Investigating the Effect of Rural Poverty on the Destruction of Zagros Forests

Forests as one of the basic renewable resources they play an important role in creating a suitable platform for the development of economic and social activities. The role of the forest in maintaining water, soil and the balance of different ecosystems is very clear and effective from the economic point of view. Iran due to being located on the dry belt of the world, it is poor in the field of forest cover and it ranks among the last forested countries. The forests of Zagros, as the largest vegetation area of Iran and with an area of 5 million hectares, have about 40% of the total forests of Iran. These forests play a very important role in water supply, soil conservation, climate adjustment and economic and social balance in the whole country. The economic and social conditions governing this vegetation area have caused the residents of the forest areas to depend heavily on the forest resources of these areas to meet their livelihood needs. In many cases, it is stated that poor people in forest areas destroy forests because they have no other means of livelihood except the environment therefore, protecting them is very important. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to investigate the effect of rural poverty on the destruction of Zagros forests. The current research is of applied research type and in terms of analytical-descriptive research method and in the form of documentary-library study and scientific resources. The findings of this research showed that the low economic level of the village and the low income of rural households is one the reasons for the destruction of Zagros forests. Therefore, in this research, in order to reduce the amount Zagros forests, it is necessary to implement poverty alleviation policies in order to reduce the destruction Zagros forests.