Journal of Spatial Analysis

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Introduction: Wetland ecosystems, especially marine coastal wetlands of the most important and also the most vulnerable are the world's environmental resources. Which has always been sensitive to the fragility of coastal areas, high population density and intensive human activities are faced with the threat of destruction. Based on this, monitoring the trend of the changes in wetlands and their surrounding lands can be effective in the management of these valuable ecosystems. Investigating the environmental risk is a suitable instrument for evaluating and ensuring understanding of the relationships between stressor factors and environmental effects especially in wetland ecosystems. In general, application of methods of evaluating environmental risk is one of the important tools in studying environmental management along with identifying and mitigating potential environmental damaging factors in wetland regions in order to achieve sustainable development. Today, multi-criteria decision-making methods are employed in evaluating the risk in many studies.This study is based on multi-criteria decision-making methods to identify and analyze the risks threatening Tyab- Minab International wetland located in Hormozgan province was conducted.
Materials and methods: Based on the methodology to identify and prioritize risks Delphi, AHP and TOPSIS techniques were used to determine the risk priority number. In the first phase of this study, to identify and screen the main criteria of project selection, Delphi method was used. In this study, the panel of interest was determined based on a combination of experts with different expertise and out of a sample of 20 individuals, in which experts with various expertise gave a score from 1 to 5 (Likert scale) to each criterion. In this way, 32 criteria were identified as the most important and considerable risk for Minab Wetland and further proceeded to the second phase for prioritization and analysis. In this stage, multi-criteria decision-making methods were used, in which hierarchical analysis process was employed for prioritizing the criteria using Expert Choice 11 software. The indices of risk evaluation including the impact intensity, incidence probability, and the sensitivity of the receptive environment in environmental risk evaluation of wetlands do not have an equal value and significance. For this purpose, to weight the factors effective in estimating risk level and for prioritization of risk options, the technique for order of preference by similarly to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and Excel software were benefited from for calculations. The spectrum of scoring to each of the indices of incidence probability, impact intensity, and the sensitivity of the receiving environment was chosen from very low (1) to very high (9) based on hour spectrum. Following investigation of the types and frequency of indices along with the method of score determination of these indices, three indices of risk intensity (C1), risk incidence probability (C2), and the sensitivity of the receiving environment (C3) were chosen for risk ranking using TOPSIS model. Next, after determination of risk priority number using TOPSIS, the risk levels were calculated and evaluated using normal distribution method for each risk. To determine the degree of risk-taking, risks are organized in a descending order, where the elements of the number of the class and the length of the class are determined based on Relations 1 and 2 (n is the number of risks). Next, the risks are categorized based on these classes. Considering the concept of ALARP, the risks under investigation are divided into high risks, medium risks, and low risks. In this study, considering the number and length of classes, the studied risks were categorized in six levels (critical, intolerable, considerable, medium, tolerable, and trivial risks).
 

(2)

(1)

the number of classes=1+3.3 log (n)
the length of the classes= the greatest risk value - the smallest risk value/the number of classes
Results and discussion: In the first step, the final indices of the wetland's environmental risk were identified and the development of hierarchical tree and classification of the risks threatening wetlands along with their incidence probability in two groups of natural and environmental criteria was performed. Eventually, the final weight of criteria resulting from paired comparisons was obtained in Expert Choice 11 to achieve the score of incidence probability of each risk. Based on the results, among the natural, social, economic, physiochemical, biological, and cultural criteria, drought and climate change, increase urban and rural development, Smugling of fuel, oil pollution, reduce the density of vegetation, indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater were of high priority. The results obtained from ranking the the risks threatening Minab Wetland using TOPSIS suggest that oil pollution, dam construction upstream, persistent drought and climate change, and sometimes alcohol and fuel smuggling and illegal overfishing the priorities are first to fifth. Also Results showed that the respectively based on (Cj+) oil pollution (0/9109), dam construction (0/8121), the drought and climate changes (0/8063) and the smuggling of fuel (0/7520) are in Unbearable level.
Overall, the results indicated that same as this research, wetland ecosystems are subject to many threatening factors, resulting in ecological imbalance and abnormal appearance of the wetland, putting the wetland entity into danger of extinction in terms of fauna and flora.
Conclusion: Nowadays, for assessment of environmental risk, various methods are used, each of which has positive and negative points given the studied environment and the conditions governing it. Therefore, one cannot reject or approve one method with total confidence. By employing novel methods in risk evaluation, the intensity of risk incidences and, in turn, the damages and losses incurred to the environment can be prevented or at least mitigated. Further, it is also possible to move in line with proper and optimal management of environmental resources, especially wetlands and with sustainable development. Undoubtedly, understanding and recognition of the factors threatening wetlands, according to the importance and the impact of them, Prevent and cope with the threats and accurate project preparation and implementation of wetland conservation plans and environmental management.

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Land cover changes as a basic factor in environmental change act and has become a global threat. In this research, changes in land cover in rural tourism areas by neural networks, Markov chains in software ArcGIS, ENVI, Terrset using the TM and OLI satellite imagery, Landsat Satellite was surveyed for a period of 30 years for three periods of 1985, 2000, and 2015. The findings of the first stage show that land cover changes at the period 1985-2015, were classified in five class residential spaces, Commercial, Green, Empty and mountainous spaces and communication networks. In this study, the area of mountainous and empty spaces (13.25%) has decreased and in contrast, has decreased the amount of green spaces (6.221%), Residential (5.258%), commercial (1.264%) and communication networks (0.529%). Changing land cover as one of the most important environmental risks has been directly influenced by the Commodification phenomenon. Also, the findings of the prediction using the Markov-CA chain showed that with the continuation of the current and excessive loading on the ground, on the horizon of 2030, green cover (Agriculture, gardens and grassland, garden and residential)  and  wild land  and mountain cover have been reduced and to cover residential and commercial villas will be added. Based on research findings concluded that land cover changes in rural tourism areas in order to achieve more profits has become incompatible applications. This change in land cover, in addition to the economic, social impacts, has led to the formation of environmental hazards in the Bharang area. Developing tourism in the study area by removing agricultural land from the production cycle has led to an increase in urban activities and the formation of new activities (service, Residential Garden, residential villa) instead of traditional activities(agriculture and livestock) that are economical. And by loading too much ecological power tolerable land, while posing environmental hazards, causing incompatible activities next to each other, they do not match. Therefore, tourism, which gradually formed over the years and now it has become a part of rural texture, Spatial Conflict and heterogeneity two strains has created for them. Spatial Conflict created, due to changes in land cover and acceptance of incompatible activities that derive from human-nature relationships. This means that the rapid and unpredictable trend of tourism development, the rural landscape has encountered a problem and with changes in land cover, has led to inconsistencies between different activities and eventually has shaped the Spatial Conflict.
 

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Introduction

 There are two questions with all programs and efforts to industry development in Iran: I) How much is rate of environmental hazard of industries in each Iran regions? II) How much is rate of capital production of industrial sector to environmental damages in regions of Iran? 

 

Explanation and Interpretation of the Results

In recent years (2009-13), despite a reduction in the number of industrial workshops in the country as a whole, pollution and ecological damage to industries had more than doubled in the past; On the other hand, industries has been more conflict with the environment increasingly in Iran and has led to the growth of human environment hazards with increase of damage to natural environment. Also, from a regional point of view, wherever more industry is not more damage to environment by industry necessarily. Factors such as “obsolete instruments in industry”, “low level of technology”, “insufficient skills and expertise of the activists in industry” and “Inattention of managers and industrialists to environmental health” has been causes damage growing to environment. Space pattern suggests industrial sector risks accumulated within South West of Iran. As well as according to spatial changes trend, the risks are drawn towards central regions of the country. Among the provinces, Markazi province has been damage most to environment than any one million riyals added value of industry sector activities. As well as provinces such as Mazandaran, Bushehr, Fars, Isfahan, Ardebil and West Azarbaijan has been next ranks. Finally, it can be concluded that the environment health is not important for capital production from industrial sector of in the regions.

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Analysis and Measurement of Environmental Resilience of Villages in Gorganrud Watershed against Flood (Golestan province, Iran)
 
Abstract
Environmental hazards are inevitable phenomena that always place serious risks on the development of human societies, especially rural development. In the recent years, however, significant changes have been made in crisis management approaches, and the prevailing view has shifted from the "reduction of vulnerability" approach to "resilience improvement". Resilience is a new concept often used in the face of unknowns and uncertainties. Therefore, along with this change of attitude, it is important to examine and analyze natural hazards in terms of resilience. According to global statistics, floods, as one of the most devastating natural disasters, have caused the greatest losses and casualties to human settlements, which is true both in our country and in Golestan province. Investigations show that only in the statistical period of 1991-2014, 106 rainfall cases have led to the occurrence of floods in this province. These floods have damaged natural resources, the environment and the prevalence of environmental pollution; In addition, other natural and human factors have contributed to the heightened risk of flood damage. But if it was planned for the restoration of villages, then the damage could be reduced. Therefore, this research was conducted with the general purpose of determining the relationships between environmental factors and factors of rural communities of Gorganrud watershed on their resilience and numerical values. Finally, the residual spatial analysis of rural limited settlements was studied. Accordingly, the research questions are as follows: a) What is the relationship between environmental factors and factors in the villages of Gorganrud watershed in Golestan province with the resilience of the communities living in them in the face of flood? b) What are the resiliency values ​​of these communities in the environmental dimension and which zones? This is an applied research with descriptive-analytical method. A library of researcher-made questionnaires was used for collecting data using library resources. The statistical population consisted of 106 villages with 22,942 households. First, 31 villages were selected by cluster sampling. Then, using Cochran formula, 318 families were selected as sample size and selected by simple random sampling method. Also, for assessing the validity of the questionnaire, using Delphi collective wisdom methods, it was determined by using historical studies and opinions of experts in rural areas. The reliability of the questionnaires was also determined by using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient in the pre-test method. The value for the household questionnaire was r_a1=0.841 and r_a2=0.862, respectively. All steps for statistical analyzes have been performed by Excel and SPSS software. Additionally, the development of mapping, risk-taking, risk and resilience was also done with the help of ArcGIS software and the weight of each criterion was determined by the Super Decision tool; Then, using the weighted and linear overlapping methods, each of the sub-criteria of the main indexes was multiplied in its weights. The study area is divided into two distinct sections in terms of geological and geomorphological structure. The southern and eastern parts of it are the ripples of the eastern Alborz mountains, which are taller in the southern part and extend along the east-west direction. Also, the northern part of the studied basin is the Gorgan plain, in which the main branch of Gorganrud flows from east to west and all branches of the south and east are drained. Following the general slope of the main branch and its long-standing walls in the mid-east, it is usually not flooded; but as far as the west is concerned, its slope is very low and one of the flood plains is considered as the basin. The results of the research show that there is a significant relationship between the environmental factors of the studied basin villages and the resilience of the communities inhabited by them in the face of floods. Also, the average environmental resilience of the whole region was lower than the average (2.76 average), rural households in the sub-basins of TilAbad and ChehelChai with an average of 3.24 and 3 had relatively good environmental resilience, But most of the rural households in the sub-basins of Ghurechai and Lower of Gorganrud, Mohammad Abad-Zaringol, Madarsoo and Sarisoo, with an average of 2.89 to 1.85, had a poor environmental resilience. In addition, According to the flood risk resilience map, it can be said that of the total 31 sample villages studied, about 29 percent of sample villages have "medium upward" resilience in facing flood risks; conversely, most of these villages (71%) also have relatively low degree of resilience. Also, comparing the findings of this study with the results of most other researches, such as the studies of Olshansky and Kartes (1998) regarding the necessity of considering the environmental factors of settlements, observing the necessary environmental standards and the necessity of using proper land use management tools to reduce risk hazards and improve resilience, Center of Emergency Management Australia (2001) on the need to consider the state of the infrastructure, including the level of communications and accesses, biological conditions, including the status of pollution, as well as geographical characteristics, such as distances and proximity, climate, topography, as well as the general results of studies by Rafiean et al. (2012) in special selection of the most suitable model of resilience based on the combination of carter and socioeconomic model due to the simultaneous attention of this model to its geographical features and its comprehensiveness, as well as attention to the local communities' participation, Rezaei (2010), Shokri Firoozjah (2017) and Anabestani et al. (2017) Regarding the low value of the calculated population, the resiliency number of the society is consistent and consistent with the lack of attention to infrastructure issues, locations, etc., which is below the baseline (3). As a result, all of the aforementioned components of the resilience of inhabitants of sample societies have been affected by its environmental dimension, which is often due to insufficient attention and insufficient handling of them, which reduces resilience of rural residents to flood risks.
 
Keywords: Environmental hazards, Flood, Vulnerability, Resilience, Spatial analysis, Golestan Gorganrud basin.
 

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Risks assessment of forest project implementation in spatial density changes of forest under canopy vegetation using artificial neural network modeling approach
 
Nowadays, environmental risk assessment has been defined as one of the effective in environmental planning and policy making. Considering the position and structure of vegetation on the forest floor, the main role of forest under canopy vegetation cover can be noted in attracting and preventing runoff in the forest floor and reducing subsequent environmental risks. The purpose of this article is forest under canopy vegetation density changes modeling considering forest ecosystem structure and forest management activities as an environmental risk. The main objectives of this study were to: (1) model forest under canopy vegetation density in forest ecosystem to elucidate the ecological and management factors affecting on under canopy vegetation density; (2) prioritize the impacts of model inputs (ecological and management factors) on under canopy vegetation density using model sensitivity analysis and (3) determining the trend model output changes in respond to model variables changes.
In this study, Land Management Units (LMUs) were formed in the region considering ecological characteristics of land. LMUs were mapped out based on Ian McHarg’s overlay technique by ARC GIS 9.3 software. Ecological factor classes of an LMU differ from ecological factor classes of adjacent LMUs (at least in one ecological factor class). The following types of data were solicited for each LMU:
(1) Ecological variables: Altitude or elevation (El), Slope (Sl), Aspect (As), soil depth (SD), Soil Drainage (SDr),Soil Erosion (SE), Precitipation (Pr), Temprature (Te), trees Diameter at Breast Height (DBH), Canopy Cover (CC), and forest Regeneration Cover (RC).
(2) Management variables: Cattle Density (CD), Animal husbandry Dsitance (AD), Road Dsitance (RD), Trail Dsitance (TD), logs Depot Dsitance (DD), Soil Compaction (SC), Torist impacts (To), Skidding impacts (Sk), Logging impacts (Lo), Harvested trees volume (Ha), artificial Regeneration (Re) and Seed Planting (SP).
(3) Forest under canopy vegetation density: The percentage of under canopy vegetation density in each LMU was estimated by systematic random sampling method. In each LMU, a one square meter sample was taken. The average percentage of under canopy vegetation density in sample units of each LMU was calculated and used in the modeling process.
ANN learns by examples and it can combine a large number of variables. In this study, an ANN is considered as a computer program capable of learning from samples, without requiring a prior knowledge of the relationships between parameters. To objectively evaluate the performance of the network, four different statistical indicators were used. These indicators are Mean-Squared Error (MSE), Root Mean-Squared Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and coefficient of determination (R²).
Various MLFNs were designed and trained as one and two layers to find an optimal model prediction for the under canopy vegetation density and variables. Training procedure of the networks was as follows: different hidden layer neurons and arrangements were adapted to select the best production results. Altogether, many configurations with different number of hidden layers (varied between one and two), different number of neurons for each of the hidden layers, and different inter-unit connection mechanisms were designed and tested.
In this research, 129 LMUs were totally selected, then ecological and management variables were recorded in them. In the structure of artificial neural network, ecological and management variables were tagged as inputs of artificial neural network and the percentage of under canopy vegetation density was tagged as output layer. Considering trained networks (the structure of optimum artificial neural network has been summarized in Table1), Multilayer Perceptron network with one hidden layer and 4 neurons in each hidden layer created the best function of topology optimization with higher coefficient of determination of test data (which equals 0.857) and the lowest MSE and MAE (which are 0.866 and 0.736 respectively). Considering the results of sensitivity analysis, ecological and management variables like the forest canopy density, cattle density in forest, soil erosion and soil compaction respectively show the highest impact on forest under canopy vegetation density changes (Fig1).
 
Table1. The structure of optimum artificial neural network in forest under canopy vegetation density

Output Layer	First Hidden Layer	Network features
Linear	Hyperbolic tangent	Transmission Layer
Gradient descent	Gradient descent	Optimization Algorithm
0.7	0.7	Momentum
1	4	Number of Neurons
-0.9 up to 0.9	-0.9 up to 0.9	Normalization

 
Table2. The structure of optimum artificial neural network in test data

MSE	MAE	RMSE	R2	Data	The structure of network( the number of neurons)-epoch
0.716	0.678	0.846	0.931	Trainning	Tanh(4)-160
0.793	0.703	0.891	0.894	Validation
0.866	0.736	0.931	0.857	Test

 

 
Fig1. The results of sensitivity analysis of artificial neural network model
 
Nowadays, artificial neural network modeling in natural environments has been applied successfully in many researches such as water resources management, forest sciences and environment assessment. The results of research declared that designed neural network shows high capability in forest under canopy vegetation density modeling which is applicable in forest management of studied area. Sensitivity analysis identified the most effective variables which are influencing under canopy vegetation density.
So, to identify hazardous LMUs in study area, we should pay attention to the canopy density of LMUs as the variable with high priority in determination of under canopy vegetation density. We believe that, in hazardous LMUs in forests, we should pay attention to some modifiable factors of LMU, which is cattle density in forest, by timely plan for livestock elimination. The forest under canopy vegetation density assessment model, in forest projects impact assessment, could be a solution in decision making about forest plan structure and implementation of similar projects in similar locations. 
 
Keywords: Forest plan, Environmental impact assessment, Multilayer perceptron, under canopy vegetation, artificial neural network
 

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Resilience, as a concept to confront abnormalities, surprises and unexpected changes in recent years has been raised as the ability of places, societies, and systems to respond to the dangers of tensions and pressures; so that the system can quickly return to pre-stressed situation, threats It accepts the future and confronts them. Central region of Iran according to the zoning studies of the national physical plan of Iran, including three provinces of Isfahan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari and Yazd, in a desert climate with many crises in the permafrost environment that has disturbed the state of resilience of the region, and as a result the scheme and target application regional resilience on policy and planning to reduce vulnerability and to cope with various trans-regional crises. Despite the fact that the concept of resilience at the level beyond the city has become apparent, there is still no clear framework for measuring this situation at the regional level. Based on this research, it is believed by the trans-regional and multi-dimensional nature of the resilience that by modifying and applying the concept of resilience to the integrated and multi-dimensional at the regional level, an appropriate framework for status measurement regional resilience in the form of a composite index and thereby risk reduction planning and promoting the resilience of the presentation To give. In this regard, the major purpose of the research is to develop an optimal framework for assessing, measuring and ranking the resilience situation in the central region of Iran. The results show that Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province have the highest resilience and then there are two provinces of Isfahan and Yazd, respectively. In the meantime, Yazd province has the lowest resilience among the provinces of the central region; therefore, it is necessary to focus on planning and allocating resources to promote and improve priority sectors. Responding to resilience agendas requires the adoption of transregional planning and decision-making approaches such as environmental regionalism.

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Abstract

Urban heat island (UHI) is one of the environmental phenomenon which has made difficult environmental conditions for citizen. This study aims to evaluate the spatial and locational variability of Esfahan urban heat island according to the role of land use. Thus an area about 190.2 square kilometers (km2) in Esfahan, as the microclimate, was studied. In order to analyze the relationship between land use and land cover changes on Esfahan urban heat island, the images of Landsat 7 (TM and ETM +) and Landsat 8 (OLI / TIRS) on 20 July 1989, 17 August 2005, 18 August 2014 have been used. The results show that the urban areas has experienced 31% changes in positive direction; while the agricultural sector and green space havehad a reduction of 25% in their area. The analysis of the intensity of heat island show that heated cores are related topoor and barren lands with about 37/33 and 36/5. Although the most area of thermal classwere related to warm thermal class in 1989 and 2005, the average thermal classes were about 63/8%in 2014. Moreover, the locational variation distribution of Esfahan heat island shows that the locationof the heat island has gradually changed. For example in 2014 it included small parts in the south of the city, military zones and barren lands in the south, some parts in the north west and north east areas and small areas in the east of Esfahan. This means that urban development isn’t the main factor of the surface temperature increase and urban heat development, but rather the type of land use has influenced the decreasing or increasing of air temperature.

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Simulation of floodplain zones in Tehran's metropolitan watershed (case study: Kaan basin)
Ezaatollah Ghanavati, Associate prof. Geographical science faculty, Kharzmi University
Ali Ahmmadabadi. Assistance prof. Geographical science faculty, Kharzmi University
Negar Gholami, MA in Geomorphology, Geographical science faculty, Kharzmi University
Extended abstract
Floodplains and adjacent rivers are always at risk from flood events due to their specific circumstances. Flood prone area identification in the watersheds is one of the basic solutions for destructive flood control and mitigation. Flood mapping is one of the best methods for flood prone area planning and identifying. Considering the importance of flood hazard, it is important to understand the role of uncertainty and incorporate that information in flood hazard maps. The hydrodynamic modeling approach is suitable for accounting various uncertainties, and thus lends itself to creating probabilistic floodplain maps. For  this purpose,  flow  boundary  conditions,  peak  instantaneous  discharge with  different  return  periods,  cross  sections and their distance and roughness coefficients for each cross section were entered to HEC-RAS hydraulic model in Kaan watershed  located  in  the Tehran  province,  Iran,  and  this model was  then  run  and  flood water surface profile at different return periods were estimated. In the Kaan Basin, most residential and agricultural lands are located in a very small distance from the river bed. The rapid growth of construction, human activities and land use change in the downstream of the basin have caused a change in the hydrological cycle and runoff production. Floodplain mapping using hydrodynamic models is difficult in data scarce regions. Additionally, using hydrodynamic models to map floodplain over large stream network can be computationally challenging. Some of these limitations of floodplain mapping using hydrodynamic modeling can be overcome by developing computationally efficient statistical methods to identify floodplains in large and ungauged watersheds using publicly.
The aim of this study is to determine flood areas within 20 kilometers of the Kaan River by using the HEC-RAS model and Arc GIS software to identify flood lands in different return periods.
The Kaan basin is located in the central Alborz Mountains. This basin is limited to south, north, east and the west respectively to Tehran, Jajrood Basin, Darakeh Basin and Karaj River Basin. The most important River in the area is the Kaan River and originated from high mountains.
Most commonly, the hydrodynamic modeling approach is used to create flood hazard maps corresponding to a rare high flood magnitude of 100-year return period or higher. Although this approach can provide very accurate floodplain maps, it is computationally demanding. As a result, the modeling approach to flood hazard mapping works well for individual streams, but its efficiency drops significantly when used to map floodplains over a large stream network. In this research, floodplain areas in the Kaan basin in return periods of 2 to 20 years are determined using the HEC-RAS model and the HEC-geoRAS extension. For this purpose, digital maps 1: 25000, DEM (10m), discharge values of Sulaghan Station, morphological characteristics of the river bed and cross sections have been used. Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) play a critical role in flood inundation mapping by providing floodplain topography as input to hydrodynamic models, and then enabling the mapping of the floodplain by using the resulting water surface elevations. Finally, the data is entered into the HEC-RAS software and analyzed. After determining the flood ranges in the various return periods at each cross-section, enter the results to the Arc GIS software and the flood zoning maps were obtained.
In this research roughness coefficients (Maning^,s coefficients) for each cross section were obtain be the
n= (nb+n1+n2+n3+n4) m                                                             (Eq.1)
Geological map and field observations have shown that the main difference between the widths of the valley in the study area is related to the type of rock. The results of the hydrodynamic model show that in the river upstream, the increase in discharge had led to the water level increase and expansion in the floodplain surfaces. But in the middle and low slopes in the downstream of the river, due to the reduced discharge, the river has a larger lateral extension and the flood areas are larger than the upstream of the river. Also, for a longer period of return, the discharge rate and the water level increase and the flood plain was more extensive. The results show that in the downstream of the basin due to instability the bed, existence of wide and eroded chanels, high ability in sedimentation, erosion of the channel bed, and low impact of vegetation, this section They can be restored and regenerated and constantly changing. Due to the location the Tehran-North high way from the Kaan basin, had the construction of roads and structures, the flood plain areas of the river should be fully observed or retrofitted.
 
Key words: Environmental hazards, Flood, Flood areas, Kaan River, HEC-RAS
 
 
 
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Abstract  
Key words: Corona Virus, Covid-19, sustainability, environmental ethics, human-nature relation, Markov Blanket, natural resources, UNEP One Health program, Gaia, Anthroposcene.
 
 
 

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Zoning and Spatial Analysis of Potential Environmental Hazards
Case study: Silvana District
Abstract
Natural hazards can be considered as one of the most important threats to humankind and nature that can occur anywhere in the world. Natural hazards are one of the main obstacles to sustainable development in different countries and one of the important indicators of the development of world countries is their readiness to deal with natural hazards. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to it and appropriate measures should be taken to reduce the vulnerability of human settlements. Nowadays with increasing population growth, population dynamics and the large number of people exposed to various types of disasters, the need to identify environmental potential hazards and identification of hazardous areas are felt more and more. Meantime, some people may not be aware of potential hazards of their place of residence. So by identifying and evaluating potential hazards and their Risks before the occurrence, we can significantly reduce the severity of the damages and contribute to sustainable regional development. The negative effects of natural disasters can be minimized by the availability of comprehensive and useful information from different areas and Multihazard mapping is one of the most effective tools in this regard.
According to the above mentioned, in this study, the spatial analysis of potential hazards in Silvana district in Urmia County has been studied. This study area due to specific geographic conditions such as position, complexity of topographic and ecological structures, in general, the existence of environmental factors for hazards has been selected as the study area. There have been a number of hazards in the past and assessing of this area is necessary, because of the lack of previous studies. For this purpose, by reviewing various reports and doing field observations, three hazards including Flood, Landslide, and Earthquake are identified as potential hazards of the study area.
For assessing hazards, 12 factors in 6 clusters such as Slope, Aspect (Topographic factors), Lithology, Soil type, Distance to Faults (Geological factors) Precipitation (Climatological factors), River Network Density, Groundwater Resources (Hydrological factors), Land use, Distance to Roads (Human factors), Observed Landslide Density and Seismicity (Historical factors) as the research factors has been selected. For weighting factors, Analytic Network Process (ANP) Method in Super Decisions 2.6.0 software environment has been used. The results of the analysis show that Slope (0.201), Precipitation (0.161), Lithology (0.112), Distance to Faults (0.106), Land use (0.096), Rivers (0.078), Seismicity (0.06), Soil Type (0.055), Landslide Density (0.047), Aspect (0.033), Groundwater (0.03) and Distance to Roads (0.016), Respectively have maximum to minimum relative weight. Then, weighted maps are standardized with using FUZZY functions. For this purpose, Fuzzy membership functions such as Linear, Large and Small has been selected based on each factor. For some factors such as Slope, Aspect, Lithology, Soil type, Rivers density, Land use, Seismicity and Landslide density, Fuzzy linear function has been used. For some others such as Groundwater and Precipitation, Fuzzy large function has been used and for distance to Faults and distance to Roads, Fuzzy small function has been used. Finally, weighted maps were overlay in ArcGIS 10.4.1 environment with Fuzzy Gamma 0.9 operator and potential hazards zoning maps is obtained.
Final results indicate that major parts in the Northwest, West and South of the study area located in high risk zones and 59 percent of the total area exposed to high risk. Based on hazard zoning maps, 44 percent of the area exposed to Flooding, 48 percent exposed to Landslide and 44 percent exposed to Earthquake. Also, 61 percent of the population or 37394 people exposed to one hazard, 7 percent or 3817 people exposed to two hazard and 8 percent or 4914 people exposed to three hazard. According to surveys, only 21 percent of the study area is considered as a low risk area but that does not mean that environmental hazards will never happen in these areas. In general, and based on results, it is concluded that Silvana district has a high potential for environmental hazards. Final results of the research show that potential hazards identifying and preparation of hazard zoning maps can be very useful in reducing damages and achieving sustainable regional development. Therefore, considering the ability of hazard zoning maps to identify areas exposed to risk and assess the type of potential hazards, These analyzes should be considered as one of the most appropriate and useful tools in different stages of crisis management that can be the solution to many problems in preventing and responding to natural disasters and therefore, it is recommended that they be used in the crisis management process.
Keywords: Spatial Analysis, Environmental Hazards, Silvana, ANP Method, Risk
 

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The Spatio-Temporal Variations of Aerosol Concentration Using Remote Sensing in Sistan and Baluchestan Province (2018 - 2000)
 
 
 
Abstract
Atmospheric particles play an important role in balancing the energy budget of the Earth's surface. The Sistan and Baluchestan province because of the specific geographical conditions during the year is witnessing the spread of dust particles caused by dust storms. This paper investigates the spatial changes of this phenomenon in the region to identify the association of dust accumulation and the reasons for these concentrations. In this study, the AOD Index data of the Aqua and Terra Modis Satellite Sensor (MODAL2_M_AER_OD) with 10 × 10 km spatial resolution were used. Then, by using statistical methods, a spatial analysis was done and the temporal and spatial changes trends at 95% and 99% significance level were performed using the nonparametric Mann-Kendall method. The results showed that the maximum concentration of aerosol in areas such as Zabol, Zahak, Hirmand, Hamoun, Iranshahr, Bampour, Jazmurian basin, Chabahar, and Konarak. On average, the highest variations in aerosol concentration were in the southern regions of the province include Dashtiari, Polan, and Chabahar, and the least in the northern part of Polan, Chabahar, Konark, and Bampour areas. The trend of changes was evaluated at two significant levels of 95 and 99%. The results of this section showed that the AOD had a positive and increasing trend in June, July, and August in the areas of Dalgan, Iranshahr, Bampour, Bazman, Mirjaveh, Nokabad, Zahedan, Nosratabad, Zaboli, Qasrqand, Irandegan, and Sib-va-Soran Plain and areas such as Korin, Zabol, Zahak, Sirkan (Bamposht), Hamoun have a negative and decreasing trend. The average changes in aerosol concentration in June, July, and August show a significant increase in the aerosol concentration from 2015 to 2018 up to 0.8.
 
Keywords: Environmental Changes, Dust, Environmental Hazards, Climate.

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One of the causes of environmental hazards is the change in the pattern of surface water flow in floodplains following the construction of flood Spreading networks. The purpose of this study is to prepare a zoning map of vulnerable areas of the flood Spreading station of Musian plain  in Ilam province after the implementation of the aquifer project in this plain. To prepare this map, five factors influencing the change in flow pattern including elevation, slope, flow direction, geological formations, and landuse change were examined. Then, in the GIS environment, each class of the mentioned factors was given a score of zero to 10 based on the range and the corresponding weight layers were created. Then, by combining the created weight layers, the vulnerability zoning map of the area was created based on 5 classes: very low, low, medium, high and very high. The results showed that the most important threat and danger factor is the concentration of waterways behind erosion-sensitive embankments. Also, the study area in terms of vulnerability includes three classes with medium risk, high and very high and covers 16, 62 and 22% of the area, respectively. Flood and upland Spreading areas, risk areas and lowland lands are the most vulnerable parts of the basin in terms of floods and sedimentary deposits.

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Risk modeling of plant species diversity and extinction in Sorkheh_hesar National Park
 
Zahra Mosaffaei¹, Ali Jahani^2*, ³MohammadAli ZareChahouki, ⁴Hamid GoshtasbMeygoni, ⁵Vahid Etemad
 
¹ Masters of Natural Resources Engineering, Environmental Sciences, College of Environment, Karaj
^*2Associate Professor, Department of Natural Environment and Biodiversity, College of Environment, Karaj.
³ Professor, Department of Restoration of arid and mountainous regions, University of Tehran, Karaj
⁴ Associate Professor, Department of Natural Environment and Biodiversity, College of Environment, Karaj
⁵ Associate Professor, Department of Forestry and Forest Economics, University of Tehran, Karaj
 
 
Abstract
Full identification of hazards and prioritizing them for non-harm to nature is one of the first steps in natural resource management. Therefore, introducing a comprehensive system of evaluation, understanding, and evaluation is essential for controlling hazards. This study aimed to model and predict environmental hazards following increased degradation in natural environments by ANN. Thus, 600 soil and vegetation samples were collected from inhomogeneous ecological units. Soil samples were prepared by strip transect method according to soil depth in four profiles (5, 10, 15, 20 cm). Vegetation samples were also collected using a minimum level method using 2 2 square plots according to the type, density, and distribution of vegetation. Sampling was done in two safe zones and other uses were modeled using ANN in MATLAB environment. The optimal model of multilayer perceptron with two hidden layers, sigmoid tangent function and 19 neurons per layer and coefficient of determination of 0.90. The results of sensitivity analysis showed that soil moisture content would be effective in decreasing biodiversity and flood risk as well as increasing the risk of extinction of endemic species in the region, and then the apparent and true gravity and soil porosity and distance from the road play a key role in the degradation of cover. Vegetation has increased flooding and extinction risk. Therefore, it is recommended that measures related to soil and vegetation restoration in this park be taken to reduce future damages as soon as possible.
 
Keywords: Modeling, Artificial Neural Network, Environmental Hazards, National Park, Vegetation
 

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Geography and the Paradigm of Sustainable Development
 
Extended Abstract
Geography and sustainable development
The relation between society and environment has gone through different phases. During the years before the World War II, the environmental determinism controlled this relation. However, after the 1950’s the anthropocentrism replaced the environmental determinism and humans began to overuse the nature in such a way that nature lost its sustainability and many hazards and crises occurred. These destructions were so intense and widespread that some researchers compared with the episodes of geologic time and named the era beginning from 1970’s the Anthropocene epoch. During this period, the planetary boundaries were crossed in some areas such climate change, nitrogen cycle and biodiversity. Climate change has created most of other hazards.
To overcome these problems in 1978 the Brandtland report   announced the sustainable development as not to spend resources more than the nature’s production capacity and not to pollute the nature more than it can assimilate. In other words, the nature should remain in its sustainable state so that the future generations can live with no limitations. The principles of the sustainable development were defined in the earth summit of Rio in 1992 such as social equity, economic viability, and environmental sustainability. These principles were broken down in 17 goals. The Rio conference asked all countries to achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030. 
Methodologically the sustainable development requires integrated multidisciplinary approach to investigate the complex system of human- environment in different temporal and spatial scales to achieve the social equity, economic viability, and environmental sustainability. For this reason, many disciplines such as natural resources, environmental sciences, ecology and geography have contributed to the field. Different data from natural resources, human needs and drivers and environmental changes are required to process in very complicated models. In addition to different variables, the hazards are very important component of the sustainable development research, which also requires multi-aspect complicated approach and models. Spatial dependency is another aspect of sustainable development as it differs from place to place in many characteristics. In brief, from the spatial perspective the sustainable development is an integrated multi-approach research about the human-environment system to establish the sustainability on the earth. All of the related fields should study the sustainable development in collaboration with each other. However, the geography due to its long history of studying the relation between human and environment and its spatial dependency is the best single scientific field which can afford studying the sustainable development. Since the earliest times geography has developed quantitative methods, spatial techniques such as geostatistics, and environmental ethics to conserve the nature and human prosperity. The multi approach and systematic works are the main characteristics of Geography. On the other hand, Geography’s vision of defining the location for human’s activities while saving the nature’s sustainability covers the sustainable development completely. Therefore, geography is the overarching field for the sustainable development and it is the main intention of geographers to research and implement the sustainable development to reduce the environmental hazards and develop the sustainable environment for all the human beings at present and in the future. Geography studies the sustainable development through three steps including spatial analysis, spatial planning, and spatial management. In addition, geographers should learn different skills such remote sensing, multivariate statistics and above all develop a common language between different branches of geography.
 
Keywords: geography, sustainable development, environmental ethics, human nature relationship, Anthropocene, planetary boundaries, sustainability.
 
 

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New Social Movements: A Case Study of Emerging Environmental Movements

Abstract
The term modern social movements is used to describe movements that were active in France in the late 1960s through collective action in the social sphere. The most important new social movements are the civil rights movement, the women's movement, the peace movement and the environmental movement. The rapid growth of industrial and capitalist societies, regardless of environmental degradation, has created many problems. The most important problems are soil erosion, resource reduction, ozone depletion, greenhouse effects, extinction of animal and plant species and various types of soil and climate pollution. The combination of these factors has provided the basis for the formation and activation of environmental movements. The present paper tries to answer the question of how emerging environmental movements can be analyzed in the form of new social movements? And what are their effects on new social movements? Therefore, with the qualitative interpretive method, and the method of case studies, it examines the nature and why of emerging environmental movements. The research findings show that environmental crises and the need to solve environmental problems that have become a pervasive and global crisis, have provided the basis for the formation, activity and impact of emerging environmental movements. Therefore, in order to deal with the existing crises, emerging environmental movements first informed and increased public awareness, and then created pro-environmental organizations and groups, and finally, by entering In the field of politics, and using new tools and methods, they have expressed their demands and protests in a peaceful and non-violent way, in order to force governments to respond and finally enter directly into The field of politics as influential groups and political parties in the field of public policy. As a result, the volume and scope of social power and the political influence of emerging environmental movements have led to the revitalization and enrichment of new social movements; in a way that today they can be identified and analyzed as powerful social forces and influential actors in the field of political sociology.

Keywords: New Social Movements, Emerging Environmental Movements, Social Forces, Methods of Action, Political Nature.

 

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Estimation of methane gas leakage from Mashhad urban landfills and evaluation of economic and environmental effects
Abstract
This study, which was conducted in 8 urban gas areas of Mashhad; At first, descriptive statistics of the state of Mashhad urban gas regulators and different leakage modes were presented; In order to analyze the collected data and investigate the causes of leakage, the relationship between 5 variables and the amount of leakage from gas regulators was tested with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) V.26 software; These 5 variables are: regulator equipment/connections, regulator operation age, regulator service type (domestic, industrial and commercial), urban area and different seasons of the year.
The results of the analysis showed that there was a significant difference between the type of equipment/connections and leakage. (P-Value = 0.0001). Also, a significant difference was observed among other variables of the research (the operation age of the regulator, the type of regulator service (domestic, industrial and commercial), the urban area and different seasons of the year) with the leakage rate (P-Value=0.0001); The pressure drop due to the greater demand of gas consumption in the winter season has reduced the amount of leakage compared to other seasons; The influence of the age of distribution network equipment/connections due to wear and tear and longer life will aggravate the amount of methane gas leakage; Also, the amount of leakage in commercial places had a significant difference with other types of uses; Being in an urban area has also increased the amount of methane gas leakage compared to other areas; The type and quality of equipment and connections as the main and influential factor in methane gas leakage should be considered by managers and officials in this field of work.
Keyword: Methane, Riser, Urban area, Environmental effects, Economy Effects, Gas, Emission


 

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Abstract
During the recent decades the discipline of geography has lost its priority and position to some degree in Iran. Most of the graduates could not enter into the work in the universities and other organizations. The human-environment system, the main area of geographical specialty - has experienced many crises and hazards among which the global warming and climate change being the most destructive.  This means that the ongoing curriculum is not working well and needs to experience a fundamental change. To implement this operation some points should be cleared out: The hazardous condition of the world and especially Iran, the education history and state of geography in Iran, and the relation between geography and sustainable development of the world. The discipline of geography has changed its approach according to the circumstances of each period several times. For example, at the beginning of the twenty-century due to the dominance of the environmental determinism, the dominant approach of geography was the relation between man and environment. But since the 1970’s the earth has encountered with different hazards and crises to the extent that it is named as the period of Anthropocene. Accordingly, the dominant approach of geography during this Anthropocene era is to identify and solve the hazards and crises and lead the man- environment system towards the sustainability as once was requested by the secretary general of the United Nation.  In this regard the geography should adopt the sustainable development concepts and goals. For this reason, the geography of Iran should make a switch from its very specialized approach to a relatively wholistic view and pay more attention to the human- environment paradigm. To implement this order, the following assumptions should be considered.

1. The applied objective of the discipline should be defined as “locating the suitable place for the living and activities of man without endangering the sustainability of the natural environment.  This objective is not clear at the present curriculum. Defining this objective will clearly show students what is their job after finishing the career.
2. The main vision of geography education is the creation of the sustainable geographical space or environment.
3. The research approach is problem solving. Because most of the laws and concepts are identified and defined. Due to the hazardous nature of the earth system geographers should identify the problems and research to solve them via geographical thought and knowledge.
4. The terrestrial unit for working is region. This is very important concept in geography. We cannot prescribe one sustainability procedure for all of the world. But we do one for each region. When regions became sustainable, all the world will be sustained.
5. In any region the hazards and crises will be identified and described through the spatial analysis methods and will be conducted towards sustainable human – environment system. This monitoring is composed of the stages of spatial analysis, spatial planning, and spatial managing.
6. All of the geography subjects and materials are necessary for sustainable development goals. The only criteria will be added is the environmental ethics in all of the geography activities and applications.
7. Instructors and students should be familiar with the techniques of integration and multi-dimension modelling.
8. All geography graduates will respect the nature and its resources and should consider the environmental ethics during their academic career. They should be able to identify and solve the environmental problems through the geographical thinking. Geographical thinking means asking geographical question, gathering geographical data, processing the data with geographical (spatial) methods, and presenting the results in the geographical forms, i.e., maps. All the graduates should be creative and critical and should have the power of scientific challenging and discussions.
9. Geography is one independent and overarching discipline and we will offer only one total geography in bachelor level. The master career can be specialized according to the applied objectives of the societies. The doctoral program is also one integrated discipline. The specialty of graduates will be defined according to their dissertation.
10. The subjects include the fundamental courses such as physical geography and sustainable development, regional courses such as the human geography of Iran, technical courses such as remote sensing, GIS, and statistics, the applied courses such as evaluating the natural resources, and so for. The students with any high school background should pass all the courses with high quality so that after graduation they have the potential to analyze the human- environment problems and recommend the required solutions.

Key words: geography curriculum, sustainable development, geography of Iran, twenty first century, environmental ethics, geographical thinking, Geography and sustainable development.

 

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The Namak Lake is situated between three provinces: Isfahan, Qom, and Semnan. However, the functioning of Namak Lake and its susceptibility to environmental, ecological, economic, and social influences not only affect the immediate surroundings but also impact other provinces. Naturally, a crisis in this lake can have negative effects on human communities and the residents of the surrounding areas in terms of environmental, economic, and social aspects. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify the temporal-spatial changes in the salinity of Namak Lake and, subsequently, to investigate and analyze the effects of these changes on the environmental security of the surrounding regions. To achieve this goal, salt zones were identified using soil salinity indices, including the Normalized Difference Salinity Index (NDSI), Salinity Index 1 (SI1), Salinity Index 2 (SI2), and Brightness Index (BI), over a 30-year period (1992-2021) with five-year intervals. Then, using the maximum likelihood method, the salt zones were classified into four land cover types, including water zone, moist zone, salt zone, and other uses. The results of this study indicate that due to the reduction in water inflow into the lake as a result of dam construction in the upstream basin and the effects of climate change, the water zone, or seasonal lake, of Namak Lake has disappeared and the salt zone has expanded in this area. The most significant changes in the lake are related to the northwestern part of the lake, where major rivers such as Jajrood, Shur, Qarechai, and Qamaroud flow into this part of the lake, contributing to its drainage. Therefore, dam construction on these rivers has led to a downward trend in water flow into the lake. Furthermore, the results suggest that due to the absence of settlements and human communities near Namak Lake and the natural and climatic conditions of the region, it is not expected that environmental incidents that could have security and political implications will occur in the short term.