An Analysis of the Impact of Socio-Economic Variables upon Local Communities’ Participation in Rangeland Protection (Case study: Gomorgan Village-Malard County)

Background: The participation of local communities is considered as one of the major factors contributing to social and economic growth and development in rangeland management. Therefore, an analysis of variables affecting their participation contributes greatly to foreseeing the needs and fulfilling the shortages of a participation program. The present paper is an attempt to investigate the impact of socio- economic variables effecting local communities’ participation. Materials and Methods:The pilot area of the present study was Gomorgan village in Malard County (Tehran Province). Regression function was used for examining the impact of explanatory variables (socio-economic) upon participation of local communities to rangeland protection. Shazam 9 software was applied for logit regression function analysis. Results: It was found out that the variables such as age, education, bid and importance of rangelands as livestock production inputs had negative effects upon local communities’ participation in Malard’s rangeland protection, whileincome had positive effects. Conclusions: It can be concluded that enhancing the socio- economic condition of local community could be a useful tool to increase the success level of the conservation projects in rangeland management.

An Analysis of the Impact of Socio-Economic Variables upon Local Communities’ Participation in Rangeland Protection (Case study: Gomorgan Village-Malard County) Keywords:

Communities , Logit Model , Malard County , Rangelands , Socio-Economic Variables