Evaluation of Agro-Ecosystems Sustainability in Coastal Lake Urmia (Case Study: Azarshahr)

Abstract

Abstract Background and objective: Lake Urmia is one of the most important and valuable Iranian ecosystems. Given that a large population of East Azarbaijan residents in the Urmia Lake Basin is engaged in agricultural business, and the economy of the region and residents of this region depend on the sustainability of agricultural systems in the present and future, hence the study of the sustainability of the agricultural ecosystems of this region are very important. Materials & Methods: This paper examines the sustainability of the agricultural ecosystems of Azarshahr in the period of 2004-2017. The weight of the indicators was determined using entropy method and other information was collected from Jihad-e-Agriculture Organization, Regional Water Organization and the yearbooks of East Azarbaijan province during the studied years. Results: The results of the study showed that the level of stability at the beginning of the period was decreasing during the years 2004-2006 and after a temporary increase in the years 2006-2013, it was reduced again and the conditions of sustainability deteriorated. Conclusion: Given the results of weighting the indices and calculating the sustainability level, the important role of the factors of sustainability, especially the use of chemical inputs, was shown on the sustainability.

Keywords

• ecosystem
• lake urmia
• sustainability assessment
• socio-economic indices
• sustainability indices