The View of Forest Margin Villagers towards the Environment and its Relation to Forests ConditionA Case Study of Golestan Province

Some believe that the most important factor in changing the face of the earth is the change of use of forest lands and deforestation. Transforming forests into agricultural lands, road construction, and construction of buildings in forests are examples of this change. Studies have shown that changing the forest land use can damage the environment and cause some crises such as floods which have negative economic and social effects on communities. In recent years, due to population growth, large areas of the world’s forest lands have been destroyed and turned into agricultural lands. This problem is also evident in Iran, and after water shortages, it is the second major problem in Iran. Land use change is created in natural and human forms. Behavioral theories place special emphasis on attitude, which is referred to as the most important determinant of behavior. Studies have also shown that environmental attitudes are important and influential factors in people's behavior. For this reason, the present study was conducted to investigate the environmental views of villagers in the form of the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP). The main question was whether the villagers in villages near the forest have a favorable view of the environment and whether this view is related to attitudes towards the forest land use change.  

This research was conducted using the survey method. The required data were collected by a questionnaire that included questions about demographic characteristics, the tendency towards the NEP, and attitudes towards forest land use change. Questions about the NEP included 15 items that were designed based on the index provided by Danlap et al. For attitudes towards land use change, 26 questions were used in a Likert type with five choices. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by face validity. To test the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.89 for the NEP and 0.895 for the attitude towards land use change, which indicated appropriate reliability of the questionnaire. The study population included villagers living in the villages near forest areas of Golestan province. A population of 7038 households from 10 counties of the province was included in the study. The required sample size was 364 using the Morgan table. Sampling was performed by the stratified random sampling method. To do this, each group of villages with the highest or the lowest forest deforestation was considered as a stratum. Then, in consultation with experts from the General Office of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of Golestan Province, half of the villages on each stratum were randomly selected for the study. Then, according to the number of households in each village and using the appropriate assignment method, the required number of households in each village was randomly selected. Interviews were conducted with a member of the household with at least 20 years of age. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS19 software.  

Data analysis showed that half of the studied samples were male and the other half were female. The age of respondents ranged from 20 to 65 years, and the mean was 37.7 with a standard deviation of 10.43. The mean score of the tendency towards the NEP was 50.14 with a standard deviation of 6.34, which indicated a relatively good tendency of villagers towards it. Also, their attitude towards land use change can be assessed as moderate. The results showed that residents in villages with most forest destruction were more likely to have a weaker tendency towards the NEP and, conversely, to have a stronger tendency towards land use change. In other words, they were more prepared to change forest lands. The correlation test also showed that as people become more advocated for the NEP, their attitudes towards land use change become weaker and they had less desire to change forest lands.  

The results of the present study showed a relatively good tendency of the villagers to the NEP. This result, which indicates the appropriate view of the villagers living in villages near forests to nature and the environment, showed that the villagers not only do not have a negative attitude towards the environment but also support the environment. But, studies have shown that good attitudes towards nature do not necessarily lead to appropriate behaviors. However, at least in terms of the type of view towards nature and the environment, there was a relatively good situation among the studied villagers. Furthermore, residents of villages with low-destructed forests have had more tendency towards the NEP, which could confirm the link between people's attitudes towards the environment and the quality of the environment. Of course, it should be noted that the tendency to supporting views of the environment is only one variable along with other economic, social, cultural, and political variables that affect the quality of the environment. Therefore, in addition to environmental views, it is important to examine the effect of other factors on the condition of forests. The findings of the present study also showed that people's attitudes towards forest land use change are at a moderate level, which is not very suitable among the studied villagers, because emotionally it shows the average readiness of villagers to change land use. However, the residents with the most degraded forest lands have a more favorable attitude towards land use change, and in this regard, there is more readiness in them to change forest lands. The finding raises concerns that if the conditions for forest land change are favorable, it will not be encountered with much resistance from the villagers. However, based on the results of the study, it can be hoped that by strengthening the views in favor of the environment, the attitudes in favor of changing the use of forest lands will be reduced. Therefore, in forest management and conservation programs, the attitudes of the public towards the environment and the protection of forest lands should be considered as an important issue. To do this, it is suggested that by implementing participatory programs in forest management and protection, the villagers have the opportunity to gain sufficient knowledge and perceptions about the importance and functions of forests to improve their view towards forests.