نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسندگان
1 دانشجوی کارشناسی ارشد علوم زیستی جنگل دانشگاه علوم کشاورزی و منابع طبیعی گرگان
2 دانشیار گروه جنگل‌شناسی و اکولوژی جنگل دانشگاه علوم کشاورزی و منابع طبیعی گرگان
3 محقق توسعه روستایی و کارشناس اقتصاد کشاورزی و منابع طبیعی، استانداری گلستان، ایران
4 استادیار پژوهش، بخش تحقیقات بیابان، مؤسسه تحقیقات جنگلها و مراتع کشور، سازمان تحقیقات، آموزش و ترویج کشاورزی، تهران، ایران
چکیده
کلیدواژه‌ها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
Background and Objective: Although the factors affecting forest degradation have been more or less identified and introduced, in recent decades, due to the close relationship and subsistence dependence of forest dwellers on forests, the importance of identifying these factors, especially in the Hyrcanian forests, has increased. In this regard, the present research was conducted with the aim of analyzing the factors affecting Hyrcanian forest degradation from the perspective of forest dwellers in the Oghan watershed of Golestan Province.
Methodology: The study area is the forests of the Oghan watershed in Golestan Province with an area of 27,417 hectares. The present research is descriptive in nature and was carried out using a survey method. The statistical population consisted of 1,158 households from 10 forest-dwelling villages in the region, of which 290 people were selected as a sample using Krejcie and Morgan’s table through stratified random sampling. The main research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, the first part of which was related to the demographic characteristics of the respondents, which was investigated using 17 items in the form of 4 nominal items, 13 interval items, and one ordinal item. The second part was related to the factors influencing forest degradation, which were evaluated with 48 items under social, economic, natural, legal, management-organizational, and service-infrastructure factors. In order to determine the content validity of the compiled questionnaire, the opinions and suggestions of forestry experts of Golestan Province were used, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated for its reliability, and its value was 0.91. In this research, after collecting and categorizing the data, descriptive and inferential statistical methods were applied using SPSS.22 software.
Results: The results showed that the items "low levels of environmental knowledge of the forest dweller about the forest services", "economic poverty and low income level of the people", "unintentional fires (naturally)", "lack of appropriate legal activities in the face of illegal occupations", "lack of manpower to protect forests", "lack of infrastructure facilities to prevent forest degradation" respectively with an average value of 3.593, 3.435, 3.435, 2.655, 3.355 and 3.328 had the highest importance in the forest degradation. On the other hand, six items including "cutting trees for fuel due to the lack of heating facilities such as fossil fuels", "cutting trees and branches to prepare agricultural tools and charcoal", "pest infestations and the occurrence of diseases in the forest", "low penalties for violations of forest laws", "negligence of forest protection officers", and "lack of sanitary facilities in forest villages such as public baths" had the lowest importance. Based on this, the results of Friedman’s test showed that economic factors with a value of 5.64 had the greatest effect, and legal factors with a value of 1.17 had the least effect on the degradation of forests in the region. The findings also indicated that there was a positive and significant relationship between the two variables of respondents’ education level (p=0.030 and r=0.109) and the distance of their residence from the forest (p=0.046 and r=0.106) with their views on the factors affecting forest degradation.
Conclusion: In general, social and economic challenges in the management of natural resource areas, especially forests, continue to exist as the priority problems of natural ecosystems in the fields of protection, restoration, improvement, development, and sustainable utilization. The lack of participation of local communities in formulating policies and in the decision-making process up to the implementation and monitoring of programs, neglect in creating and developing job opportunities and alternative income sources, as well as the insufficient development of practical and home-based occupations to reduce dependence on forest products, are among the most important reasons for this issue. Therefore, in this article, suggestions and practical solutions for the sustainable management and protection of forest areas have been presented.
کلیدواژه‌ها [English]
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