using the results, the deficiencies were remedied and the final questionnaire was adjusted. The population of the city of Assaluyeh in 2016 is 73958 and the population over 18 years of age is about 58,000. The population of the city of Kangan in 2016 is 8 and the population and people over 18 years of age are about 80,000. Using the Cochran formula we obtained the sample size.
The sampling method in this study is quota and two-stage random. In this way, the sample size is selected by proportion of the population of each town . In the next step a number of neighborhoods and subdivisions of Assaluyeh and Kangan are selected randomly and then the final sample selected randomly from each neighborhood and area. Extracted. After data collection, data were analyzed using SPSS and PLS Smart statistical software in order to ensure the validity and reliability of consulting and using the opinions of relevant professors and experts as well as Cronbach's alpha test for reliability of the questionnaire. Based on the alpha coefficient, the reliability coefficient of all variables is above 0.7.
Results and discussion:
         A structural equation model has been used to determine the severity and impact of the oil and gas industry on the quality of life of citizens in different dimensions. In this research, using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is tested. The approach in this section is a two-stage approach. That, after formulating the theoretical model of the research is necessary to discuss the model estimation or in other words estimation of free parameters in the model and to analyze the general and partial indices of the model to determine whether the empirical data collectively supports the theoretical model. Are they edited or not? The findings indicate that there is a negative and significant relationship between the environmental consequences of the oil and gas industry with the quality of life and its dimensions from the citizens' point of view. Among the relationship between oil and gas industry environmental consequences and family life quality (P = 0.39), the highest correlation coefficient and relationship between environmental consequences of oil and gas industry and physical quality of life had the lowest correlation coefficient (0.30). - = P). Also, the relationship between environmental consequences of oil and gas industry with social quality of life (P = 0.37) and mental quality of life (P = 0.36) has a negative and significant correlation coefficient. Also, there was no significant relationship between environmental consequences of oil and gas industry and quality of economic life. Therefore, it can be argued that the more the environmental consequences of the oil and gas industry (P = 0.34) and its dimensions, the lower the quality of life from the citizens' point of view, and all the hypotheses of the present study are confirmed.
Conclusion
        The results of the present study on the relationship between environmental consequences on quality of life has consonant with findings of Gholami and others (2018), Hosseini and Abbaspour (2016) and Amanpour et al (2016). Each of the above researchers found in their results the relationship between environmental status and quality of life of citizens. Considering the above, it can be concluded that one of the areas affected by the introduction of quality of life industry is the South Pars region (Assaluyeh and Kagan). This region is one of the most deprived areas of Iran in terms of infrastructure facilities and is one of the areas traditionally traded by sea and with the Persian. The findings of the present study indicate that the environmental status of the oil industry not increased the quality of life and not even the quality of economic life. Because in past and before the development of South Pars, in the region, the livelihoods natives were mostly through fishing, ranching, and sometimes agriculture and gardening. And changes in the social context and workforce have greatly diminished the prevalence of such activities. on the other hand, existed companies, generally require specialized or semi-skilled workforce and do not employ local residents. Therefore, this group of residents generally has problems with their livelihoods and their quality of life is not particularly economically viable.

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