Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani, Iran.
Department of Forest Policy and Economic, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Oct 20;896:165216. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165216. Epub 2023 Jun 30.
Understanding the position of social capital to coping with deforestation is very important. In this regard, the main goal of this study is to investigate the effect of social capital of rural households on forest conservation behavior (FCB) in Iran. The three specialized goals of this research include (1) the role of social capital of rural people in facilitating forest conservation measures (2) identifying the most effective factors of social capital influencing forest conservation (3) identifying the mechanism of social capital's effect on FCB. In this study, questionnaire survey method and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used. The statistical population included all the rural communities inside and on the edge of Arasbaran forests in the northwest of Iran. The results showed that the components of social capital (social trust, social networks and social engagement) can facilitate forest conservation measures and were able to explain 46.3 % of its variance. In addition, the findings indicated that these components affect protective measures through a specific mechanism, which means that they can affect protective behaviors by influencing the cognition of policies and increasing the awareness of rural communities. In general, the results of this research, in addition to improving the existing knowledge, provide new insights for the policy-makers and ultimately help the sustainable management of the forests in this region.
了解社会资本在应对森林砍伐方面的作用非常重要。在这方面，本研究的主要目标是调查伊朗农村家庭的社会资本对森林保护行为（FCB）的影响。本研究的三个具体目标包括：（1）农村人民社会资本在促进森林保护措施方面的作用；（2）确定影响森林保护的最有效社会资本因素；（3）确定社会资本对 FCB 影响的机制。在这项研究中，使用了问卷调查法和结构方程模型（SEM）。统计人口包括伊朗西北部阿拉斯拜兰森林内部和边缘的所有农村社区。结果表明，社会资本的组成部分（社会信任、社会网络和社会参与）可以促进森林保护措施，并且能够解释其 46.3%的方差。此外，研究结果表明，这些组成部分通过特定机制影响保护措施，这意味着它们可以通过影响政策认知和提高农村社区的意识来影响保护行为。总的来说，这项研究的结果除了提高现有知识外，还为决策者提供了新的见解，最终有助于该地区森林的可持续管理。
