The purpose of this article is to identify food deserts using a geographic information system (GIS)-based multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) approach in the city of Tehran. We have found that, compared to technocratic methods, GIS-based MCDM and taking into account people or their agents' opinions in the food deserts analysis leads to different results. Whereas measuring food deserts based on the distance to large retail food stores indicated that a large part of the northern neighborhoods of Tehran do not have access to large food stores, identifying the food desert through the GIS-based MCDM approach revealed that northern neighborhoods of Tehran have relatively good access to healthy, affordable food. In addition, results indicated that individual factors have a more effective role than environmental factors in food accessibility. Food accessibility analysis revealed that more than 26.6 percent of Tehran's people (2,049,796) are living in very low and low food accessibility areas. Accordingly, to achieve a relatively healthy and inclusive food environment, establishment of a food council, development of mobile food markets and farmers' markets, extension of public transport, enhancement of food literacy, and community-based development of small full-service grocery stores, especially in southern and western sections of Tehran, should be pursued. In addition, addressing Tehran's food desert issues would be incomplete without due attention to the wider political and economic environment.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges in the 21st century and the agriculture sector is very vulnerable to this phenomenon. Since wheat is the most important cereal crop in Iran, we aim to analyze the potential impact of climatic variables (temperature and precipitation) on rainfed wheat productivity in Hamedan Province, Iran. For this purpose, generalized additive models have been used to model yields of rainfed wheat based on climatic variables during 2004–2012. Then, based on sensitivity of rainfed wheat to temperature and precipitation in this period, we predict the potential effects of climate change on rainfed wheat yield under the IPCC SRES A1FI and B1 climate change scenarios. Results suggest that yields of rainfed wheat would decrease in all Hamedan's counties primarily because of decreasing October to June precipitation and higher temperature. As a result, it is predicted that the yield of rainfed wheat in Hamedan under the A1F1 and B1 scenarios will fall by 41.3% and 20.6%, respectively, in the 2080s. In other words, according to the A1F1 scenario, in the 2080s, Hamedan Province's rainfed wheat production will decline from 1090 kg/ha to 639 kg/ha and under the B1 scenario to 865 kg/ha.

The aim of this article was to present a “snapshot” of Iran’s total import-related food miles and associated direct environmental costs in 1999 and 2013. Based on a customized model, the import-related “food miles” was calculated for 14 food groups. The methods used provide new insights to be obtained about how far agricultural products travel from their point of production to the main cities in Iran. We also calculated travel-related energy use and CO₂ emissions based on different transport modes. Distance and agricultural products data were obtained from national and international sources. Produce arriving at the main cities in Iran were typically transported more than 15,456 km in 1999. In 2013, however, average food miles have fallen 47%, largely driven by indirect food imports. In terms of energy use, imported products accounted for 130,855 TJ of energy use in 1999; this was reduced by 10% in 2013. Moreover, these changes account for more than 10 and 9 Mt of food miles-related CO₂ emissions in 1999 and 2013, respectively. There is an opportunity to re-legislate and revise policies regarding both imported and domestically grown food.