Physical and technical forest protection challenges of Guilan province of Iran in the period of logging ban (case study: Chafroud 10 and Malekroud 24 basins)

Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 Corresponding author, Associate Professor, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, Sowmeh sara, Iran

2 MSc. Student of Forestry, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, Sowmeh sara, Iran

3 Expert of the General Directorate of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of Guilan province, Rasht, Iran

Abstract

After implementing a logging ban in the northern forests of Iran and increasing protection forces in recent years, the current performance needed to be evaluated. The purpose of the research was to compare two approaches - sustainable exploitation and exploitation cessation - from the perspective of local stakeholders and experts, considering the physical and technical challenges in forest protection. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed using acceptable content validity (above 0.7) and incongruity rate (below 0.1) in pairwise comparisons based on AHP. Two groups, consisting of 20 local stakeholders and 21 forest experts in the Chafroud 10 and Malakroud 24 basins, conducted a hierarchical analysis to compare the physical and technical challenges in forest protection. The results indicated that physical protection challenges were three times more important than technical challenges. Among the technical challenges, the establishment of protection belts, fence weaknesses, and issues with silvicultural operations were prioritized. In terms of physical protection, trespassing, constructions, illegal wood cutting and smuggling, livestock grazing, traditional exploitations, and fires were ranked from first to fourth. Therefore, the sustainable exploitation approach was favored over exploitation cessation. The Mann-Whitney U test revealed no significant difference between the opinions of local stakeholders and forest experts in the study area. Thus, it can be concluded that simply halting wood exploitation and forest management plans is not the solution to the physical and technical protection challenges faced by the Hyrcanian forests. To address these challenges, it is recommended that past forestry plans be revised and implemented in accordance with the criteria and principles of sustainable management for all forest units.

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References

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Iranian Journal of Forest and Poplar Research
Volume 31, Issue 2 - Serial Number 92
September 2023
Pages 155-168

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