Study and evaluation of environmental literacy of stakeholders in relation to the conservation and restoration of forests in Afghanistan (Case study: Laghman province)

Environmental protection means the optimal and proper use of it to maintain its quality in terms of human life. In this regard, promoting ecological literacy is very important. The development of environmental literacy is an essential issue in society that ultimately leads to increased knowledge, positive attitudes, and responsible behavior towards the protection of natural resources. This study investigates and evaluates the knowledge, philosophy, and environmental behavior of various stakeholders, including university professors, students, and the local forest-dwelling community of Laghman province in Afghanistan, about forest conservation and restoration, compare them with each other. The research method is applied in terms of purpose, field survey, and process of doing work. In this study, descriptive statistics were used to examine demographic information, and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data using SPSS22 software. The results showed that among the three target groups, the local community has a lower level of environmental literacy to the conservation of the forest ecosystem than the other two groups, namely students and university professors. Therefore, due to the increase in population in recent decades and its increasing trend and increasing use of forests in Laghman province and their destruction and pollution, it is necessary to develop a training program to promote and improve the knowledge of forest dwellers.