The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a global health and economic crisis, significantly impacting coastal and marine environments. Lockdowns and restrictions, while necessary for public health, led to both positive and negative environmental consequences. Reduced human activity resulted in decreased pollution and habitat disruption, allowing for ecosystem recovery and improved water quality. However, the surge in single-use plastics and personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic exacerbated plastic pollution. Additionally, the economic downturn severely affected coastal communities reliant on tourism and fisheries, highlighting the need for sustainable recovery strategies. This Special Issue explores these collateral effects, emphasizing the importance of adaptive management and resilient governance in safeguarding coastal and marine ecosystems against future crises.

The purpose of the current work was to develop strategies suitable for the construction waste management for construction waste processing, recycling or landfilling plants in Tehran metropolis, Iran. This integrated methods study was of an applied type with an exploratory approach, which used a FANP-DEMATEL combined model as one of the most appropriate strategic planning methodologies. Thus, the environment of Tehran waste management organization (TWMO) was evaluated by preparing a SWOT matrix consisting of 10 strengths (S), 12 weaknesses (W), 9 opportunities (O), and 7 threats (T). According to the results, the TWMO was positioned in the WT box (IFE: 2.45 and EFE: 2.33), indicating the necessity of adopting a defensive strategy as the best priority. On the other hand, the FANP-DEMATEL technique also confirmed the accuracy of WT strategies with a score of 12.627. Results shown that the best determined WT strategy was “Preventing mixing or separating waste at the source for easier recycling at the plant site" (Weighting factor: 0.9). These findings showed the importance of the proposed strategy for the growth and success of construction and demolition waste management in Tehran.

This paper, aims to evaluate the impacts of potential climate change on the stream flow of a semi-arid catchment (called Merek) in western Iran using Distributed Catchment Scale Model (DiCaSM) and IHACRES lumped model and compare their ability in simulation of the future stream flow in this area. The joint probability plot was used to generate seasonal climatic change factors (% change in rainfall and change in temperature °C) to apply as an input to the DiCaSM model. A suite of 15 Atmosphere-Ocean Global Circulation Models (AOGCMs) from the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP) with monthly rainfall and temperature data for the baseline period were evaluated. By analyzing the models, finally, the three best models, including GFDL-CM3, CNRM-CM5 and NorESM1-M models, which reproduce the climatic behavior of monthly temperature and precipitation values, were selected. To study the impact of future climatic change on water supply, this study applied the RCP Scenarios. It proved an acceptable performance in reproducing of the historical observations three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP 2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5) scenarios for the future period 2040-2069. Results indicated that both hydrological models were able to simulate the observed stream flow successfully in the study catchment. The projections of three AOGCMs showed that the future temperature would be increased in the area, while there was no agreement between the models in simulation of future rainfall. Changes in stream flow simulated by DiCaSM model were ranged from -5.2% to 6.2% for the period 2040-2069, while for IHACRES model, the changes ranged from -37.7% to 10.1%. Overally the model performed extremely well for both the calibration and validation years. It is recommended to use these hydrological models for a general evaluation of climate change impact in water resources studies.

This study aimed to explore the possibility of removing cadmium, a toxic heavy metal, from soil using Dandelion greens. To accomplish this, a greenhouse experiment was conducted with six treatments including a control, and varying concentrations of cadmium in the soil. After the plants were harvested, the concentration of cadmium was measured in the plant roots, the above-ground parts, and soil samples. The results indicated that Dandelion greens have a remarkable ability to absorb cadmium from contaminated soils. The higher the concentration of cadmium in the soil, the greater the amount of cadmium absorbed by the plant roots and the above-ground parts. Specifically, the concentration of cadmium in the above-ground parts increased by 20.4 times and in the roots by 38 times with an increase in cadmium concentration. The average amount of cadmium absorbed in the root and shoot was 69.17 and 59.14 mg/kg, respectively. Furthermore, the study found that the time required for plant purification increased with the increase of cadmium concentration, and the minimum time required for purification was found to be 5 mg/kg concentration. Dandelion greens have a relatively short growth period and high yield, making them a viable option for treating cadmium-contaminated soils. Therefore, Dandelion greens can be utilized as an ornamental plant for phytoremediation of cadmium-contaminated soils. Overall, this study highlights the potential of Dandelion greens as a cost-effective and eco-friendly solution for heavy metal pollution in soil.

This study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the dispersion of suspended particles and potentially toxic elements in the air and soil around Shahid Rajaei Thermal Power Plant. For this purpose, soil sampling was carried out in a regular network with a radius of 10 km to measure the concentration of potentially toxic elements, and separately, the distribution model of particles and potentially toxic elements released from the power plant chimney was determined using AERMOD software up to a distance of 25 km. Results showed that the concentration of potentially toxic elements in the soil around the power plant has a direct relationship with the particles coming out of the power plant chimney and their deposition in the soil, and the trend of soil pollution up to a distance of 8 to 10 km from the power plant shows the highest concentration of the studied elements, and with increasing distance from the power plant, Pollution levels are reduced. In the affected areas, the concentrations of vanadium, nickel, zinc, and copper exceeded the standard with values ​​of 237, 88,210 and 112 ppm, respectively, and the four elements cobalt, chromium, molybdenum, and lead with values 21, 115, 4.7 and 42 ppm showed lower levels of pollution. which are also related to the type of fuel consumed by the power plant. Modeling of particle dispersion in the air by AERMOD method with the trend of dispersion and concentration of the above elements is consistent with the analysis of soil pollution.

The current work aimed to identify factors affecting liability and compensation for marine pollution in Iran. This applied research was conducted using a grounded theory and descriptive-analytical method. Following an in-depth survey and extraction of an initial list, 20 relevant experts selected by a snowball sampling method were interviewed to complete and validate the research process. The research findings revealed 60 open codes and 21 axial codes in a paradigm model. Five components identified as causal conditions included severity of environmental pollution, type of environmental damage, source of pollution, insurer conditions, and nature of the insured. Four components of contextual conditions involved type of environmental risks, level of risk, theoretical foundations, and national and cross-border cooperation. Five intervening factors were national laws and regulations, international environmental law and international treaties, international sanctions and restrictions, governance approach and government policies, and arbitration conditions. Interactional strategies consisted of facilitation, risk management and awareness raising. Consequences were found to be compensation for environmental damage, mechanism to prevent recurrence of similar incidents, and increasing trust and willingness to fulfill environmental commitments. To conclude, stressing and paying attention to international environmental laws can pave the way for environmental insurance activities in the country. Stressing and paying attention to international environmental laws can pave the way for environmental insurance activities in the country.

Dez River is considered as one of the highest water rivers after Karoon River, supplying water for tens of towns and villages as well as thousands of acres of agricultural lands, several fish farming plans and industrial factories. Hence, the water quality of Dez River is one of the major concerns of the area. This study was carried out using descriptive-statistical method based on a 39 year time span statistics. A number of 394 samples were analyzed and the concentration of physical and chemical parameters including pH, TDS, SAR, total cations and anions were measured. The obtained results were examined and compared based on the statistical analyses consistent with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards.  Dez River water quality has been âPerfectâ in most cases (99.8% of the statistical periods) on the basis of TDS and average sum of them amounting to 644 mg/l; indeed only in 2% of the statistical periods the water quality has been determined as Acceptable, while most of the water quality parameters have been within the permissible range of the WHO standards.

The aim of this study was to compare the components of children's physical fitness in relation to the role of air pollution in Tehran, Iran. The research method was a causal-comparative study. To achieve the research goals, 80 students of elementary school in fourth grade (10.3 ± 0.1) in Tehran, Iran were selected through available sampling. In the research phase, the researcher referred to Tehran Quality Control System, and based on the average of pollutant indicators in the past month, two Districts of Tehran, Iran were selected; District  1 (Aghdasiyeh) as the least infectious and District 20 (Rey) as contaminated. Then, the arrangement was performed to carry out physical fitness tests. The data was collected in two days. On the first day, participants performed physical fitness tests at Negin Shahr Rey Club and on the second day at the Royal Club in Aghdasiyeh district. Data was analyzed by independent t-test. The results showed that there was a significant difference between speed and agility components in two Districts 1 and 20, while there were no significant differences between power and flexibility components. Comparison of means indicated that children in area 1 had better performance than District 20. According to the results, it is suggested that the high amount of air pollution prevent children from engaging in physical activity and consider physical education teachers to take on activities that require less energy requirements.

In the current world, various types of pollution are the result of the adverse effects of human activities. One of these types of contaminations is air pollution, originated from dust. Over the years, governments and international organizations both governmental and non-governmental have made great efforts to manage and reduce the destructive effects of sand and dust storms. However, the fact is that there is a serious gap in relation to the legal documents related to management and the reduction of destructive effects of sand and dust storms. In other words, countries that are somehow involved with this phenomenon have not implemented effective measures for the compilation and approval of binding documents for the reduction of sand and dust storms. This failure is rooted in many issues, including political, economic, social, and cultural concerns. It is also worth mentioning that among the few documents on managing and reducing the destructive effects of dust, many of them at the regional level are between just two or more countries directly affected by this phenomenon. The present article, applying an analytical-descriptive method, seeks to examine the Iranian national laws and regulations as well as international legal documents on sand and dust storms; it also outlines the existing legal vacuum and provides related practical solutions. Studies show that so far, a law that directly and specifically deals with the issue of sand and dust storms has not been approved and the international community has not succeeded in drafting and ratifying a specific document in this regard.

Physical urban growth has the most significant impact on the vegetation of surrounding areas; the assessment and analysis of these changes are essential in geography and use different mechanisms. Here, remote sensing is the main technology for assessing expansion and the rate of change of land cover. Accordingly, the present study has been conducted with the aim of evaluating the physical growth of the city of Yazd in the years 1986â2016 and its impact on the trend of urban green space changes through the use of satellite images. This is an exploratory-descriptive research and it is cognitive in terms of the objective. To achieve this objective, the data from remote sensing and geographic information systems are used. The calculation of the trend of physical growth changes indicates that the city area was 3,118.25 hectares in 1986 and it increased to 15,232.47 hectares during a 30-year period; 52 percent of the urban growth was related to the horizontal and sprawl growth of the city. Assessment of the NDVI index showed that the density of vegetation had a tangible decreasing trend so that the sum of good and excellent vegetation was equal to 2,419 hectares in 1986; in 2016, the vegetation decreased to only 1,601 hectares. The maximum decrease in vegetation exactly corresponds with the maximum physical urban growth in the northwestern and the southeastern parts of the city such that the results of the research showed about 818 hectares of vegetation and gardens became constructed lands between 1986 and 2016