Community Forestry Extension for Sustainable Development of Iran’s Forests

S11 6

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Abstract

Community forestry, recommended by the FAO as a proper approach towards sustainable forestry management in Iran, has taken off since 1996. Relying on motivation, patronage, empowerment, and regular monitoring of performance as its main cornerstones, the approach makes possible the revitalization, development, and exploitation on a collective basis through grassroots and forest dwellers. This article proceeds to show in which possible ways forest dwellers may cooperate with forest management authorities. The methodology, being of an applied-developmental nature, uses survey techniques for data-gathering as well as multi-variation regression, factor analysis, and path analysis as statistical techniques. The findings indicate that extending the community forestry model contributes significantly to the sustainability of forests in Iran through a number of economic, social, environmental, and institutional variables. The article concludes that the community forestry model may well be considered as a comprehensive value-oriented approach to forest sustainability in Iran.