Rangelands Goods and Services Local People Views and Priorities (Case Study: Hezarjarib Rangelands, Mazandaran Province, Iran)

Abstract

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