Social network analysis of active organizations in the lake Urmia restoration

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: The combination of factors with exacerbation effects on each other has led to drought in Urmia Lake. The community involved and interacting with the Urmia Lake Basin did not fulfill their duties to the extent that environmental degradation has occurred. The purpose of this study was Social Network Analysis of Active Organizations in the Urmia Lake Restoration on water related issues, livelihood related issues and crop Pattern related issues of cultivation in the provinces of East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan.
Material and methods: In this regard, using expert opinion and key information of 40 organizations active in the restoration of Urmia Lake in the provinces of East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan, identification and communication and interactions between these organizations using social network analysis in UCINET 6.0 software. The graphs are depicted in the Net Draw software.
Results and discussion: According to research results, the density index in the networks of organizations involved in water related issues is moderate, livelihood issues related to near moderate, and crop pattern related issues to poor. The results of the reciprocity index are also fully consistent with the results of the density index, so that organizations have respectively more and less interactions in water related issues (near moderate), livelihood issues related (poor) and crop pattern related issues (poor). Urmia Lake Restoration Program, West Azarbaijan Province, Urmia Lake Restoration Program and Agriculture Organization of West Azerbaijan Province are powerful organizations with more communication and better positioning in the network.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that various organizations involved in the restoration of Urmia Lake in two provinces of East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan are concerned with water related issues because of their importance and necessity for organizations to restoration the lake with a relatively modest cohesion in planning and implementation. However, they have not been able to coordinate and coherently deal with issues related to rural livelihood and farmers' crop patterns.

Keywords

References

  1. Abid, M. Ngaruiya, G. Scheffran, J. and Zulfiqar, F. 2017. The Role of Social Networks in Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change: Implications for Sustainable Agriculture in Pakistan. Climate 2017, 5, 85; doi:10.3390/cli5040085
  2. Anderies JM, Rodriguez AA, Janssen MA, Cifdaloz O . 2007. Panaceas, uncertainty, and the robust control framework in sustainability science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. 104:15194–15199. doi:10.1073/ pnas.0702655104.
  3. Awumbila, M; Teye, J. K. and Yaro, J. A. 2017. Social Networks, Migration Trajectories and Livelihood Strategies of Migrant Domestic and Construction Workers in Accra, Ghana. Journal of Asian and African Studies 2017, Vol. 52(7) 982– 996.
  4. Aznarivand, A and Banihabib, M. 2013. Evaluation of Urmia Lake Restoraiton Strategies Based on Sustainable Development Indices by Simple Weighting Models and Analytical Hierarchy Analysis, Second National Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Environment Sustainable Development, Hamadan.
  5. Bodin, O. and Prell, C. 2011. Social network in natural resources management, Cambridge University press.
  6. Bodin, Ö., B. Crona, and H. Ernstson. 2006. Social networks in natural resource management: What is there to learn from a structural perspective? Ecology and Society 11(2):r2. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss2/resp2/
  7. Bodin, Ö., Crona, B. and Ernstson, H. 2006. Social networks in natural resource management – What’s there to learn from a structural perspective? Ecology & Society 11(2), r2.
  8. Borgatti, S., M. Everett & L. Freeman, 1999. UCINET 6.0 Version. 1.00. Analytic Technologies, Natick, MA.
  9. Borgatti, S.P .2005. Centrality and network flow.Social networks 27(1):55-71
  10. Borgatti, S.P., M.G. Everett & L.C. Freeman, 2002. UCINET for Windows: Software for Social Network Analysis, Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies.
  11. Bourdeau, Ph. 2004. The man-nature relationship and environmental ethics, Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 72, 9-15.
  12. Brandes, U.E .2005. Network analysis methodological foundations. Springer Science & Business Media. Vol. 3418.
  13. Cadger, K. Quaicoo, A. K. Dawoe, E and Isaac, M. E. 2016. Development Interventions and Agriculture Adaptation: A Social Network Analysis of Farmer Knowledge Transfer in Ghana. Agriculture 2016, 6, 32; doi:10.3390/agriculture6030032.
  14. Chau,M., Xu, J., 2007. Mining communities and their relationships in blogs: a study of online hate groups. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. 65, 57–70.
  15. Costa, A. L. and Mertens, F. 2015. Governance, networks and social capital in the plenary of the brazilian national council on water resources. Ambiente & Sociedade. São Paulo. 18(3), 151-168.
  16. Cutts, B. B; Munoz-erickson, T. A. and Shutters, Sh. T. 2015. Public Representation in Water Management—A Network Analysis of Organization and Public Perceptions in Phoenix, Arizona. Society & Natural Resources, 0:1–18. DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2015.1020581.
  17. Darvishi, A, Gharbi, M, Fakhran, S, and Safianian, A. 2014. Network analysis and key actors in the field of wildlife management (study area: Caucasian Rooster Habitat - Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve). Journal of Applied Ecology. 3 (9). 29-40.
  18. Domptail S, Easdale MH .2013. Managing socio-ecological systems to achieve sustainability: a study of resilience and robustness. Environmental policy government .23:30–45. doi:10.1002/eet.1604.
  19. Ebrahimi Azarkharan, F, Ghorbani, M, Salajegh, A, and Mohseni Saravi, M. 2014. Social Network Analysis of Local Stakeholders in Action Plan for Water Resources Co-Management (Case Study: Jajrood River in Latian Watershed, Darbandsar Village). Iran-Watershed Management Science & Engineering. Vol. 8, No. 25, 47-56.
  20. Environmental Performance Index. 2018. Global Metrics for the Environment (The Environmental Performance Index ranks countries’ performance on high-priority environmental issues). www.epi.yale.edu
  21. Farahani, H and Safiari, R. 2014. Urmia Lake Water Loss Crisis and its Impact on Rural Sustainable Development (Case Study: Gogan District, Azarshahr County). First National Conference on Water, Human, Earth. Isfahan.
  22. Fischer, J. Gardner, T. G. Bennett, E. M. Balvanera, P. Biggs, R. Carpenter, S. Daw, T. Folke, C. Hill, R. Hughes, T. P. Luthe, T. Maass, M. Meacham, M. Norstrom, A. V. Peterson, G. Queiroz, C. Ralf Seppelt, R. Spierenburg, M and Tenhunen, J. 2015. Advancing sustainability through mainstreaming a social–ecological systems perspective. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 2015, 14:144–149.
  23. Fliervoet, J.M.; Geerling, G. ; Mostert, E.; Smits, A.J.M. 2016. Analyzing Collaborative Governance Through Social Network Analysis: A Case Study of River Management Along the Waal River in The Netherlands. Environmental Management. 57(2). 355–367.
  24. Garousi, V. Najafi, A. Samadi, A. Rasouli, K and Khanaliloo, B. 2013. Environmental crisis in Lake Urmia, Iran: a systematic review of causes, negative consequences and possible solutions. Conference: Proceedings of the 6th International Perspective on Water Resources & the Environment (IPWE) At: Izmir, Turkey.
  25. Ghorbani, M and Dehbozorgi. 2014. Stakeholder analysis, social power, and network analysis in participatory management of natural resources. Journal of Rangeland and Watershed Management, Journal of Natural Resources of Iran. 67(1). 141-157.
  26. Hanneman R 2001. Introduction to social network methods. Department of Sociology at the University of California.
  27. Hansen, D. L. Shneiderman, B and Smith, M. A. 2011. Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL. Insights from a Connected World.
  28. Hassanzadeh, E., Zarghami, M. and Hassanzadeh, Y. 2012. "Determining the Main Factors in Declining the Urmia Lake Level by Using System Dynamics Modeling. Water Resources Management". 26 (1). 129-145. doi: 10.1007/s11269-011-9909-8.
  29. Hassanzadeh, Y. 2015. Urmia Lake Crisis: The Country Water Crisis. 10th International Congress on Civil Engineering, 5-7 May 2015. University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
  30. Hermans F, Sartas M, van Schagen B, van Asten P, Schut M . 2017. Social network analysis of multi-stakeholder platforms in agricultural research for development: Opportunities and constraints for innovation and scaling. PLoS ONE 12(2): e0169634. http://sci-hub.tw/10.1371/journal.pone.0169634.
  31. Hogan B. 2008. Analyzing social networks. The sage handbook of online research methods. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9780857020055.n8.
  32. Hosseini, A and Khezri, S. 2016. Investigating the effects of changing the status of Urmia Lake and providing strategies. 6th National Conference on Water Resources Management with Approach: Water Ecological Bonding for Sustainable Land. May 3rd, 2016 Kurdistan University.
  33. Hukkinen, J. I. 2012. Social networks and natural resource management: uncovering the social fabric of environmental governance, Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, 9:4, 279-281, DOI: 10.1080/1943815X.2012.741980.
  34. Jafarian, V; Yazdani, M; Rahimi, M and Ghorbani, M. 2016. Network Analysis of Power Structure of the Organizational Stakeholders In Charge of the Garmsar Plain Water Resources Management. Iran-Water Resources Research. 12(3). 114-129.
  35. Jatel, N. 2013. Using social network analysis to make invisible human actor water governance networks visible – the case of the Okanagan valley. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts in the college of graduate studies (interdisciplinary studies).the university of British Columbia.
  36. Kates RW, Parris TM .2003. Long-term trends and a sustainability transition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. 100:8062–8067. doi:10.1073/pnas.1231331100.
  37. Kates, RW., WC Clark, R Corell, JM Hall, CC Jaeger, I Lowe, JJ McCarthy, HJ Schellnhuber, B Bolin, NM Dickson, 2001. Sustainability science. Science 292: 641-2.
  38. Klenk NL, Hickey GM, MacLellan JI, Gonzales R, Cardille J . 2009. Social network analysis: a useful tool for visualizing and evaluating forestry research. International Forestry Review 11(1):134-140.
  39. Kulig, A., Kolfoort, H. and Hoekstra, R., 2010. The Case of the Hybrid Capital Approach for the Measurement of the Welfare and Sustainability, Journal of Ecological Indicators, 10, PP. 118–128.
  40. Kunz, N. C; Kastelle, T. and Moran, C. J. 2017. Social network analysis reveals that communication gaps may prevent effective water management in the mining sector. Journal of Cleaner Production 148 (2017) 915-922.
  41. Lauber, T. B. Decker, D. J. Knuth, B. A. 2008. Social Networks and Community-Based Natural Resource Management. Environmental Management (2008) 42:677–687.
  42. Leon, R. D; Rodriguez, R; Gasquet, P and Mula, J. 2017. Social network analysis: A tool for evaluating and predicting future knowledge flows from an insurance organization. Technological Forecasting & Social Change 114 (2017) 103–118.
  43. Liu, J., Mooney, H., Hull, V., Davis, S. J., Gaskell, J., Hertel, T., Li, S. 2015. Systems integration for global sustainability. Science, 347(6225), [1258832]. DOI: 10.1126/science.1258832
  44. Lovrić, M. Da Re, R. Vidale, E. Pettenella, D. Mavsar, R. 2018. Social network analysis as a tool for the analysis of international trade of wood and non-wood forest products. Forest Policy and Economics 86 (2018) 45–66.
  45. Mirmammadsadeghi, M. 2012. Are social networking measures effective in all social networks? Journal of Social Sciences. 56.26-30.
  46. Misra, S. Goswami, R. and Basu, D. and Jana, R. 2014. Application of Social Network Analysis in Livelihood System Study. Space and Culture, India, 2014. 24-46. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2613668
  47. Navarro-Navarro, L.A.; Moreno-Vazquez, J.L. and Scott, C.A. 2017. Social networks for management of water scarcity: Evidence from the San Miguel Watershed, Sonora, Mexico. Water Alternatives 10(1): 41-64.
  48. Parsons, L. 2016. Mobile inequality: Remittances and social network centrality in Cambodian migrant livelihoods. Migration Studies, Volume 4, Issue 2, 1 July 2016, 154–181. http://sci-hub.tw/10.1093/migration/mnw005
  49. Pinheiro, C.A.R. 2011. Social network analysis in telecommunications. John Wiley & Sons.
  50. Prell, C., Hubacek, K. and Reed, M. 2009. Stakeholder analysis and social network analysis in natural resource management. Society and Natural Resources 22, 501–518.
  51. Ramazani Ghavamabadi, M and Sanaiepor, S. 2013. Legal Probe of Commitment to Wise Use of Orumiyeh Lake in the Light of Ramsar Convention. Journal of Legal Studies.No. 10, 109 - 140.
  52. Ramezani Ghavamabadi, M. 2012. Environmental Protection Training in Iran, Strategic Quarterly, 12(65). 233-257.
  53. Ramezani, A and Mirzamohammadi, A. 2013. Social network analysis with UCINE software training. Publications Sociologists.
  54. Ramirez, A. 2013. The Influence of Social Networks on Agricultural Technology Adoption. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 79 ( 2013 ) 101 – 116.
  55. Rathwell, K. J., and Peterson. G. D. 2012. Connecting social networks with ecosystem services for watershed governance: a social-ecological network perspective highlights the critical role of bridging organizations. Ecology and Society 17(2): 24. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-04810-170224
  56. Rezaei, Hosseini, M and Asadi, A. 2015. Analysis of information exchange network for sustainable management of natural resources (Case study area: Alborz dam basin in Mazandaran province). Pasture and Watershed Journal, Iranian Journal of Natural Resources, 68(1). 65-79.
  57. Rockström, J., W. Steffen, K. Noone, Å. Persson, F.S. Chapin, III, E.F. Lambin, T.M. Lenton, M. Scheffer, C. Folke, H.J. Schellnhuber, B. Nykvist, C.A. de Wit, T. Hughes, S. van der Leeuw, H. Rodhe, S. Sörlin, P.K. Snyder, R. Costanza, U. Svedin, M. Falkenmark, L. Karlberg, R.W. Corell, V.J. Fabry, J. Hansen, B. Walker, D. Liverman, K. Richardson, P. Crutzen, and J.A. Foley, 2009. A safe operating space for humanity. Nature, 461, 472-475, doi:10.1038/461472a.
  58. Rohrbeck, R., Thom, N., Arnold, H., 2015. IT tools for foresight: the integrated insight and response system of Deutsche TelekomInnovation laboratories. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 97(8):115-126 • August 2015 with 1,459 Reads. DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2013.09.015.
  59. Sadatnia, Z; Abbasnejad, T. and Mohammadi Kongarani, H. 2017. Drawing and analyzing the cooperation network between university and industry using the social network analysis approach (Case study: Hormozgan University). Journal of Industrial Management. 9(2). 309-328.
  60. Salari, F; Ghorbani, M and Malekian, A. 2015. Social monitoring of the stakeholder network in local governance of water resources (Case study area: Rezin Basin, Kermanshah County). Irrigation and Watershed Journal, Iranian Journal of Natural Resources. 68(2). 287-305.
  61. Salari, F; Ghorbani, M; Malekian; A and Fahmi; H. 2016. Application of social network analysis method in local stakeholders capacity for establishing participatory water resources management (Case study: Sarab Shah Hosein Village, Resin Basin, Kermanshah). Iranian Journal of Soil and Water. 74(2). 387-395.
  62. Salehi, S. 2010. People and Environment, London, Limber Academic Publication.
  63. Salimi, J and Ebrahimi, P. 2017. Network Analysis of Local Stakeholders and Social Cohesion in the Participatory Management of Water Resources (Case Study: Myanjangal Watershed, Fasa City). Iran-Watershed Management Science & Engineering. Vol. 11, No. 37, 63-57.
  64. Scott, J., 2000. Social network analysis: A handbook. Newbury Park: SAGE Publications.
  65. Shahanoshi, M and Abdollahi, A. 2007. Analysis of the environmental culture of Isfahan people and some factors affecting it. Research Journal of Isfahan University. No. 23, 15-34.
  66. Steffen W, Richardson K, Rockstrom J, Cornell S. E, Fetzer I, Bennett E. M. 2015. Planetary boundaries: guiding human development on a changing planet. Science. doi:10.1126/science.1259855
  67. Urmia lake Restoration. 2015. Necessity of Urmia lake Restoration Causes of Drought and Threats. ulrp.sharif.ir
  68. Virapongse A., Brooks, S., Metcalf, E. C., Zedalis, M., Gosz, J., Kliskey, A., Alessa, L. 2016. A social-ecological systems approach for environmental management. Journal of Environmental Management 178 (2016) 83-91.
  69. Wasserman S, and Faust K. 1994. Social network analysis: methods and applications. Cambridge University press(Vol. 8).
  70. Wasserman, S. and Faust, F. 1994. Social Network Analysis: Methods and applications, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 358 p.
Environmental Sciences
Volume 18, Issue 4
January 2021
Pages 239-258

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics