Local Community’s Attitude and Satisfaction Towards the Environmental Effectiveness of Urmia Lake Restoration Actions

Aims: Lake Urmia, the most critical aquatic ecosystem and one of the most important wetlands in northwest Iran, has faced a drying-up threat in recent years. Urmia Lake Restoration Headquarters has carried out actions, and there are disagreements between supporters and opponents on the outputs of management actions. One of the main reasons for these disagreements is the need for more sufficient and multilateral monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of actions over time. For this purpose, this research was conducted in the year 2021 to evaluate the view of local communities on the environmental effectiveness of the actions of rehabilitation headquarters on the shores of Lake Urmia. Various practices, including Poly-Shrub Planting, Mono-Shrub Planting, and Non-living Wind Breaker, have been implemented in three regions of Ajabshir, Azarshahr, and Shabestar counties. Materials Methods: A qualitative survey research method was used according to the research objectives. A researcher-made questionnaire was prepared to evaluate the attitude of local communities. Using snowball sampling to fill out the questionnaire form, a sample size of 150 people from local communities was selected. Findings: The results showed that respondents’ satisfaction was significantly different among various actions, so the highest level of satisfaction within the local communities, with a value of 2.89, is related to the non-living windbreak, and the lowest level is related to the Poly-Shrub Planting with the value of 1.67. Regarding the opinion of native people, the actions of the restoration headquarters in the Azarshahr region have increased the percentage of rangeland vegetation and consequently have increased the environmental-ecological stability. The Shabestar region has increased the environmental-ecological sustainability and management of livestock and rangelands. Finally, in the region of Ajabshir, the actions of the reclamation headquarters have prevented the rising and scattering of dust and the creation of effective salt dust, as well as people’s adherence to the principles of environmental protection. Also, the comparison of the views of local communities regarding the various actions taken in the study areas showed that the non-living windbreaker had the most environmental effects in comparison with other actions. Conclusion: For the success of the restoration headquarters around Lake Urmia, it is necessary to implement actions based on the ecological conditions of each region and to attract the participation of local communities. In general, despite the relative success of the actions of the rehabilitation headquarters, these actions have not been entirely effective in various aspects, such as proper management of surface and subsurface water resources, the modification of the cultivation pattern, and the prevention of the spread of soil salinity in agricultural lands. Therefore, taking urgent action to save Urmia Lake using all local and international capacities is suggested.