Community Forestry in Iran

Nowadays, the issue of participation has been an interesting point for many national, regional and international institutions. Participation and collaboration of Iranians in the field of natural resources conservation has an old history. During long ages, vast areas of natural resources have been protected by the dwellers and indigenous users; but because of changes in the traditional systems of exploitation, decentralization, lack of appropriate alternative participatory system, population growth, poverty and lack of adequate knowledge of users, we are witnessing deep land use changes in the fields of natural resources so that we can observe its negative impacts in different places. It is while, now a day, the villagers and forest's inhabitants, play an important role in managing of natural resources, particularly in forested areas. It is because they have indigenous knowledge which can be used in the process of natural resources management. The knowledge of rural communities about environmental problems, forest management and protection as well as government policies is generally very high. Livelihood style of rural people in Iran promotes the balance between the man and environment. This research is trying to spotlight the indigenous knowledge of local people could be one of important foundation for sustainable exploitation of forest resources as well as a basis to establish a participatory management system and expanding people’s participation depends on informing local people, decentralizing management process, poverty reduction, facilitating and improving the participation mechanism

کلیدواژه ها:

Forest ، People’s participation ، Sustainable development ، Indigenous knowledge ، Participatory management system