Rural People Attitude toward Participatory Forest Management: The Case of Forest Villages in Margon District, Boyer-Ahmad County

The aim of this research was to investigate attitude of local people who live in villages near forests of Margoon district, Boyer-Ahmad County, regarding participatory forest management and its influencing factors. For this purpose, 164 rural householders were selected and studied with the aid of random sampling method. Face-to-face interviews were used to collect data using questionnaire containing open and closed questions. A panel of experts confirmed the face validity of the questionnaire. Due to determining the reliability of the questionnaire, internal contingency by Cronbach’s alpha value was implemented that the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient (0.54 to 0.82) were confirmed the questionnaire. All statistical analysis was performed using SPSS17.5 and Amos20 software’s. Findings from Pearson correlation revealed that there was a correlation between the attitude regarding participatory forest management and age, education, household's income, forest degradation beliefs, reference group attitude, pro-ecological view, limits to growth beliefs, eco-crisis beliefs. Furthermore, the hierarchy regression results showed that among the variables postulated in the model; reference group attitude, age, eco-crisis beliefs, limits to growth beliefs and family numbers were the most important determinants to predict attitude toward participatory forest management. Overall, these variables were able to explain 52.6 percent of variability in attitude. Furthermore, the CMIN/DF, NIF, IFI, CFI, and RMSEA coefficients confirmed and verified the model's desirability. Finally, negotiating with older householders due to their experiences was recommended in terms of organizing and controlling local people's attitudes.