How local communities can participate in forest landscape restoration of Zagros

Forests are home to at least ۸۰ percent of the world's remaining terrestrial biodiversity. Topographical, climatic and edaphic conditions have created several ecosystems and habitats in the ۶.۰۷ million ha of the area that have been covered with forests, which are called Zagros Forests. The Zagros forests have biologically supported a rich variety of diversity. Changes in local community social and economic systems and the inefficiency of traditional forest management caused a critical situation in the stability of biodiversity in recent decades. Legal restrictions are often inadequate to prevent habitat loss. In order to the restorative of the forest landscape, data were collected from a survey of local communities from two forest-covered cities in West Azarbaijan province, using Questionnaire, interview and observation. The sampled households were randomly interspersed in the study area, and Sampling was performed using simple random sampling. In order to identify the current relation with forest ecosystems and people, statistical analyses were done. The financial benefits of local communities obtain from the forest were evaluated. Driving forces, Pressures, State, Impact and Responses of traditional forest management were determined to study how communities can play a role in ecosystem restoration. The results clearly indicate that the local communities enjoy substantial economic benefits from Zagros forests. Therefore, for continued realization of these benefits, there is a need to balance the current levels of extraction with future conservation interests. The main reason of mismanagement in Zagros forests is the weakness of plans in social acceptance. For landscape restoration of the Zagros region, programs to be socially accepted and cost-effective for both of government and local communities. Finally, it can be concluded that the destruction of the forest ecosystem in Zagros is a social, economic, political, and technical problem requiring multi- and interdisciplinary solutions. Without involving local communities in forest protection and management, it is difficult to judge how the program could be modified to improve forest management.

کلیدواژه ها:

Economic Benefits ، Local Communities ، Restoration ، Traditional Management