Socio-Economic Driving Force of the Land Use Change in Rangelands and Forests of Maraveh Tappeh region

In the management of natural resource, recognizing socioeconomic factors affecting land use change is essential for achieving sustainable development and land use planning. In this research, we investigate and determine the socio-economic factors affecting land use changes in the Maraveh Tappeh region of Golestan province. This area has been affected by land use change in recent years. The rangelands and forests have decreased during the study period (1984-2014), and agricultural use with an annual increase of 132 hectares has reached to 10332.97 ha in 2014. This descriptive-analytic research was carried out in 16 villages in the study area with survey sampling method. Data collection was performed by questionnaire and the numbers of questionnaires were determined 310 people. Sampling was done through a Cochran formula and cluster sampling and multi-stage sampling. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the study and it was found 0.75. In this study, exploratory factor analysis method was used. For the factor analysis, the principal components method was used using rotation varimax. The results of factor analysis showed that socio-economic factors affect on land-use changes in Maraveh Tappeh region and these factors are including: non-economic efficiency of animal husbandry, Low land per capita for each farmer, rural unemployment, low income and high cost of living, increasing input price, the need for housing and the lack of awareness, social reputation and land ownership. These eight factors explained 63.80% of the total variance. Considering researching findings, attention to economic and financial problems and employment condition of village’s resident of Maraveh Tappeh region is essential. Also, husbandry and livestock production management and supply of livestock inputs have been proposed to reduce the land use changes of forests and rangelands and to protect the natural resources.