Assessing the sustainability of community forest management: A case study from Iran

• Published in: Forest policy and economics Vol. 96; pp. 1 - 8
• Main Authors: Jafari, Ali, Sadeghi Kaji, Hamdollah, Azadi, Hossein, Gebrehiwot, Kindeya, Aghamir, Fateme, Van Passel, Steven
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.11.2018; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Case studies; Central Zagros forests; Community; Conservation; Criteria; Criteria and indicators; Dopolan; Environmental management; Environmental policy; Forest conservation; Forest management; Forest protection; Forestry; Forests; Group research; Human factors; Indicators; Investments; Iran; Local communities; Ratings & rankings; Rehabilitation; Socioeconomic factors; Sustainability; Sustainable development; Sustainable forest management; Sustainable forestry; Wildlife conservation; Iran; Iran; Criteria and indicators; Sustainable forest management; Central Zagros forests; Dopolan
• ISSN: 1389-9341; 1872-7050
• DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2018.08.001

The development of sustainability criteria and indicators is necessary to assess the current management and to recognize appropriate management approaches towards sustainable forest management (SFM). The aim of this study is to assess the sustainability of current management in the Dopolan community forest and assess alternative management scenarios towards SFM. To this end, we applied multi criteria analysis which consists of three steps: a) developing a primary set of criteria and indicators (C&Is) on focus groups discussions, b) finalizing and weighing the set of C&Is, applying a pair wise comparison as well as ranking method, and c) assessing the current forest management regimes and alternative scenarios against a set of C&Is. As a result, 8 criteria and 40 indicators were selected. Our results indicated that to achieve SFM, the criteria including forest protection against natural and human factors, the establishment of appropriate legal and institutional requirements and socioeconomic functions of forests, are the most important criteria (weighted 14.60%, 14.28% and 13.96%, respectively). Assessing the current management regimes revealed that the criteria consisting of biodiversity conservation and local communities' awareness have the maximum distance to SFM (weighted 7.75% and 9.18%, respectively). Among the alternative forest management scenarios, the sixth scenario namely conservation and rehabilitation, local investment attraction in forest conservation and rehabilitation, enabling and capacity building of forest inhabitants were realized as the best scenarios (weighted 26.20%) to achieve SFM. A joint effort of the concerned government forestry officials and local people is needed to enhance the sustainability of all community based forestry models. •We assess the sustainability of current management in Dopolan community forest.•We assess management scenarios towards a sustainable forest management (SFM).•Forest protection is the most important criteria to achieve SFM.•Local communities' awareness has the maximum distance to SFM.•The sixth scenario realized as the best scenario to achieve SFM in the study area.