Localization and Prioritization of Ecovillages Indices in Hyrcanian Forest (Case Study: Ecovillages of Darabkola Forests)

Many of the human environmental problems arise from maladaptive behaviors and unstable patterns of life. The reason for the disappearance of forests is not beyond this discussion. One-sided management methods of natural resources and unfamiliar with the needs and traditional way of life of villagers and families living in the forest areas of northern Iran, unfavorable economic and social situation of villagers and low and unsustainable development in rural areas are effective factors in destroying Hyrcanian forests. One of the nature-friendly management methods that that has become popular in the world in the last two decades is "Ecovillage".The purpose of this study is to localize rural ecosystem criteria and indicators in developed countries and prioritize these indicators in rural ecosystems along the Darabkola forest with the aim of preventing the destruction and improper use of Natural areas, including forests and pastures.

In this study, the Delphi method was used to identify and localize the criteria and indicators of ecological, economic and socio-cultural evaluation. Entropy Shanon and TOPSIS techniques were also used to determine the weight and prioritization of these criteria and indicators.

The results showed that ecological criteria with 0.460 had the highest and socio-cultural and economic criteria with 0.375 and 0.165, respectively, had lower weights.

In general, the results of this study showed that attention to ecological category indicators has a higher priority than social and economic indicators. As a result, it is more important to pay attention to these indicators for decision making and management.