Qualitative Assessment of Environmental and Cultural Impacts of Sonqore’s Soleimanshah Dam on Rural Development Region Under the Coverage of Dam

Malek Hosseini, A; Mirak Zadeh, A.A

Qualitative Assessment of Environmental and Cultural Impacts of Sonqore’s Soleimanshah Dam on Rural Development Region Under the Coverage of Dam

Authors

A Malek Hosseini ¹
A.A Mirak Zadeh ²

¹ Ph.D. Candidate of agricultural Development, Dept. of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture, Razi University of Kermnashah

² Assisst. Prof. of Dept. of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture, Razi University of Kermnashah

Abstract

Generally dams are considered as an integral part of the water source management system, which is
effective in the regulating surface flows especially in areas with no uniform spatial distribution of
rainfall and temporal. Considering the worldwide, developing trend for dam construction, especially
in Iran, the necessity of reviewing the environmental impacts of dam construction becomes apparent.
The main purpose of this paper is assessment of cultural and environmental impacts of dam on under
irrigation and rural drainage network development. The method of research was qualitative and data
were collected by interview, observation and transect base on theoretical protocol. Research
population consist of council members in villages that covered by the dam irrigation and drainage
network (N=48) that were chosen as the census. In order to analysis data were used mind maps and
content analysis techniques. Results of content analysis showed that generally dam's cultural impacts
are summarized in 6 general categories: cultural exchange, awareness, tourism, entertainment places
revival, culture urbanization, destruction of social-cultural attachments. As well as the content
analysis of research population, environmental impacts of dam include 4 types: 1-climate change, 2-
entry of new species of birds to the region, 3-degraded landscapes and 4- green area.

Keywords