Pardisan Nature Park, the last remaining natural habitat in Tehran and home to 443 indigenous plant species, requires sustainable management due to its unique ECOLOGICAL characteristics. Estimating the ECOLOGICAL footprint is an effective method for assessing the ECOLOGICAL status of areas to ensure their optimal use. This study has calculated the quantitative ECOLOGICAL footprint of Pardisan Park using the component method. The ECOLOGICAL footprint was calculated for five consumption activities: electricity, water, gas, waste, and food. The biological capacity of different land types; along with ECOLOGICAL deficit and intensity indices were calculated.The results indicate that the ECOLOGICAL footprints for electricity, water, gas, waste, food, and the total are 121970.15, 86.72, 0.00, 2585.88, 0.00 and 124642.75, respectively. The biological capacity is measured at 438.47 hectares. The difference between the biological capacity and the total ECOLOGICAL footprint suggests an ECOLOGICAL deficit in the consumption sector. The ECOLOGICAL pressure index footprint intensity in the water, waste, and gas sectors is rated at level one (good), while electricity and food are rated at level four (very poor). Hence, park management has demonstrated efficiency in the consumption of water, gas, and waste, but has shown weaknesses in the consumption of electricity and food.

Introduction During the recent years, issues such as emission of greenhouse gasses, environmental degradation and deforestation along with the reduction of the biological capacity of the Earth have been one of the most important global concerns. Obviously, an individual has a daily effect on the planet Earth, however, the problem is the rate of the impact that each person leaves on the Earth. In this respect, the present study aims to investigate the effects of different land uses on the Kalshoor watershed applying the EF method. For this purpose, first, we introduce the concept of ECOLOGICAL footprint then the result of the calculation of this indicator will be presented and discussed. Material and methods Study area The study area is Kalshoor watershed being a mountainous area located in the North East of Iran in Sabzevar city (36° 12′ 48. 63″ N, 57° 40′ 35. 39″ E). The area of the region is about 243232 hectares. Methods Based on the method proposed by wackernagel and Rees, below steps should be taken to calculate the ECOLOGICAL Footprint (EF): 1-Estimation of per capita consumption of consumers’ good as per the regional data and division the total consumption by the population of the area. 2-Estimation of land allocated to an individual for the production of each case through the division of average annual consumption of each case by the average annual production or land yield. 3-Calculating the average EF for an individual through the addition of all the allocated area for the parts consumed by a person in a year. 4-Calculating the EF of the designated area through multiplying average EF for an individual by the population size. Results The primary result of this study showed that the basin of Kalshoor, due to its geographical position, has productive lands, which makes the agriculture the second prevalent land use in the area after range management. Other parts of the area are composed of forest, residential areas, lake, river, and springs. Moreover, part of water consumption, and services and energy parts have the highest and the lowest rate of EF, respectively. Regarding the population of the study area (775033), overall EF of the Kalshoor, is about 1076337 ha. Considering the total area of the study area (243231/61), meeting the needs of the residents, requires for an area 4. 4 times bigger than the present basin area. This means that we have the land shortage of 1052105/39 ha for ECOLOGICAL land. In other words, the Kalshoor watershed basin should be supported in meeting its needs. In all parts of consumers’ goods, EF exceeds the total available land. Of total land shortage in the area, 48% belongs to the section of Water consumption. In the section of transport part with 15% of the total land shortage of the basin, have the least role in the unSUSTAINABILITY of the area. The partial calculation also shows that only in the sections of agriculture, constructed land, the EF of Kalshoor basin is lower than biological capacity, and there is no ECOLOGICAL shortage for these two sections. Discussion The rate of per individual EF in Kalshoor basin, in comparison to that of in the country of Iran and world (with 1/16 and 1/60ha respectively), is low. The UnSUSTAINABILITY of the Kalshoor basin is due to inordinate exploitation of the present resources. Moreover, another reason for unSUSTAINABILITY in the study area is a low yield of agricultural productions. In addition, due to the presence of the tourists in this area and the subsequent environmental impacts, the rate of EF increases. If the current trend of resource depletion continues, regional SUSTAINABILITY will be endangered. For lessening the rate of EF, three comprehensive solutions has been presented: 1-enlargement of the planet Earth! 2-reduction of the population 3: reduction of the per capita consumption. The first solution is apparently impossible and the second one is very difficult and time dependent. Nevertheless, the third solution seems quite necessary. Tomas Malton (1798) suggests the second solution. This scientist warns about the population growth and assert that consumption increases with increasing population, while in the long term the rate of food production will be lesser than population growth (Salehi et al., 2010). Wakernagel et al (2000), believe that technology can improve the capability of lands to increase the efficiency of the resources. One of the proposed methods to reduce the EF is decentralized density. Holden and Hoyer (2004) argue that the decentralized density (building relatively small cities with high-density and low distances between houses and public and private services) will ultimately reduce the EF in the residential section. In other words, by the construction of small and dense towns, EF is reduced. Therefore, policies about redistribution of the population in the lands are debatable. One of the major factors in reducing EF is scientific management, especially in urban residential which guarantees the achievement of sustainable urban facilities. Many environmentalists believe that the continuity of the traditional economic patterns and excessive consumption of materials and natural resources in a region will jeopardize the human survival. Conclusively, considering the environment and natural ecosystems in decision-making processes, require a profound understanding of EF concept and taking political protective actions to control and decrease the rate of EF. Therefore, informing about extreme using of the ecosystems and decreasing the production of waste and its retrieval, applying efficient technologies to decrease the rate of exploitation of ecosystems and controlling industrial pollutions of modern technologies to supply the ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY of different ecosystems, seems inevitable. tainability for different ecosystems, seems inevitable.

In order to develop a SUSTAINABILITY index (SI) for quantifying the SUSTAINABILITY of a wheat-cotton agroecosystem, a study was conducted in 2003 in the Khorassan province. Data of socio-economic, agronomic and ECOLOGICAL indicators were collected using 518 questionnaires. Results showed that only 18.6 percent of farmers gained the half or more of SI scores. The mean SI score was 44.0 which indicate that these agro ecosystems are not sustainable. Results of this study are in consistent with other reports in other regions of the country. Livestock production, crop production, and water and irrigation indicators had the lowest score (6, 31, and 37, respectively). The backward stepwise regression analysis indicated that SI can be predicted from a linear combination of field size, wheat yield, crop residue management, crop income and education and extension services, while application of chemical fertilizers did not add to the prediction ability of SI. Results also showed that any progress in farmers' education, economic viability, crop production management and water use efficiency could improve overall SUSTAINABILITY of these agroecosystems substantially.

SUSTAINABILITY and environmental management are the most cited ideas linking the environment and development. The SUSTAINABILITY of natural resources depends upon our paradigm and related approaches to the relationship between society and the environment. Efficient management is a primary task due to the pressure on nature. ECOLOGICAL footprint analysis has been introduced as an appropriate environmental management tool to address the environmental challenges that Iran is facing and to determine solutions. It is a resource accounting tool which could be applied in environmental planning and management focusing on natural resource consumption. Reviewing and analyzing the biocapacity (BC) and ECOLOGICAL footprint (EF) of Iran in the timeline of 1962-2011 was the main purpose of the study. Based on the findings, EF trend of the country has an increasing trend over time while the BC has a reverse trend. The consumption by farmers and other agricultural actors from resources has been greater than the country`s regenerative capacity regarding the BC and EF of cropland. The SUSTAINABILITY gap has been greater over time due to population growth and other related factors. Despite the different environmental rules and regulations, there was no improvement or progress in SUSTAINABILITY achievement in Iran. Returning to the condition in which EF equals BC is the least action required to decrease the pressure on nature. Effective and suitable environmental policies are needed in order to address the policy gap as well as reduce the EF level to the balance point by appropriate executive activities covering the implementation gap.

The aim of this study was to compile composite indicators for quantifying the ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY of greenhouse production in Sistan. These indices assesses information about the agricultural community-economically, producing crops and livestock, fertilizer and chemical materials, crop residue management, water and irrigation, tillage and mechanization, weed management and agro biodiversity in greenhouse and farm. Data were collected from 100 farmers using a face-to-face questionnaire during 2012. After verification of the questionnaire data were analyzed. Average score of SUSTAINABILITY index in greenhouse system is 49.3 and 64.2 % of farmers have earned 40 or less scores. The results of step by step regression progressive showed that the most important factors determining the SUSTAINABILITY index in the systems were; crop species diversity, variety of herbicides and fungicides, crop residue management, and accessibility to inputs, respectively, while the use of chemical fertilizers, had no significant effect on SUSTAINABILITY index. The study of critical points revealed that to improve the greenhouse systems SUSTAINABILITY, training of farmers, helping them to achieve economic SUSTAINABILITY, improving crop and water resources management must be a priority.

As a small fertile or green area in a desert region, the oasis is usually formed around a source .of water, like a spring, river or well. As a refuge from the harsh desert environment, it has served as a human settlement demonstrating a delicate resource management sustainable for centuries. This paper examines the oasis in search of lessons for processing environment and landscape in a sustainable manner. After a brief overview of oasis definitions and oasis types, the oasis features with regard to location and environment are explained. This leads to the application of elements used in the oasis for processing environment and landscape; i.e. water and vegetation. The paper concludes with lessons learnt for landscape design in a xeric environment.

ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY assessment is a pivotal for determining the type of human interaction and dealings with nature and the ECOLOGICAL services received from it, which should be constantly monitored. While limited studies have been carried out in the country and so far this important issue has not been considered in practical regional and national policies and planning. In order to fill this research and management gap, the present study aims to assess the ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY of Tutli Watershed located in the north of North Khorasan Province using the conceptual framework of Hydrology, Environment, Life, and Policy (HELP) and calculate the Watershed SUSTAINABILITY Index (WSI). In this assessment process, 14 variables were used, which were classified into three categories of Pressure (P), State (S), and Response (R) indices and four HELP criteria based on the their nature. Accordingly, the mean scores of P, S and R indices for Tutli Watershed were obtained 0. 65, 0. 85 and 0. 35, respectively. Furthermore, the average scores of hydrological (H) and environmental (E) criteria were equal to 0. 58 and the scores of life (L) and policy criteria (P) were equal to 0. 66. The results of combining all the studied criteria and indicators showed that the total WSI score is 0. 62 and indicates the level of average ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY. The results could be applied to plan, protect and identify critical areas and to direct management strategies. It is also recommended to improve the watershed SUSTAINABILITY level from medium to good by adopting appropriate policies and effective conservation programs.

The sustainable development is an important concern of the recent century. The concept of "sustainable development" has been an ongoing search for indicators that could support decision-making in this context (UN.CSD, 1996). One can identify three types of approaches, although many intermediate ones exist: 1) Developing an aggregated indicator of sustainable development; examples of this approach are the ISEW and GPI indicators and the Wealth of Nations approach of the World Bank (World Bank, 1996). 2) Developing a comprehensive assessment framework and systematically deriving indicators from these frameworks; an example of this approach is the report to the Balaton Group (Meadows, 1998).3) Developing a set of sustainable development indicators based on consensus without a comprehensive, strictly used assessment framework; examples are the sustainable development indicator work of UN.CSD (UN.CSD, 1996) and the Sustainable Seattle project Scientist has exposure active of quantitative and qualitative models with measure city and socials sustainable development.The concept of sustainable development globally studied. One of the important quantitative models is ECOLOGICAL Footprint model.In the last few years, the ECOLOGICAL Footprint (EF) has been frequently mentioned as a potential indicator for the environmental consequences of production and consumption patterns (Rees, 1992; Wackernagel and Rees, 1996). Much attention have been paid to the EF originally came from environmental and educational organisations (such as The Earth Council and "De Kleine Aarde" in the Netherlands). Currently, this has become a great concern of scientists and politicians.Various researches have studied the method as originally proposed (van den Bergh and Verbruggen 1999; Moffatt 2000 ;).The objective of these works has largely focused on the oversimplification in ECOLOGICAL footprints of the complex task of measuring SUSTAINABILITY of consumption, leading to comparisons among populations becoming meaningless, or the result for a single population being significantly underestimated. In addition, the aggregated form of the final ECOLOGICAL footprint makes it difficult to understand the specific reasons for the unSUSTAINABILITY of the consumption of a given population, and to formulate appropriate policy responses (Moffatt 2000;). While generally acknowledged as a valuable educational tool, the original ECOLOGICAL footprint is seen as a regional policy and planning tool for ECOLOGICALly sustainable development. (Bicknell et al. 1998, Lenzen and Murray 2001). Development of and debate about the method are continuing. Several organizations have already calculated EF at different scale levels, ranging from individual and urban to the global scale (e.g. Wackernagel et al., 1997; Bicknell et al., 1998; Wackernagel et al., 1999).ECOLOGICAL footprints calculated according to this original method became important educational tools in highlighting the unSUSTAINABILITY of global consumption (Costanza 2000). It was also proposed that ECOLOGICAL footprints could be used for policy design and planning (Wackemagel et al. 1997)….

Pistachio plays a great role in non-oil export in Iran. In order to assess SUSTAINABILITY index (SI) of pistachio, a study was conducted in the Kerman province. SUSTAINABILITY indices included social, economic indices, fertilizer and chemicals, irrigation water, diversity of agricultural systems and weed management. Shahre Babak and Rafsanjan townships were selected. A sample of 160 pistachio producers selected and interviewed. SUSTAINABILITY index calculated using Principle Components Analysis. Findings of the study showed that half of pistachio orchards were not considered sustainable. The stepwise regression analysis indicated that age, farming experience, farmer’s education, organic fertilizer, animal manure, pistacho yield; mechanical weed control and value of water had positive effect on stability while application of chemical fertilizers did not add to the prediction ability of SI. Farmers, education and amount of water had negative impact on SUSTAINABILITY.