Document Type : Research Article
Authors
1
faculty geography - university of tehran
2
Professor, Department of Natural Geography, Geomorphology, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran
3
Associate Professor, Department of Natural Geography, Geomorphology, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran
10.22067/geoeh.2025.92413.1554
Abstract
Introduction
Coastal areas require special attention due to the vulnerability of ecosystems and the dependence of human activities on them. Today, beaches have become one of the most popular destinations for tourists, and the existence of different coastal features creates different potentials for attracting tourists. Tourism, as a rapidly growing phenomenon, has become one of the largest industries in the world today. The development of tourism and related recreational activities has a great impact on the development pattern of regions and helps to provide direct and indirect economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits to host communities. However, at the same time, this approach has raised concerns and threats regarding environmental damage and the destruction of the natural, historical and cultural heritage of local residents. In fact, industrial tourism does not mean being clean and non-destructive (Salehi et al., 2012). In this regard, some of the significant impacts of tourism-related activities on the physical coastal environment include soil erosion, landslides, water quality degradation, shoreline alteration, and litter pollution (Ziari et al., 2019). Litter pollution has become an undeniable threat to the sustainability of coastal ecosystems, and the threat of non-biodegradable plastic litter to coastal environments is evident (Lasaiba, 2024). Pollution of the Caspian Sea poses a serious threat to aquatic life and human health. Unfortunately, the coasts and estuaries are highly exposed to pollution, and this process endangers the survival of marine species. Urban environmental pollution on the coasts can lead to a decrease in water and soil quality, a decrease in biodiversity, health problems, and negative impacts on tourism and recreational activities.
Materials and Methods
The main objective of this study is to identify and zone the coastal areas of the three counties of Anzali, Rezvanshahr and Astara in terms of urban environmental pollution risk using analytic hierarchy process models and machine learning algorithm - random forest. In this regard, first, effective criteria were identified. From among the 24 effective criteria, information layers of 14 effective criteria: natural attractiveness, coastal degradation, river, road, human activity, urban drainage, population, urban waste, protection and care, facilities, security, natural landscapes, hotels, and the importance of tourism on the population were prepared in the Arc Gis Pro environment. Using the AHP method, the impact of each criterion was extracted and 70% of the high-risk areas were used as training data and 30% as an experiment to train the random forest algorithm. The predictive ability and accuracy of the model results were evaluated using the relative receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under this curve (AUC).
Results and Discussion
The results of assessing the accuracy of zoning maps of the studied areas using validation data showed that the accuracy of the analytic hierarchy process and random forest models is 0.812 and 0.97, respectively. The results show that the random forest model has a good accuracy in zoning coastal pollution. The results also show that the security criterion is the most important in training the machine learning algorithm.
The results of coastal zone pollution zoning in the analytic hierarchy process and random forest model showed that in Anzali County,0 and 10.82 were in the very low risk class, 0 and 16.55 in the low risk class, 4.06 and 36.02 in the medium risk class, 89.73 and 27.35 in the high risk class, and 6.20 and 9.24 percent were in the very high risk class. In Rezvanshahr County, 0.57 and 12.55 in the very low risk class, 7.09 and 28.71 in the low risk class, 27.21 and 22.68 in the medium risk class, 64.66 and 16.98 in the high risk class, and 0.45 and 0 percent were in the very high risk class. In Astara city, 0.02 and 26.73 are in the very low risk class, 6.30 and 21.23 are in the low risk class,87.23 and 20.31 are in the medium risk class, and 6.44 and 16.51 are in the high risk class.
Conclusion
Pollution from industrial and domestic wastewater entering the sea waters is one of the biggest challenges on the northern coasts of Iran. In Bandar Anzali city, this problem has been exacerbated due to the lack of appropriate wastewater management infrastructure and the lack of implementation of environmental laws.
The general conclusion for the three cities of Astara, Bandar Anzali, and Rezvanshahr shows that all three regions face specific challenges in the field of environmental pollution, which is caused by a combination of natural and human factors. Managers and planners can effectively reduce the risks of pollution in coastal areas by using the results of this research. Furthermore, these results will help facilitate the presentation and implementation of practical solutions.
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