The role of forests and pastures in combating the economic vulnerability of rural forest communities during the corona outbreak

The prevalence of Corona disease as one of the most critical infectious diseases has increased the risks of food security in different parts of the world. Local communities, especially in rural areas, are highly dependent on natural resource-based ecosystem service strategies to manage global food security and meet livelihood needs. Forests and pastures can also provide goods and services that are sold or consumed directly as part of natural resources. Identifying livelihood patterns can suggest several potential strategies for maintaining a livelihood in the face of sudden shocks such as corona. The main purpose of this study is to focus on identifying the dependency of rural communities to forests and rangelands during the corona outbreak and how to deal with and adapt to the economic damage of this disease through ecosystem-based services. The research method of this research is descriptive survey and data will be collected through field studies using a questionnaire. To complete the questionnaire, first the villages will be selected by pre-study and randomly. The results showed that livestock (67%) and agriculture (67%) were the main activities of local respondents. The average annual household income of the studied households was 1023 million Rials during the COVID-19 crisis. The average income diversity index for all sample households was 1.09. Income of local communities from forests and pastures were mostly from medicinal plants, fruits, fodder and mushrooms. The share of forests and pastures in the total household income of all interviewees was 1.43% and 2.84%, respectively. According to the results, 77.6% of respondents stated that they use natural resources including forests (63%) and pastures (67%). Forage collection (44.6%), medicinal plants (42.2%) and forest fruits (29.3%) were the three most important forest products that were mentioned among local respondents in Arasbaran forests. Given the global nature of the Corona crisis, identifying ecosystem-based strategies, especially forests and pastures, can inform rural communities in other parts of the country and the world. This study helps managers and planners assess the vulnerability of local communities and identify ways out of the crisis.