Effective Factors for Participation of Stakeholders in Watershed Management Project from the View Point of Natural Resources and Watershed Management Extension Specialist, in Fars Province, Iran

The main purpose in this research was to identify effective factors for participation of stakeholders in watershed management project from the opinion of natural resources and watershed management extension specialist, in Fars province, Iran. The method of data collection was whole counting. The tool of data collection is questionnaire. The specialty panel of experts was used to gain assurance of the validity of the questionnaire. Corenbach Alpha method was used to gain assurance of the reliability of the questionnaire (α=0.87). In addition to descriptive statistics (such as man, median, variance and standard deviation) and correlation coefficient and inferential statistics such as, multivariate regression and path analysis technique used for analyzing data. The results of multivariate regression using Enter technique indicate that attention to the stakeholders economical needs in watershed management projects, attention to the indigenous knowledge, rate of stakeholders participation in watershed management extension programs, rate of participation of stakeholders in the type and features of plans, rate familiarity of stakeholders with watershed management projects and extension agents ability to set communication are the most important obstacles for the participation of stakeholders in watershed management projects from the viewpoint of the natural resources and watershed management extension specialists. The results of Path Analysis technique also showed that the rate of participation of stakeholders in the type and features of plans have the most direct and indirect effect (0.552) on dependent variable, and extension agents ability for communication has the lowest direct and indirect effect (0.311) on dependent variable of the study (participation in watershed management).