Investigation of Factors Affecting the Drying of Wetlands and Preparation of a Cognitive Map of Factors Affecting the Dust Phenomenon in Southwest Iran

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Irrigation and Drainage, College of Aburaihan , University of Tehran

2 Department of irrigation and driange college of Aburaihan. university of Tehran

3 Department of Water resources research, Water research institute, Ministry of energy, Tehran, Iran

4 Department of Water Engineering, College of Aburaihan, University of Tehran, Iran.

5 Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Birjand of University, Birjand, Iran

Abstract

The phenomenon of dust in the western border of the country has increased in terms of continuity and concentration, disrupting the ecological potential of this region. In addition to affecting infrastructure and causing social problems, it also adversely affects people's health. To identify the factors affecting this phenomenon, the SODA approach was used as a simple technique with a cognitive mapping approach. Cognitive mapping can show the importance of a particular factor based on the values of all factors affecting a phenomenon. In this study, seven experts in the field of water resources were interviewed, and
after reaching a consensus, nine factors were identified as the most effective in the occurrence of this phenomenon. The results of the analysis, using concepts related to graph theory, determined the relative activity (centrality) of nodes and the formation of a proximity matrix. This showed that the mismanagement of water resources, the lack of attention to watershed management in the region, and the unilateral development of Turkey in the area—including the construction of numerous dams upstream of the Tigris River—were identified as the most active nodes and factors. These two factors had the highest impact, with a relative weight of 0.015 in terms of prioritization. On the other hand, the analysis showed that the Iran-Iraq war and the security strategies of the Ba'athist regime in Iraq were identified as the factors with the least activity with a relative weight of 0.007 in the dust issue. Finally, this approach can lead to the extraction of practical and applied strategies to solve environmental problems such as dust.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. Abuabara L, Paucar-Caceres A. Surveying applications of Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA)

from 1989 to 2018. European Journal of Operational Research. 2021; 292(3): 1051-1065.

  1. Ackermann F, Eden C. Strategic options development and analysis. Systems approaches to making change: A

practical guide. 2020; 139-199.

  1. Bani Habib M E, Najafi Morghmaleki, S. Assessment of Game and Bankruptcy Theories to Supply Environmental

Water of Hawizeh Wetland. Iran-Water Resources Research. 2018; 14(2): 16-34.

  1. Darvishi Boloorani A, Najafi Marghmaleki S, Soleimani M, Papi R, Kardan Moghaddam H, Samany NN.

Development of a scenario-based approach using game theory for the restoration of Hawizeh Marsh and dust

mitigation. Hydrological Sciences Journal. 2023 Jan 2; 68(1): 131-47.

  1. Khosravi M. Evaluation of vertical distribution of dust induced storm and middle east using NAAPS model.

InProceedings of the 4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers 2010 Apr (pp. 14-16).

  1. UNEP PH. The Mesopotamian Marshlands: Demise of an Ecosystem Early Warning and Assessment Technical

Report.

  1. Zibanchi M H, Naseri A, Haghighifard N, Bina M. Descriptions balance model qualitatively and quantitatively in

determines wetlands water rights. 3rd Conference of Environmental Engineering, 1-8. 2009. (In Persian with

English abstract).

  1. Fuladavand S, Sayyad GA. The impact of Karkheh Dam construction on reducing the extent of wetlands of Hoor-

Alazim. Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science. 2015; 4(2):33-8.

  1. Prospero JM, Ginoux P, Torres O, Nicholson SE, Gill TE. Environmental characterization of global sources of

atmospheric soil dust identified with the Nimbus 7 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) absorbing aerosol

product. Reviews of geophysics. 2002 Feb; 40(1): 2-1.

  1. Mahowald NM, Bryant RG, del Corral J, Steinberger L. Ephemeral lakes and desert dust sources. Geophysical

Research Letters. 2003 Jan; 30(2).

  1. Rashki A, Kaskaoutis DG, Goudie AS, Kahn RA. Dryness of ephemeral lakes and consequences for dust activity:

the case of the Hamoun drainage basin, southeastern Iran. Science of the total environment. 2013 Oct 1;463:552-

64.

  1. Singer AR, Zobeck T, Poberezsky L, Argaman E. The PM10and PM2· 5 dust generation potential of

soils/sediments in the Southern Aral Sea Basin, Uzbekistan. Journal of Arid Environments. 2003 Aug 1; 54(4):

705-28.

  1. Ghorbani, H. Mapping the process monitoring map of the quality of statistical items with the SODA approach.

Statistical Center of Iran, Higher Institute of Education and Research - Management and Planning, Iran. 2014. [In

Persian].

  1. Ackermann F, Eden C. Strategic management of stakeholders: Theory and practice. Long range planning. 2011 Jun

1; 44(3): 179-96.

  1. Tolman EC. Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychological review. 1948 Jul; 55(4): 189.
  2. Azar A, Khosravani F, Jalali R. Soft operations research (Problems structuring approaches). Tehran: Industrial

Management Organization.

  1. Montazemi AR, Conrath DW. The use of cognitive mapping for information requirements analysis. MIS quarterly.

1986 Mar 1: 45-56.

  1. Axelrod R. The cognitive maps of political elites. Structure of decision. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ.

1976.

  1. Hart JA. Cognitive maps of three Latin American policy makers. World Politics. 1977 Oct; 30(1): 115-40.
  2. Eden C, Jones S. Publish or perish?—A case study. Journal of the Operational Research Society. 1980 Feb 1; 31:

131-9.

  1. Klein JH, Cooper DF. Cognitive maps of decision-makers in a complex game. Journal of the operational research

society. 1982 Jan 1; 33(1): 63-71.

  1. Smithin T, Sims D. Ubi Caritas?—Modelling beliefs about charities. European Journal of Operational Research.

1982 Jul 1; 10(3): 237-43.

  1. Kardaras D, Karakostas B. The use of fuzzy cognitive maps to simulate the information systems strategic planning

process. Information and Software Technology. 1999 Mar 15; 41(4): 197-210.

  1. Rodriguez-Repiso L, Setchi R, Salmeron JL. Modelling IT projects success with fuzzy cognitive maps. Expert

systems with applications. 2007 Feb 1; 32(2): 543-59.

  1. Franco LA, Lord E. Understanding multi-methodology: Evaluating the perceived impact of mixing methods for

group budgetary decisions. Omega. 2011 Jun 1; 39(3): 362-72.

  1. Giordano R, Passarella G, Uricchio VF, Vurro M. Fuzzy cognitive maps for issue identification in a water

resources conflict resolution system. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C. 2005 Jan 1; 30(6-7): 463-9.

  1. Pacheco BC, Piratelli CL, Silva EC, Belderrain MC. The design of a performance measurement system for a fruit

processing equipment manufacturer. International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process. 2019 Dec 10; 11(3):

331-54.

  1. Cerreta M, Clemente M, Ettorre B, Poli G. A Multidimensional Approach for Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES)

Assessment: The Cilento Coast Case Study (Italy). InComputational Science and Its Applications–ICCSA 2021:

21st International Conference, Cagliari, Italy, September 13–16, 2021, Proceedings, Part VII 21 2021 (pp. 490-

503). Springer International Publishing.

  1. Baganha Jr LG, Barp AB, Barp WJ. Informational cognitive model applied to the water resources management.

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment. 2007 May 8;104.

  1. Bonham GM. Cognitive mapping as a technique for supporting international negotiation. Theory and Decision.

1993 May; 34: 255-73.

  1. Banihabib, M. E., & Dolatabadi, N. Political capacity building for water and environment diplomacy to solve the

dust problem. Social Science Quarterly. 2017; 24(77); 244-284. (In Persian with English abstract).

  1. Banihabib ME, Najafi MS, Shabestari MH. An integrated water resources planning model for assessment and

prediction of environmental water supplying for Hawizeh wetland from Turkey, Iraq and Iran.

  1. Partow H. The Mesopotamian marshlands: demise of an ecosystem. Unep; 2001.
  2. Iraq N. Management Plan for the Al-Hawizeh Marsh Ramsar Site of Iraq. Second Draft. Volume 2: Management

Issues and Recommendation. Sulaimani, Iraq. Nature Iraq. 2008.

  1. Atlas AS. Roadmap for agricultural development (green economy). Central Statistical Organization, Ministry of

Planning, Republic of Iraq. Part. 2011; 1.

  1. Taheri, A. The Study of Political Aspects of Dust Phenomenon in the South-West Asia. 2014. Tarbiat Modares

University, Iran.

  1. Bayazit M, Avci I. Water resources of Turkey: potential, planning, development and management. International

Journal of Water Resources Development. 1997 Dec 1; 13(4): 443-52.

  1. Behan Dam Consulting Engineers. Report of surface water of Karkhe Watershed. Ministry of Energy-Water and

Waste Water Planning Office, Iran. 2008.

  1. Rekacewicz P. From wetlands to dry lands: the destruction of the Mesopotamian marshlands. Collection Vital

Water Graphics, UNEP/GRID-Arendal. 2002; 168.

  1. Dowlatabadi N, Banihabib, M E, Roozbahan A. Modeling of the Water Resources System of Hor-Al-

Azim/Hawizeh Wetland Using System Dynamics Approach. Iran-Water Resources Research. 2020; 16(2): 18-34.

(In Persian with English abstract).

  1. Franco LA, Cushman M, Rosenhead J. Project review and learning in the construction industry: Embedding a

problem structuring method within a partnership context. European Journal of Operational Research. 2004 Feb

1;152(3): 586-601.

  1. Eden C, Ackermann F. Cognitive mapping expert views for policy analysis in the public sector. European Journal

of Operational Research. 2004 Feb 1; 152(3): 615-30.

  1. Kosko B. Fuzzy cognitive maps. International journal of man-machine studies. 1986 Jan 1; 24(1): 65-75.
  2. Gadallah AM, Hefny HA. Fuzzy cognitive map with dynamic fuzzification and causality behaviors. In2010 The 7th

International Conference on Informatics and Systems (INFOS) 2010 Mar 28 (pp. 1-7). IEEE.

  1. Chang KN, Lee KD, Kim D. Optimal timeslot and channel allocation considering fairness for multicell

CDMA/TDD systems. Computers & operations research. 2006 Nov 1; 33(11): 3203-18

Iranian journal of Ecohydrology
Volume 11, Issue 2
June 2024
Pages 257-270

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 04 June 2024
  • Revise Date: 20 July 2024
  • Accept Date: 05 June 2024
  • First Publish Date: 21 June 2024
  • Publish Date: 21 June 2024

Share

How to cite

Statistics