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Open Access Article
1 - Efficient and Sustainable Use of Water Resources in Khuzestan through Water Footprint Benchmarking
Samira Salari Fatemeh Karandish Parviz Haghighatjou Maite AldayaBackground and aim: Anthropogenic water scarcity is among global concerns which threats the sustainability of the world in future. Overexploiting limited blue water resources for supplying human’s growing food demand is the main root of such a scarcity. Being stil MoreBackground and aim: Anthropogenic water scarcity is among global concerns which threats the sustainability of the world in future. Overexploiting limited blue water resources for supplying human’s growing food demand is the main root of such a scarcity. Being still in its infancy, water footprint (WF) benchmarking is a proper method to determine the inefficient fraction of water consumption. Hence, we assessed if achieving benchmark levels can limit agricultural WF to its sustainable cap in Khuzestan province, which is the agricultural backbone of Iran.Method: The research consists of three stages including WF accounting, and sustainability and efficiency assessment. First, consumptive and degradative WFs were accounted for 32 in counties of Khuzestan province over the period 1986-2016. Green and blue WFs were accounted by dividing green and blue evapotranspiration by crop’s yield, respectively. The AquaCrop model was used to simulate daily evapotranspiration, and then, seasonal values were estimated by aggregating daily values. Grey WF was estimated for the applied nitrogen fertilizer in croplands. In the next stage, the sustainability status of water consumption pattern was assessed by dividing overall blue WF by blue water availability. The latter was estimated by subtracting environmental flow requirements from natural runoff. Thereafter, WF benchmarks were extracted for 10th, 25th, and 50th level of crop production, and based on which, the inefficient fractions of blue WFs were estimated for individual crops. Finally, inefficient blue WFs were compared with unsustainable ones to know if achieving benchmark levels can limit agricultural blue water consumption to its sustainable caps in the study area. A correlation assessment was also done to determine the main roots of inefficiency in Khuzestan province.Results: Along with a 63% increase in crop production and 53 increase in unit blue WF, the overall blue WF increased by 80% over the study period. Such an increasing pattern caused groundwater overexploitation with an annual average rate of 12 million m3 y-1. The contribution of green WF in consumptive WF decreased from 60% in 1986 to 48% in 2016. Overall grey WF, however, followed a decreasing trend, with an average annual decreasing slope of 140 m3 ha-1 y-1, which mainly occurred by a considerable reduction in cash crop’s grey WF. In 2016, a total of 0.98 billion m3 of blue water was consumed unsustainably, which was roughly 85% higher than one in 1986. The number of countries with unsustainable water consumption also increased from 2 counties in 1986, to 9 counties in 2016. Stable crops had the largest contribution in unsustainable WF. Based on the results of efficiency assessment, and considering WF benchmarks developed at 25th of crop production level, inefficient blue WF varies in the range of 0.26 to 606 million m3 y-1 in different counties in 2016. Compared with 1986, the inefficiency increased by 10-3860 m3 ha-1 in 16 counties in 2016. While achieving benchmark levels can reduce blue WF to its sustainable level at provincial scale, unsustainable blue WFs in Andimeshk and Ramshir counties are still 6.8 and 340.9 million m3 higher than the inefficient blue WFs, respectively. The correlation assessment showed that inefficiency increase along with any increase in added value by agricultural production and/or export, unit blue WF, blue water scarcity level, and access to groundwater consumption; while it decreases with any increase in the number of employees per ha, crop yield, and cash crop’s harvested area.Conclusion: WF assessment showed that crop production in Khuzestan province is done at the cost of deteriorating environment, which threats the stability of agricultural system in near future. While achieving benchmark levels helps with being limited to sustainable WF caps through removing inefficient blue WF fractions, there are still the risk of unsustainability in some regions, which indicates the importance of high-resolution assessments for determining hotspots. Hence, further research is required to determine temporal hotspots as well, in order to implement a proper sustainable development plans. Manuscript profile -
Open Access Article
2 - Classification of Groundwater Sustainability Assessment Indicators in Aquifers of Arid and Semi-Arid Regions
Susan Hayeri Yazdi Maryam Robati Saeideh Samani Fariba Zamani HargalaniBackground and Aim: Considering the increasing dependence of humans on fresh water, especially groundwater, which is the most important source of water supply in arid and semi-arid regions, assessing the sustainability of aquifers is crucial. In this regard, assessment MoreBackground and Aim: Considering the increasing dependence of humans on fresh water, especially groundwater, which is the most important source of water supply in arid and semi-arid regions, assessing the sustainability of aquifers is crucial. In this regard, assessment indicators are used, which usually do not have a clear boundary between the classification of indicators and they overlap with each other in different fields such as economy, society and environment. Also, researchers usually rely on a number of indicators that can be measured for their case study. Due to this lack of data, in this article, an attempt has been made to collect and categorize various indicators that have been used to assess groundwater in aquifers in arid and semi-arid regions of the world.Method: This research has been a literature review of previous articles and studies in the world in the field of assessing the sustainability of groundwater based on different indicators. The course of movement and progress of these indicators in articles and their classification in environmental, social, economic and institutional categories has been in the framework of this research. Also, the composite indicators that have been prepared for topics under the sustainability subcategory, such as the water poverty index, have been considered in this research. The water poverty indicator is a subset of the competition criterion and a social indicator. This indicator has been proposed as a subset of the water competition criterion, which is an important indicator for measuring the level of poverty caused by water scarcity, especially in arid and semi-arid lands such as significant parts of West Asian countries. In other words, this indicator connects water and poverty. Results: The results indicate that the environmental indicators with a share of 63% have the highest number among the articles and physical indicators include more than half of the environmental indicators. After that, economic indicators with 18%, social indicators with 14% and institutional indicators with 7% are in the next ranks in terms of numbers, which shows the attention of experts to the importance of the environment and economy on the sustainability of aquifers.Conclusion: Although social indicators comprise only 13% of all indicators, but due to their importance and weight, they need more studying. Also, these types of indicators are mainly dependent on the case study, so using the studies of sociologists is a great help for real investigation and it will aim at the sustainability of aquifers. Also, due to the fact that sustainability evaluation is an interdisciplinary field, the selection of its indicators needs strong theoretical foundations, therefore, team work with the presence of different experts will increase the quality of the study results. Considering that the institutional indicators mainly play the role of the answer in the issue of aquifer sustainability, therefore, compiling institutional indicators in the future and including a logical weight for these indicators during the assessment of sustainability is very important in raising the quality of the assessment. Institutional indicators are mainly related to governance, and considering that the development approach is to reduce the concentration of management from top to bottom, there are fewer institutional indicators and the focus is on other indicators. Manuscript profile -
Open Access Article
3 - Measuring urban sustainability and its effect on quality of life indicators with integrated multi-criteria decision-making approach (Case study: District 2 of Tehran)
maryam robati Elmira HaghayeghiBackground and Objective: Environmental sustainability assessment is largely dependent on a thorough understanding of thefactors influencing sustainability and how they are selected. Therefore, the purpose of thisdissertation is to identify, select and localize the desi MoreBackground and Objective: Environmental sustainability assessment is largely dependent on a thorough understanding of thefactors influencing sustainability and how they are selected. Therefore, the purpose of thisdissertation is to identify, select and localize the desired indicators in relation to environmentalsustainability and on the other hand its relationship with quality of life indicators in District 2 ofTehran.Material and Methodology: The questionnaires were completed by two groups (experts and citizens) to determine the indicators and then analyzed and evaluated the research options were ranked using VIKOR and LINMAP methods. The options considered in this study are 9 areas in District 2 of TehranFindings: The results show that The results showed alpha coefficient was calculated to measure the internal stability of the questionnaires. According to the results, alpha is 0.954 based on the completed questionnaire in the environmental sustainability assessment section by expert and based on the supplementary questionnaires of citizens is 0.875 and this indicates a go degree of internal reliability of the questionnairesis.Discussion and Conclusion: The results show that out of 6 criteria considered in the environmental sustainability assessment section, physical criterion with So that zone 8 with a score of 1has the lowest amount of environmental sustainability and zone 2 with a score of 0 has the highest amount of environmental sustainability. Also, the ranking results of the 9 districts of Region 2 using the Linamp method show that District 2 has the highest rank in terms of quality of life indicators and District 8 has the lowest quality in terms of quality of life indicators. Manuscript profile -
Open Access Article
4 - Reviewing and comparing common systems for assessing neighborhood sustainability
sama barati Kianoosh Zakerhaghighi arash baghdadiBackground and Objective: Many communities, mainly in the developed world, use neighborhood sustainability assessment programs and systems to measure their success near proximity to sustainable development goals. The characteristics and success of these systems in cover MoreBackground and Objective: Many communities, mainly in the developed world, use neighborhood sustainability assessment programs and systems to measure their success near proximity to sustainable development goals. The characteristics and success of these systems in covering the various dimensions of sustainability is an issue that should be considered by urban planners and designers. In this research, to recognize and identify the limitations and capabilities of the neighborhood sustainability assessment systems; four known systems in this field, namely LEED-ND, BREEAM-Communities, CASBEE-UD, and DGNB-NSQ, have been critically reviewed. Material and Methodology: In this research, with a broad review of texts and a comparative study of four neighborhood sustainability assessment systems, using content analysis method to issues such as comparing structure and classification, the weight of topics and criteria, the amount of sustainability coverage and so on have been addressed. After comparing the general comparison of neighborhood sustainability assessment systems, a comparative framework based on four dimensions of urban sustainable development has been created in the form of 8 issues. Findings: Despite observing the treelike structure in the systems, differences in the importance of the subjects and the degree of sustainability coverage are noticeable. Studies have shown that more than 68% of the evaluation criteria emphasize the environmental dimension and the two issues of land use-urban context-building layout with more than 20% and resources (energy, water, materials) with more than 13%, were recognized as important and influential subjects in the process of evaluating neighborhoods. However, the approach of systems has been different on other issues. Discussion and Conclusion: The results showed that the systems under study, despite providing useful operational methods to assess sustainability due to excessive focus on the environmental dimension and the same neglect of other dimensions of sustainability, have not been effective in assessing the sustainability of neighborhoods as a whole And they need more maturity. Manuscript profile -
Open Access Article
5 - Sustainability assessment of urban geomorphology for planning and urban development management (Case Study: Yazd)
Amanehalsadat Pouriyeh Nematallah Khorasani Farhad Hosseinzadeh Lotfi Parvin FarshchiAbstract Background and Objective: Natural feature have a decisive effect on locating, growth, and physical development of cities. Natural phenomena sometimes act as positive factors and sometimes as negative and deterrent factors. The main objective of this study is to MoreAbstract Background and Objective: Natural feature have a decisive effect on locating, growth, and physical development of cities. Natural phenomena sometimes act as positive factors and sometimes as negative and deterrent factors. The main objective of this study is to identify the geo-morphological features of Yazd city using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model in order to determine the sustainability of the city. Method: To achieve these goals, the geo-morphological indicators affecting the growth of Yazd including elevation, slope, aspect, geology, morphology, and pedology (land units) over a 30-year period from 1984 to 2013 were identified. Then, using questionnaire, the importance of indicators in development of the city was specified. Moreover, the DEA model was designed to examine the efficiency of development of Yazd. Efficiency of the units was calculated by GAMS software. The most efficient units involved in development of Yazd were recognized using Anderson and Peterson model. Findings: According to the DEA model during the study period (1984-2013), development of about 16% of Yazd was found to be quite efficient. In other words, during the study period, the years 1985, 1986, 2005, 2009, and 2013 have always had 100% efficiency. The most efficient unit in Yazd, based on the geomorphology indicator, was observed in 1986. Since then, with the development of city mainly in southwest direction the efficiency has been declining. Conclusion: The results show that indicators of slope, piedmont plain sediments, urban areas are playing an important role in the development of Yazd city. Manuscript profile -
Open Access Article
6 - CO-Active Neuro- Fuzzy Inference System Application in Supply Chain Sustainability Assessment Based on Economic, Social, Environmental, and Governance Pillars
Mahsa Alahyari Nazanin Pilevari -
Open Access Article
7 - Assessment and assessment of tourism sustainability in the villages of tourism destination from the viewpoint of local managers. Case study: Ardebil district
Mostafa Taleshi Kuomars KhodapanahRural tourism, through its links with environmental and natural attractions and local communities, has significant implications for its positive and negative dimensions in human and natural environments. Therefore, in order to overcome the instabilities, principles and MoreRural tourism, through its links with environmental and natural attractions and local communities, has significant implications for its positive and negative dimensions in human and natural environments. Therefore, in order to overcome the instabilities, principles and requirements of sustainable development approach should be applied in policies and executive programs in order to ensure the development of tourism in rural areas, especially the tourist destination villages.The purpose of this study was to measure the sustainability level of tourism development in the villages of tourism destination in Ardebil. For this purpose, using descriptive-analytical method, using the literature of the research, the operations of the concepts and variables in the questions have been addressed and its validity has been determined by the elite survey method It has been evaluated and its reliability has been calculated by 80% Corvenbach Alpha. Then, to assess sustainable tourism development, a network process technique has been used. The statistical population of the study is 11 villages of tourism destination in Ardebil. The results show that tourism development in the studied villages is in the middle level of sustainability. Among the dimensions studied, the economic dimension of tourism has been more stable than dimensions Environmental, social and infrastructure. There is a significant difference between studied villages in terms of sustainability of tourism development and Aladizge village has the highest stability rating and Sarabeh village with the lowest sustainability score. Manuscript profile -
Open Access Article
8 - چهارچوبی برای ارزیابی پایداری کسب و کارهای کشاورزی در مناطق روستایی
سنور احمدی حسین کوهستانی Hossein Yadavar حسین شعبانعلی فمی آزاد احمدیپژوهش حاضر ضمن تاکید بر جنبه کاربردی با روش توصیفی و تحلیلی و فن پیمایشی دلفی، ابتداٌ در پی دستیابی به یک چارچوب مفهومی در تعیین مولفهها و معیارها و شاخصهای سنجش کارافرینی پایدار در کشاورزی است و در نهایت برآن است تا مجموعه شاخصهای معرف عنصر پایداری در بین فعالیتهای Moreپژوهش حاضر ضمن تاکید بر جنبه کاربردی با روش توصیفی و تحلیلی و فن پیمایشی دلفی، ابتداٌ در پی دستیابی به یک چارچوب مفهومی در تعیین مولفهها و معیارها و شاخصهای سنجش کارافرینی پایدار در کشاورزی است و در نهایت برآن است تا مجموعه شاخصهای معرف عنصر پایداری در بین فعالیتهای کشاورزی کارآفرینی در روستاهای استان کردستان را مورد بررسی و تحلیل قرار دهد. نمونههای مورد بررسی در این پژوهش شامل 30 از کارآفرینان،کارشناسان، اساتید دانشگاه و صاحب نظران در سطح استان کردستان است. بنابراین در پی دستیابی به اهداف تحقیق بر اساس روشهای تحلیل تصمیم گیری چند معیاره (TOPSIS , Anthoropy) تحلیل شاخصهای کارافرینی پایدار در کشاورزی انجام گرفته است. نتایج تحقیق نشان داده است که در بعد اجتماعی، کاهش مهاجرت روستائیان با امتیاز 0.64 و شاخصهای افزایش امنیت و رفاه اجتماعی، کاهش بیکاری فصلی و دایمی، کاهش احساس محرومیت و فقر و دستیابی همگانی به اطلاعات نوین با امتیاز 0.50 و در بعد پایداری زیست محیطی کارآفرینی کشاورزی، شاخصهای استفاده از کودهای سبز و بیولوژیک جهت ازدیاد تولید با امتیاز 0.59، استفاده از روشهای مبارزه بیولوژیک برای دفع آفات با امتیاز 0.45 و شاخص تثبیت کربن در خاک و استفاده از سوخت-های پاک با امتیاز 0.44 و در بعد اقتصادی سرمایه گذاری در کارهای تولیدی با امتیاز 0.68، استفاده از نوآوریها و تجهیزات جدید کشاورزی با امتیاز 0.49 و تنوع محصولات کشاورزی با امتیاز 0.46 از مهمترین شاخص هایی هستند که جهت توسعه پایداری فعالیت های کارآفرینی کشاورزی، بایستی مورد توجه قرار گیرد. Manuscript profile
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