Factors affecting people's participation in forest protection plans in Gilan-e Gharb

In Iran, zagros forests are important in terms of size, plant diversity and their impacts on the lives of local people and economic security. Thus, the preservation of these forests is imperative and governmental natural resource organization implements some different plans with local people cooperation. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors affecting the level of local people’s participation in forest protection plans in Gilan e Gharb County.
This study was a descriptive- correlational research which was done through a surveying methodology in Gilan e Gharb (Kermanshah province). The statistical population of this descriptive-correlational study included 550 local people in Gilan-e Gharb County. According to Morgan’s table, a sample of 220 local people was chosen through random sampling method. Data were collected using a questionnaire as a main research tool. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was determined using Cronbach's Alpha test (0.75). Pearson correlation formula and multiple regression analysis were run to analyze the data. SPSSwin20 was used to do statistical analysis.
Results showed that the level of people’s participation and cooperation in different actions of forest protection plans were low. There was also a significant and positive relationship between some independent variables like age, education level, and occupation, number of livestock, cultural and social characteristics of the population, economic dependence on woods and forest, organizational communications and knowledge about forest with participation in conservation forest projects as dependent variable. The result of multiple regressions indicated that organizational communications and knowledge and information had significant effects on people’s participation in the forestry projects. Totally, 29% of people’s participation was explained by organizational communications and knowledge and information.
In total, the research results showed that the level of local people’s participation in the forest protection plans was low. This means that protection plans should focus on new motivations to improve people’s participation. In addition, findings showed that socio-cultural characteristics, knowledge and information are two important factors affecting the level of participation in forest protection plans. Therefore, to improve people’s participation, it is necessary to focus on improving the level of knowledge and information of local people, explaining the role of people in forest protection plans and using the capacity of local institutions. Another way to foster people’s participation is to increase local people’s interaction with relevant organizations and institutions.