Appraising the Structural Characteristics of Social Capital of Local Beneficiaries Network in Keeping with Collaborative Natural Resource Governance (Pilot: Sarayan County, South Khorasan Province)

Governance of natural resources is currently hampered by abundant challenges. The way out of this dead-end is injecting kind of capital derived from people per se i.e. social capital which is unfortunately the missing part of collaborative governance of natural resources. The present study was an attempt to evaluate the structural characteristics of out-group social capital in local beneficiaries’ network, in keeping with natural resource governance. It was conducted under the international RFLDL project in four regions of South Khorasan province. To measure the structural features of out-group social capital of local beneficiaries of each region, network analysis questionnaires were applied and there was a direct interview with network actors (heads of rural development micro committees) and their trust an participation ties were investigated. It was found out that post-RFLDL project implementation, trust and participation level or in other words the out-group social capital of each four regions escalated among heads of rural development micro committees. It can be asserted that natural resource governance will not actualize utterly and natural resource management will come to halt in a limited and stagnant framework, void of the participation of communities, where a mono-lateral power is exerted over decision-making around natural resource issues unless social capital develops among actors and they participate actively in this process.