Maryam Shariatzadeh; Masoud Bijani; Saeid Morid
Abstract
Purpose: Any long-term changes on the weather conditions are called climate change. The most critical environmental threat against the earth planet is the climate changes on these days. In other hand, the climate changes which has increased so fast in these decade has caused the water managers, the water ...
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Purpose: Any long-term changes on the weather conditions are called climate change. The most critical environmental threat against the earth planet is the climate changes on these days. In other hand, the climate changes which has increased so fast in these decade has caused the water managers, the water consumers and the all authorities and planners face with serious challenges and there is no clue. It does not seem there is logical way to assume that the climate changes and hydrological conditions are going to remain in the same structure as they have been before. Therefore, the important issue is making a useful plan to avoid and control effects of climate changes while we are facing serious challenges by the impacts of climate. The climate changes has made a bad impact on the agricultural part in the different regions of world, so farmers need to be adapted more with these changes to save their livelihood. This research is done based on understanding how the farmers are adapting with the climate changes by using of the behavioral model in Khoy Township. Materials and methods: The present quantitative research as an applied inquiry which has been done in the descriptive-correlational method in Khoy Township. The statistical population was 25811 households which 380 of them was selected based on Krejcie and Morgan sample size table and stratified random sampling method. The research instrument was a questionnaire which its face and content validity was confirmed by a panel of expert in the field of agricultural extension and education and its reliability was confirmed with Cronbach's alpha (0.72 ≤α ≤0.90) in order. The descriptive and inferential statistics is used for data analyzing. Results and discussion: The results showed that the level of adapting for the all farmer households is not equal. At the end we will provide the model of the farmer household adapting to the climate change and also useful and effective methods to reduce of the negative effects of climate changes on rural households. Based on the findings the most important effective factors on adapting are keeping the agriculture structure, living standards, social solidarity, using of various strategies for adapting, learning new ways to fight with crisis and keeping the power of decision that have most relation with adapting. On the other, maintaining the mood has less relation with the dependent variable. The independent variables anticipate 87% of the dependent variable's changes.Conclusion: The results show that households increase their ability to adapt to climate change economically by using different strategies and new crisis response strategies. Evaluating farmers' actions on climate change also shows that most farmers are aware of the effects of the climate change and are able to maintain and improve their livelihood. So we can create a sustainable situation for adaptation to climate change by presenting new techniques to local farmers and updating climate information.
Fatemeh Sepahvand; Karim Naderi Mahdei; Saeed Gholamrezai; Masoud Bijani
Abstract
Introduction: In Iran, out of 88.5 billion water resources, about 83 billion cubic meters or 93.5% is allocated to the agricultural sector and therefore agriculture is the largest consumer of water. Increasing population, increasing cultivation areas, and agricultural productions have increased the consumption ...
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Introduction: In Iran, out of 88.5 billion water resources, about 83 billion cubic meters or 93.5% is allocated to the agricultural sector and therefore agriculture is the largest consumer of water. Increasing population, increasing cultivation areas, and agricultural productions have increased the consumption of these resources. Eventually, increased consumption leads to a decrease in the water table and drainage of aquifers. Statistics show that many of the plains are currently in crisis. Romeshkan plain is one of the plains which has faced a significant reduction of resources in the recent decades. The purpose of this study was to develop the strategies for the sustainable management of water resources in this plain. Romeshkan plain is a forbidden plain, but there are still many exploitations in it. Crops are planted in this plain that need a lot of water. This research hasinvestigated the strategies of sustainable management of groundwater resources in Romeshkan plain using theFuzzy Delphi technique.Material and methods: The present study is an applied and descriptive research (non-experimental). The statistical population included 28 faculty members, experts, and farmers in Khorramabad and Romeshkan. The sample size was estimated using the purposeful snowball sampling method. Secondary data were also obtained from government departments to identify and describe the Romeshkan plain. Data on water resources of Romeshkan plain were required. These data show how much water resources have dwindled over the last three decades.Results and discussion: The results showed that despite the criticality of the Romeshkan plain, the livelihood of rural communities is mainly dependent on the agricultural sector. Also, hydrophilic crops are widely cultivated. In this plain, the structure of supply and exploitation of water resources is traditional. The agricultural lands of this plain do not have a new irrigation system. The results of this research show five types of strategies (economic, technological, environmental, policy-oriented, and social). The priority of the strategies was "develop sustainable rural employment". This will certainly require "human development of water-related actors and empowerment of rural communities". "Developing the right technologies", which was another strategy, could also help reform the traditional structure of supply and consumption of these resources.Conclusion: Now the conditions of Romeshkan plain are critical. The results of this study showed that sustainable management of groundwater resources in this plain will not be achieved solely based on technological strategies. Also, economic, social, policy-oriented and environmental strategies must also be considered. Reform of the water consumption structure should be considered in parallel with the development of non-agricultural employment. Because the development of employment reduces the pressure on these resources.
Maryam Neisi; Masoud Bijani; Negin Fallah Haghighi
Abstract
Introduction: Environmental problems and Chalenges are one of the major concerns of today's society. Often, these chalenges stem from human behavior that can be overcome by changing their attitudes and behaviors and promoting the consequences of these problems. Some of the most important pro-environmental ...
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Introduction: Environmental problems and Chalenges are one of the major concerns of today's society. Often, these chalenges stem from human behavior that can be overcome by changing their attitudes and behaviors and promoting the consequences of these problems. Some of the most important pro-environmental behaviors include energy consumption, water and soil conservation, recycling and the like, with many personal, social and environmental benefits. One of the major goals of universities is to educate students towards environmental issues. In this regard, the role and position of agricultural higher education is of particular importance. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to "analyze the factors affecting pro-environmental behavior as perceived by students in Iran's agricultural higher education system based on Bandura's social-cognitive theory". Materials and methods: This study is a descriptive-correlational and causal-relational research. The statistical population of this study was students at state colleges of agriculture in Iran. 129 of them were selected using a random two-stage cluster sampling based on five scientific poles of the country (N = 236973). The research instrument was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts in the field of agricultural extension and education and its reliability was determined using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.66≤α≤0.87). Results and discussion: The results showed that there is a positive and significant correlation between pro-environmental behavior and other effective variables other than the Students’ level of education. In this regard, intention, self-identity, outcome expectancy, self-regulation, perception of others' behavior and self-efficacy had the highest correlation with pro-environmental behavior. The results of the causal analysis showed that the variables of "perception of others Behavior", "outcome expectancy" and "self-identity" had a significant effect on pro-environmental behavior which is in line with the Bandura's social-cognitive theory, but "intention", "self-efficacy" and "self-regulation" had no significant effect. Conclusion: Causal analysis results showed the students’ pro-environmenal behavior in the higher agricultural education system is influenced by the perception of others’ behavior and they learn from observation and consequences of others' behavior. Such findings show the importance of social environments. In other words, although individuals may have motivations and behaviors in order to preserve the environment, but this behavior is influenced by their social environment and providing such an environment is considered one of the implications of higher education systems for creating green universities. At the end, based on the findings, some recommendations have been presented.
Narges Dramiani; Hadi Kiadaliri; Masoud Bijani; Farzad Veisanloo
Volume 13, Issue 3 , October 2015, , Pages 51-62
Abstract
Forest resources management due to the breadth of the subject and interference with social and economic issues is a meta-organizational plan application which is required the public participation. Due to increasing population size and high dependency of forest dwellers to forest resources, the destruction ...
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Forest resources management due to the breadth of the subject and interference with social and economic issues is a meta-organizational plan application which is required the public participation. Due to increasing population size and high dependency of forest dwellers to forest resources, the destruction of these valuable resources declined in terms of quantity and quality and is in danger of disappearing. The purpose of this study was to investigate affecting factors on participation of forests rural dwellers toward Oshtorankooh forests management in Doroud. The study was fulfilled by using descriptive - correlation method. The population size was 543 households that according to Krejcie & Morgan Table, 226 family supervisors were studied as a sample by using stratified random sampling method. Statistical analysis was done through SPSS software. The research tool included a questionnaire that its validity was confirmed by a group of professionals. A pilot study was conducted during which the Cronbach's alpha test was calculated to determinate the reliability of data collection instrument. Multiple regression analysis showed that the use of educational tools and resources, attitude to participation, age, cooperation and interaction experience in rural areas, education level and annual income, could explain 0.51 of the variation of participation. Results of path analysis showed that variable of the use educational tools and resources had the most effect and the awareness of the importance of forests had the least effect on the participation rate in forest management. Based on the findings, some executive recommendations have been presented