Rangelands Goods and Services Local People Views and Priorities (Case Study: Hezarjarib Rangelands, Mazandaran Province, Iran)
Authors
Abstract
Rangelands are the main sources of forage for livestock feeding by local
people. Beside forage production, rangeland ecosystems provide many other goods and
services such as medicinal plants, recreation, soil and water conservation, wildlife habitat,
fishing, hunting, hiking, etc. Nevertheless, there are no much information about the way
that local communities think about the rangelands goods and services. Therefore, a study
was conducted to examine how local people think about rangelands goods and services and
what their priorities are. The statistical populations were farmers, pastoralists and
beekeepers of Hezarjarib, Mazandaran Province, Iran and 100 people of them were
randomly selected as a sample. First, 17 indices of rangeland importance (goods and
services) were identified through questionnaires and oral interviews. Each indicator was
questioned using a 5-point Likert-type scale. Validity was established using a panel of
experts and Cronbach’s alpha was used for reliability of questionnaire. Data were analyzed
and then, interpreted using coefficients of variance. Medicinal plants, beekeeping, food
production for human and grazing lands for livestock were the first four priorities
respectively considered as the most important indices by local people. Aquaculture and
fishing and soil conservation with the highest CVs were considered as the less important
indices in local people views. The results showed that the extent of range exploitation had
significant relationships with the education of exploiters, number of livestock, income and
farmland area. It was concluded that rangelands goods and services should be defined and
evaluated based on local people views to be considered as a source of alternative income or
new enterprises for local people.
