Ecological environment monitoring for sustainable development goals in Gomishan international wetland, Gorgan Bay, Caspian Sea.

Monitoring of coastal ecosystems is of particular importance for sustainable development and environmental management. Remote sensing, using satellite imagery, can play an important role in these studies. In this study, changes of qualitative parameters in Gomishan wetland and Gorgan Bay located in the southeast of the Caspian Sea were investigated using Landsat images. Based on the results of the range of chlorophyll-a and water temperature changes in both ecosystems, there was an increasing trend. Evaluating of Secchi disk (transparency) ranges showed a decreasing trend until 2018. Also, among the studied years, 2009 has the lowest fluctuations. Overall, the findings of this study showed that changes in water quality parameters of Gorgan Bay and Gomishan wetland had been affected by ecological conditions and human activities such as industrial-domestic and agricultural effluents. Also, satellite data in such coastal ecosystems at different time intervals have valuable results and can be given special attention for the study of similar ecosystems.

Ecological-environmental challenges and restoration of aquatic ecosystems of the Middle-Eastern.

Water resource management has numerous environmental challenges, especially in aquatic ecosystems such as rivers due to the heterogeneous distribution of surface water resources, among other diverse impacting factors. In Iran (one of the countries of the Middle-East), population growth, development of urban communities and development of agricultural and industrial activities provide additional impacts on the functioning of aquatic ecosystems. The United Nations declared the third decade of this century (2021-2030) as the decade of ecosystem restoration. In this study, we have selected the Zayandehroud River as a case study and then evaluated the pathology of existing statuses. Strategies and approaches were studied and analyzed including the need to utilize integrated water resources management (IWRM), approaches for dealing with drought conditions, payment of water rights and dam alternatives, and the need for ecological landscape studies. Then, strategies and approaches appropriate from the perspective of restoration were identified, including the techniques used, and the experiences of different countries. The analysis showed that similar regions of Iran in the Middle-East need to change the paradigm of "nature control" to the paradigm of "nature management" and reduce reliance on structural and technological solutions in water resources management.