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        1 - Ecological risk assessment of heavy metals lead, zinc and cadmium in the Lakan lead and zinc company
        Seyed Alireza Sharifi mojgan zaeimdar Seyed Ali Jozi Rokhshad Hejazi‬
        Background and Objective: Today, the implementation of industrial development programs without considering environmental considerations, has led to the continued entry of pollutants into the environment. Currently, industrial pollution is considered the main cause of en More
        Background and Objective: Today, the implementation of industrial development programs without considering environmental considerations, has led to the continued entry of pollutants into the environment. Currently, industrial pollution is considered the main cause of environmental degradation. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the ecological risk of toxic metals lead, zinc, and cadmium in the Lakan lead and zinc processing company.Method: After organizing and standardizing the data using GIS, ecological risk assessment and also the environmental risk index of toxic metals in the study area were estimated.Findings: The results of the ecological risk assessment showed that among the studied toxic metals, cadmium metal has the lowest risk (0.01% of the area in the high-risk class) and zinc has the highest risk (0.02% of the area in the high-risk class). Also, the results of the environmental risk index assessed 99% of the region in terms of cadmium metal risk in the low-risk category and 92% of the region in terms of zinc risk in the critical class, and lead metal was in the intermediate status.Discussion and Conclusion: In conclusion, it can be stated that following industrialization, the spread of industrial pollution is inevitable, but methods and measures have been used to mitigate and reduce their consequences. One of the important methods in reducing the effects of environmental pollution is ecological risk assessment. Therefore, considering the capabilities of GIS systems in the preparation of environmental assessment maps, it seems that this system can be useful in facilitating the assessment of the ecological vulnerability of metal mining industries.  Manuscript profile
      • Open Access Article

        2 - Degradation assessment of Jajrood protected area using landscape degradation model
        Afshin Danehkar Shirkou Jafari
        Degradation model is a method for environmental impact assessment and it has been widely applied for accumulative impact assessment of human activities. In addition, landscape indicators have been widely used in landscape planning as quantitative tools. One important ap More
        Degradation model is a method for environmental impact assessment and it has been widely applied for accumulative impact assessment of human activities. In addition, landscape indicators have been widely used in landscape planning as quantitative tools. One important application of landscape metrics is their contribution to landscape degradation model. The goal of this research was to assess landscape degradation in Jajrood protected area. In doing so, landscape indicators were calculated using a land use/cover map of Jajrood protected area for 16 sub basins. For land use/cover mapping, Landsat satellite image was firstly pre-processed, and then, hybrid classification approach was undertaken to categorize the image into different land use/cover categories. According to landscape degradation model, ecological vulnerability and the severity of activities as well as the degradation degree were calculated for the targeted landscape. The results of this research indicated that sub basin 5 with a value of 31 had the highest level of landscape degradation and sub basins 1, 13 and 15 with values 25, 25 and 22, respectively, were on the next orders in Jajrood protected area. In addition, sub basins 16, 7 and 4 with values 3.5, 3.25 and 3.25, respectively, were least degraded and these sub basins had the least level of fragmentation. The results show that 68% of the area was outlined to be potential for development or further development, only 17% of the area is suitable for protection. Approximately 13% of the area should be considered for rehabilitation that demonstrated natural land cover change and degradation in the protected area. Manuscript profile