Measuring and Comparing the Structural Characteristics of Social Capital of Users in regard with Rangeland Governance (Case study: Sabzevar County, Khorasan Razavi Province)

One of the requirements for implementing natural resource governance and empowerment of rangeland users is the analysis of social relations in the social network of users. In this research, the analysis of the social network of rangeland users with an emphasis on the links of trust, participation, and consultation in rangeland management measures was compared with the calculation of macro-level indicators of the network in the three customary systems of Fasanqar, Parvand, and Malvand. Also, the complete network method (census) has been used, and in three customary systems, all rangeland users, including 100 people, have been considered a statistical population. The results show that among the users of the customary system, the amount of social capital, stability of relations, and network balance with a density of 50.8% on average and consultation between them with a rate of 43.8 and 40.5 for the two villages Malvand and Fasanqar are poorly institutionalized. Low social capital and low turnover of trust, participation and consultation between the users of these two villages are important challenges in creating a participatory management structure, and consequently, improving rangeland governance in these areas and the need to further strengthen social capital by increasing building trust in the network and creating the desire of users of all three customary systems to participate in rangeland activities to create success in rangeland governance. However, in the two villages of Malvand and Fasanqar, there is a need to further strengthen social relations and increase social capital compared to the Parvand village.