Application of water management strategies in cooperative game theory for the restoration of Hour Al-Azim wetland

Application of water management strategies in cooperative game theory for the restoration of Hour Al-Azim wetland | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Application of water management strategies in cooperative game theory for the restoration of Hour Al-Azim wetland Nima Pournabi, Somaye Janatrostami, Afshin Ashrafzadeh, Kourosh Mohammadi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4879613/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 31 May, 2025 Read the published version in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The Hour-Al-Azim transboundary wetland, one of Iran's most significant wetlands, is facing desiccation due to a disregard for environmental flow. A significant portion of the wetland has dried up, leading to the emergence of dust storms with detrimental effects on the region. Therefore, the imperative lies in fully restoring the wetland to mitigate the damages caused by dust storms and drought. In this study, considering the agricultural land area in the Karkheh River Basin and estimating the water requirements of the agricultural sector, the optimal allocation scenario that satisfies all stakeholders was determined using a cooperative game theory approach and Shapley value. The results indicated that complete wetland revival is not feasible considering the available water resources. Hence, solutions were proposed to reduce water consumption considering the virtual water trade approach and ecosystem services payment method. All potential options for the government and farmers toward complete wetland revival were identified using sequential game theory. Ultimately, the findings demonstrated that adopting a cooperative approach to reduce cultivated areas benefits both farmers by increasing profits and the government by simultaneously achieving the goal of wetland revival. Game theory Shapley value Virtual water Water diplomacy The Hour-al-Azim wetland Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 31 May, 2025 Read the published version in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 22 Sep, 2024 Reviews received at journal 22 Sep, 2024 Reviews received at journal 15 Sep, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Aug, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Aug, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Aug, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 24 Aug, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 19 Aug, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Aug, 2024 First submitted to journal 08 Aug, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4879613","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":354285789,"identity":"404e001a-ded3-4ba9-9901-9050b4b65130","order_by":0,"name":"Nima Pournabi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Guilan","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nima","middleName":"","lastName":"Pournabi","suffix":""},{"id":354285790,"identity":"819bb097-7c9c-46df-bee1-6a330043bc9d","order_by":1,"name":"Somaye Janatrostami","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABDklEQVRIie2PMUsDMRiGv1C4W6K3ZjjwL6QUquJB/kqLoEuus0OHm+oSvfV+xoGrw3cEumj3ri5OKVRcDqlgQm+wYM5VMM+Q8MH75M0HEAj8QUjxbcAtAD3uBtqrYJdoKntHvyn717vEwB1Rb9SlblfN+9tjJkT8NNXZh06jeIXQziE9LX5WiJpdMny9miqa1zq/1zSiswlRS6Ap+naRnCHqCQWnKKuA5HBUAGWej5HSjFqrCJpsan3ulMRw8tmnVHLsWohitgVaqzDJB70tlRmfPaPdZb2pm7vi2iqG63TJvMqwlKP1DWYiLvOHbbu7EEkihy9mngmvUhx0LvY3AvgEgJPDcecNBgKBwD/mC5b4WTgjgxg7AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University of Guilan","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Somaye","middleName":"","lastName":"Janatrostami","suffix":""},{"id":354285791,"identity":"5130de41-c10a-42ab-b729-0b3a27a361d1","order_by":2,"name":"Afshin Ashrafzadeh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Guilan","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Afshin","middleName":"","lastName":"Ashrafzadeh","suffix":""},{"id":354285792,"identity":"7100f99b-370a-4a82-9776-b2564bec03d6","order_by":3,"name":"Kourosh Mohammadi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Senior Hydrogeologist and Groundwater Modeller, Arcadis Canada","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kourosh","middleName":"","lastName":"Mohammadi","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-08-08 08:53:41","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4879613/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4879613/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-025-14156-6","type":"published","date":"2025-05-31T15:56:54+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":83782778,"identity":"97019d18-f721-48cf-9ed2-c377e0b7e2e4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-02 16:05:00","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":740293,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"shapleypaper8Agust2024.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4879613/v1_covered_7f2c45a6-862a-4fa3-8534-8e388545eb34.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Application of water management strategies in cooperative game theory for the restoration of Hour Al-Azim wetland","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"environmental-monitoring-and-assessment","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"emas","sideBox":"Learn more about [Environmental Monitoring and Assessment](http://link.springer.com/journal/10661)","snPcode":"10661","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10661/3","title":"Environmental Monitoring and Assessment","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Game theory, Shapley value, Virtual water, Water diplomacy, The Hour-al-Azim wetland","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4879613/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4879613/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe Hour-Al-Azim transboundary wetland, one of Iran's most significant wetlands, is facing desiccation due to a disregard for environmental flow. 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