Kobr Karimi; Esmail Karamidehkordi; Matthias Buchecker
Abstract
The Carbon Sequestration Project has been an important international initiative for natural resources management and climate change reduction measures over the past two decades.It has tried to involve rural households in all stages of the project to achieve environmental, economic,social and human goals. ...
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The Carbon Sequestration Project has been an important international initiative for natural resources management and climate change reduction measures over the past two decades.It has tried to involve rural households in all stages of the project to achieve environmental, economic,social and human goals. A number of factors can affect relevant stakeholders’ participation in carbon sequestration project activities.This study aimed to investigate the socio-economic factors affecting the participation of rural households in the Qom province, using a survey with a descriptive-correlational approach. A sample of 265 households out of 840 rural households was selected using a simple random sampling method in five villages where this project was implemented.The data were collected using a structured interview technique by a questionnaire and analyzed using the SPSS22 and AMOS software.The results showed that rural people had highly been involved in the less active participation stages, such as expert consultation with council members and village elders, where as they had poor contribution to the projects through collaborative or spontaneous involvements.The most important factors affecting the participation of rural households in the carbon sequestration project were identified to be variables such as social capitals; extension programs; implemented conservation projects; agricultural and non-agricultural diversification initiatives in carbon sequestration projects; the land area of households’ permanent crop; and their agricultural income.Promoting social capital through extension programs, and applying a combination of conservation and livelihood diversification measures can not only strengthen the participation of rural communities in natural resource management projects but also increase the success of these projects.
Maryam Azarakhshi; Behnoush Farokhzadeh; Mohammad Mahdavi; Hossein Arzani; Hassan Ahmadi
Abstract
Iran is located in dry belt of the earth and always involved with drought in different sections. Drought has already caused many losses to natural plant cover, agriculture and human society. For drought monitoring, we can use some drought indecies. In this research, the Standard Index of Annual Precipitation)SIAP),Sandardized ...
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Iran is located in dry belt of the earth and always involved with drought in different sections. Drought has already caused many losses to natural plant cover, agriculture and human society. For drought monitoring, we can use some drought indecies. In this research, the Standard Index of Annual Precipitation)SIAP),Sandardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) were used for assessment of drought effects on rangeland plant production. The research area is located in Qom province that contains eight rangeland sites. Plant production and soil factors were measured in rangeland readiness period from 1997-1998 to 2005-2006 annualy. Regression techniques were used between drought indices and total production and also production of different vegetation forms in seven time scales (early March to late July (growth season) and early February to late July (growth season and the previous month), March to June, March to May, March to April and March (start of growth season). The best drought index was then selected based on the highest correlation coefficient and lowest standard error. The result showed that the best drought indices in Qom rangelands are SPI-3, PDSI, SPI-24 and SPI-6, respectively. Also the most significant time step was resulted growth season and specially early stage of growth season.
