Hamid Hajizadeh; Asghar Fallah; sare hoseini
Abstract
Background and purpose: The forest ecosystem, as a valuable natural resource, provides various functions and services for human beings, which the maintenance of it should be the main goal of human activities. Therefore, nowadays, the study and analysis of the attitudes and behaviors of native communities ...
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Background and purpose: The forest ecosystem, as a valuable natural resource, provides various functions and services for human beings, which the maintenance of it should be the main goal of human activities. Therefore, nowadays, the study and analysis of the attitudes and behaviors of native communities to conserve forest ecosystem become very important due to their environmental problems and challenges. Therefore, the purpose of the study is investigating and analyses the attitude and environmental behavior of native communities in edges of Shiadeh and Diva forests of Babol city in Mazandaran Provence. Materials and methods: This research is an applied research that in terms of nature and method is part of descriptive analytical research based on survey. In this study for collecting information used documentary and field methods. The statistical population of the study included 150 native households in the villages along the Shiadeh and Diva forests who benefited from the services of the forest ecosystem of the region. The instrument of the study was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a number of forestry experts and its items reliability achieved using Cronbach's alpha test. In the study, a single sample t-test used to analyze data. Socio-economic variables in this study included eight variables: age, marriage, gender, occupation, household size, education, cost and income.Results and discussion: In this study, the reliability of the questionnaire items was calculated using Cronbach's alpha test (0.87%), which shows its reliability. Also, the results of a survey of respondents' interest to the biosphere value attitude of respondents towards forest ecosystem services showed that 80.67% of the respondents had a positive view of environmental issues and 79.20% of the subjects had an altruistic view of environmental issues and 24.84% of the respondents had a selfish view of environmental issues. Also, 82.62% of native communities were willing to conserve the services of the forest ecosystem in the region. The results of data analysis showed that among the items of biosphere value attitude, altruistic, selfish and conservative, " Forests and rangeland level of the country is decreasing", " My family cares to the environment, especially the forests", " I do not have enough financial potential to pay for the conservation of the Shiadeh and Diva forests" and " to conserve the environment, I warn others and abide by forest conservation laws" items took the first rank respectively. Also, the results of one-sample t-test for the environmentalist attitude of native communities showed that respondents with conservative and selfish attitudes had the highest and lowest average behaviors, respectively.Conclusion: According to the results, the conservation value attitude in the research area has a higher average than other value attitudes. This indicates that native communities the environment and surrounding resources belong to themselves and strive to conserve.Keywords: Rural Communities, Environmental Behavior, Shiadeh, Diva, New Environmental Attitude
Fatemeh Sepahvand; Karim Naderi Mahdei; Saeed Gholamrezai; Masoud Bijani
Abstract
Introduction: In Iran, out of 88.5 billion water resources, about 83 billion cubic meters or 93.5% is allocated to the agricultural sector and therefore agriculture is the largest consumer of water. Increasing population, increasing cultivation areas, and agricultural productions have increased the consumption ...
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Introduction: In Iran, out of 88.5 billion water resources, about 83 billion cubic meters or 93.5% is allocated to the agricultural sector and therefore agriculture is the largest consumer of water. Increasing population, increasing cultivation areas, and agricultural productions have increased the consumption of these resources. Eventually, increased consumption leads to a decrease in the water table and drainage of aquifers. Statistics show that many of the plains are currently in crisis. Romeshkan plain is one of the plains which has faced a significant reduction of resources in the recent decades. The purpose of this study was to develop the strategies for the sustainable management of water resources in this plain. Romeshkan plain is a forbidden plain, but there are still many exploitations in it. Crops are planted in this plain that need a lot of water. This research hasinvestigated the strategies of sustainable management of groundwater resources in Romeshkan plain using theFuzzy Delphi technique.Material and methods: The present study is an applied and descriptive research (non-experimental). The statistical population included 28 faculty members, experts, and farmers in Khorramabad and Romeshkan. The sample size was estimated using the purposeful snowball sampling method. Secondary data were also obtained from government departments to identify and describe the Romeshkan plain. Data on water resources of Romeshkan plain were required. These data show how much water resources have dwindled over the last three decades.Results and discussion: The results showed that despite the criticality of the Romeshkan plain, the livelihood of rural communities is mainly dependent on the agricultural sector. Also, hydrophilic crops are widely cultivated. In this plain, the structure of supply and exploitation of water resources is traditional. The agricultural lands of this plain do not have a new irrigation system. The results of this research show five types of strategies (economic, technological, environmental, policy-oriented, and social). The priority of the strategies was "develop sustainable rural employment". This will certainly require "human development of water-related actors and empowerment of rural communities". "Developing the right technologies", which was another strategy, could also help reform the traditional structure of supply and consumption of these resources.Conclusion: Now the conditions of Romeshkan plain are critical. The results of this study showed that sustainable management of groundwater resources in this plain will not be achieved solely based on technological strategies. Also, economic, social, policy-oriented and environmental strategies must also be considered. Reform of the water consumption structure should be considered in parallel with the development of non-agricultural employment. Because the development of employment reduces the pressure on these resources.
