Waste to Food; Women s Participation in Community Vermicomposting in Hyrkanian Forests

Household and agricultural waste production in rural areas in tourism target sites in northern provinces of Iran near the Caspian Sea and the Hyrcanian Forests has become a noteworthy challenge, such that the ecosystem biodiversity and human life is strongly threatened. Women are fifty percent of the rural population in Iran s northern provinces located in the Hyrkanian Forests. However, they play an important role in local waste management. Women are key for management of household waste and can help to manage it at the origin. The present case supported by GEF SGP/UNDP was carried out in the Esbukola village in Mazandaran province and the Kafshgiri villege in Golestan province both inside the Hyrkanian Forests in the north part of Iran and located near Semeskandeh Wildlife Refuge and Jahan-Nama Conservation Area, respectively. In this study, we aimed to determine the role of local women’sparticipation in local waste management towards and a native model for local waste management in the country. The study revealed that local women have an important role in the local waste management. The volume of household waste reduced considerably, during the project, and thus the shipping costs by rural village municipality were decreased. Consequently, the reduced volume of waste in landfills contributes to reduced methane emissions; the rural women become less dependent on any chemical inputs for agricultural production by using their own produced compost, while the livelihoods improved besides positive health effects on their families as well as consumers of the household products. The processing of solid organic waste by earthworms is a rapid, efficient and low-cost techniquefor turning large amounts of household and agricultural organic waste into a valuable, safe and nutritious product and can be used in organic farming in rural areas.

کلیدواژه ها:

Women’s participation ، Local waste management ، Vermicompost ، Hyrkanian forests ، Iran