Impact of mechanical and biological watershed projects on livelihood capitals of local people (Case Study: Ghareshiran watershed - Ardebil county)

This article investigate the effects of watershed interventions Ghareh-shiran watershed, Ardebil province. In this paper, five socio-human, economic and environmental-physical capital were investigated. Thestatistical population of this research was informed users of six villages covered by the project execution and five villages outside the project execution area in the same watershed. Using the Morgan table, 200 households were surveyed using targeted sampling. The research tool was a questionnaire. Its reliability was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.7 to 0.8). The results showed that between socio-human capital and environmental-physical capital at the place of execution, there was a difference between project and its non-implementation. There is no difference in financial capital at the place of execution and non-execution. There was no significant difference in social capital between the two regions in terms of group membership, tendency to migrate and social trust. In human capital, there was no difference between the two regions in the level of awareness. In natural and physical capital, indices of garden-dry land and irrigated land, flood damage and number of livestock were considered, which were significant at 98% level. In financial capital, the basin income index was considered to be no different between the executed and non-executed areas. The results show that although beneficiaries' livelihood are directly dependent on natural resources, watershed management projects have been effective on natural and physical and to some extent social capital of the area and in particular it has not been able to increase income and job opportunities in the region.