A method to select sites for sand and dust storm source mitigation: case study in the Sistan region of southeast Iran

Sand and dust storms (SDS) are a natural phenomenon dominantly originating in arid and semi-arid regions. The vastness and changing distribution of the SDS hotspots, their inaccessibility, and financial limitations are the greatest challenges to projects combating SDS. To boost project success, a prioritized site-selection method which incorporates the physical and human variables interacting with SDS is applied in this paper. This ensures that potential economic and health impacts of SDS on human populations are also included. Six variables were selected for analysis: within-region sand and dust hotspots, changing distribution of the hotspots, residential areas, vegetation cover, soil texture, and the maximum drought-inundation of the Hamoun wetland. SDS hotspot sites for possible stabilization were identified and prioritized using the multi criteria evaluation (MCE) method. Such prioritization assists the practical management of hotspots under conditions of resource and budgetary constraints which are especially common in developing countries. This paper thus provides a template for site selection and prioritization of SDS hotspots for remediation. It also highlights the importance of variables other than SDS source areas for selection of rehabilitation sites. The proposed method, using the Sistan region as an example, is applicable to other regions of the world as a means of reducing the negative effects of known dust storm hotspots.