Analyzing and measuring the ecological footprint of rural settlements with an emphasis on the natural situation (Study Case: Homail district in Eslam Abad-e-Gharb).

The environment is a constant and absolute phenomenon and has a limited ecological capacity for human use. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the use of available natural resources. One of the appropriate tools in this field is the ecological footprint index. In this regard, the current research has assessed the ecological sustainability of these areas by measuring the footprint of rural settlements in Homail district. The conducted research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of nature. Documentary and field methods have been used to collect information. The territory under study is the rural settlements inhabited by the Homail district, of which 17 villages were selected using a systematic method (number of households, distance from the city, and natural location). The sample size was determined based on Cochran's formula, 360 households. The collected information was analyzed using ecological footprint index in five consumption sectors (housing, food, transportation, built land and consumer goods). Also, factorial variance analysis and LSD post hoc test were used to investigate the effects of natural position on the amount of footprints. The evaluation of the ecological footprint of the region showed that 64.7 percent of the villages surveyed, equivalent to 11 villages, are in unstable and ecological deficit conditions. Kandahar village has the largest deficit and Mian Tang Mansouri village has the largest ecological surplus. Also, the results of examining the interrelationships of the variables showed that there is a significant difference between the effects of the natural location on the total footprint and the biological capacity of the selected villages, and it was found that the forest villages have a larger footprint than the plain and mountain villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]