Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Instructor, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Department, Lorestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Khorramabad, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Department, Lorestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Khorramabad, Iran
3 Associate Professor, soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Institude, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Introduction
Managing a pervasive and effective phenomenon such as drought in different sectors of the economy requires close cooperation and careful planning. Lack of strategic drought planning and delays in decision-making have increased costs to reduce drought damage. The aim of this study was to develop strategic for drought adaptation using the SWOT model in Lorestan Province.
Materials and methods
In this research, the methods of reviewing sources and interviewing with a questionnaire were used in order to provide macro strategies to adapt to drought. For this purpose, the current status of ecological resources, environmental changes, economic sectors and their dependence on water resources, population and employment, management of ecological resources, organizations and institutions were analyzed, then by reviewing the upstream laws and documents, interview with resource managers, local and national decision makers, experts, published background and other available information identified the causes of problems and obstacles to drought management in the province. The statistical sample consisted of 27 experts and scientific and executive experts were selected. Scoring was done on two occasions by experts, and finally, by averaging the opinions of experts and scientific and executive experts, the weight of internal and external factors was determined. In the final stage, in addition to identifying important factors in each of the criteria of strength, weakness, opportunity and threat, necessary management strategies were determined based on the conditions of Lorestan Province through SWOT analysis. These issues were categorized in the form of environmental opportunities and threats and internal strengths and weaknesses, then analyzed by SOWT analysis approach and Delphi method.
Results and discussion
The study of strength factors shows that the existence of companies and organizations with resource monitoring units in the province with a weight of 0.25 has a higher effectiveness and degree of importance among other factors. Lack of proper planning and organization for monitoring and evaluation of drought weighing 0.33 has a very high effectiveness among the factors of poor adaptation to drought in the province. Among the opportunities, the factor of technological advances in the field of precision agriculture with a weight of 0.1 have a very high effectiveness. The factor of endangering the livelihood of farmers in case of drought is the most effective among the studied factors of threats with a weight of 0.22. Factors of irrigation of lands in some areas with polluted water and gradual destruction of agricultural soil and population increase and as a result increase in demand for water with a weight of 0.02 were recognized as having the least effectiveness among the threats of drought adaptation in Lorestan Province.
Conclusion
After scoring using the Delphi method, it was found that the presence of faculties and centers of agricultural education and natural resources in Lorestan Province was recognized as the most important strength. But despite this strong point in the province, unfortunately, the lack or inappropriateness of available data and information for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating the effects of drought is known as the main weakness. According to these results, in the direction of the conservative strategy, the strategy of balancing aquifers with the priority of aquifers with a negative water balance was suggested. The government's support for water harvesting projects at the level of cities and villages and the monitoring of better water management in cities provide suitable opportunities to improve the ability of farmers to deal with the negative effects of drought. The final result has been the presentation of drought coping strategies for different regions of the province in the areas of surface and groundwater supply, irrigated and rainfed agriculture, urban and rural drinking water and river water environment.
Keywords
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