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

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