IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/forpol/v117y2020ics1389934119305301.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perceptions and practices of rural council participatory forest governance : Closed co-management in Chehel-Chay, Iran

Author

Listed:
  • Abedi Sarvestani, Ahmad
  • Ingram, Verina

Abstract

Due to the shortcomings of hierarchical natural resource governance, theorists have been increasing focus on the decentralization of power to local organizations. Although decentralization is associated with real participation, what level of participation do locals prefer in forest governance? Given the lack of research on forest governance in the Middle East, this study focused on rural councils in Iran as examples of local organizations with regulatory authority to govern forests and other natural resources. The perception of local council members about forest governance in Chehel-Chay Watershed Region in northern Iran was analysed. Despite the appropriate collaborative structure of rural councils and a favourable attitude of council members towards public participation, there was not a strong tendency for rural councils to engage in participation concerning local forest governance. Council members expressed a preference for closed co-management arrangements in which governmental and non-governmental actors work together to govern forests. To move away from the dominant top-down, centralized mode of forest governance, enabling actions combined with supportive factors, such as involving rural councils in forest governance and delegating authority for local legislation, are recommended as a step towards more effective decentralization which enhances public participation in the sustainable management of natural resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Abedi Sarvestani, Ahmad & Ingram, Verina, 2020. "Perceptions and practices of rural council participatory forest governance : Closed co-management in Chehel-Chay, Iran," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:117:y:2020:i:c:s1389934119305301
    DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102202
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934119305301
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102202?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pomeroy, Robert S & Berkes, Fikret, 1997. "Two to tango: The role of government in fisheries co-management," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 465-480, September.
    2. Farshad Amiraslani & Deirdre Dragovich, 2010. "Cross‐sectoral and participatory approaches to combating desertification: The Iranian experience," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(2), pages 140-154, May.
    3. Jesse C. Ribot, 2001. "Integral local development: "accommodating multiple interests" through entrustment and accountable representation," International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(3/4), pages 327-350.
    4. Soltani, Arezoo & Angelsen, Arild & Eid, Tron & Naieni, Mohammad Saeid Noori & Shamekhi, Taghi, 2012. "Poverty, sustainability, and household livelihood strategies in Zagros, Iran," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 60-70.
    5. Thompson, John, 1995. "Participatory approaches in government bureaucracies: Facilitating the process of institutional change," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(9), pages 1521-1554, September.
    6. Agrawal, Arun & Chhatre, Ashwini, 2006. "Explaining success on the commons: Community forest governance in the Indian Himalaya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 149-166, January.
    7. Ferraro, Paul J., 2000. "Global Habitat Protection: Limitations of Development Interventions and the Role for a Permanent International Habitat Reserve," Working Papers 179545, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    8. Arnouts, Rikke & van der Zouwen, Mariëlle & Arts, Bas, 2012. "Analysing governance modes and shifts — Governance arrangements in Dutch nature policy," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 43-50.
    9. Grävingholt, Jörn & Doerr, Bettina & Meissner, Kathrin & Pletziger, Stefan & von Rümker, Julia & Weikert, Jochen, 2006. "Strengthening participation through decentralisation: findings on local economic development in Kyrgyzstan," IDOS Studies, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), volume 16, number 16, March.
    10. Farshad Amiraslani & Deirdre Dragovich, 2010. "Cross‐sectoral and participatory approaches to combating desertification: The Iranian experience," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34, pages 140-154, May.
    11. Soltani, Arezoo & Sankhayan, Prem Lall & Hofstad, Ole, 2016. "Playing forest governance games: State-village conflict in Iran," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 251-261.
    12. Soltani, Arezoo & Angelsen, Arild & Eid, Tron, 2014. "Poverty, forest dependence and forest degradation links: evidence from Zagros, Iran," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(5), pages 607-630, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Espada, Ana Luiza Violato & Kainer, Karen A., 2024. "Decision making processes and power dynamics in timber production co-management: A comparative analysis of seven Brazilian Amazonian community-based projects," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gebregziabher, Dawit & Soltani, Arezoo, 2019. "Exclosures in people’s minds: perceptions and attitudes in the Tigray region, Ethiopia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1-14.
    2. Rahman, Md Saifur & Sarker, Pradip Kumar & Sadath, Md. Nazmus & Giessen, Lukas, 2018. "Policy changes resulting in power changes? Quantitative evidence from 25 years of forest policy development in Bangladesh," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 419-431.
    3. Dehghani Pour, Milad & Motiee, Naser & Barati, Ali Akbar & Taheri, Fatemeh & Azadi, Hossein & Gebrehiwot, Kindeya & Lebailly, Philippe & Van Passel, Steven & Witlox, Frank, 2017. "Impacts of the Hara Biosphere Reserve on Livelihood and Welfare in Persian Gulf," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 76-86.
    4. Soltani, Arezoo & Sankhayan, Prem Lall & Hofstad, Ole, 2016. "Playing forest governance games: State-village conflict in Iran," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 251-261.
    5. Kobe De Pourcq & Evert Thomas & Bas Arts & An Vranckx & Tomas Léon-Sicard & Patrick Van Damme, 2015. "Conflict in Protected Areas: Who Says Co-Management Does Not Work?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(12), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Soltani, Arezoo & Sankhayan, Prem L. & Hofstad, Ole, 2015. "A recipe for co-management of forest and livestock — Results of bio-economic model at a village level in Iran," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 74-86.
    7. Mehdi Zandebasiri & José António Filipe & Javad Soosani & Mehdi Pourhashemi & Luca Salvati & Mário Nuno Mata & Pedro Neves Mata, 2020. "An Incomplete Information Static Game Evaluating Community-Based Forest Management in Zagros, Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-14, February.
    8. Krott, Max & Bader, Axel & Schusser, Carsten & Devkota, Rosan & Maryudi, Ahmad & Giessen, Lukas & Aurenhammer, Helene, 2014. "Actor-centred power: The driving force in decentralised community based forest governance," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 34-42.
    9. Ashley Peiffer & Michael Harte, 2023. "Development from a distance: Exploring an international non‐profit's interactions with communities during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(6), pages 979-994, August.
    10. Hamilton-Hart, Natasha & Stringer, Christina, 2016. "Upgrading and exploitation in the fishing industry: Contributions of value chain analysis," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 166-171.
    11. Arts, Bas & de Koning, Jessica, 2017. "Community Forest Management: An Assessment and Explanation of its Performance Through QCA," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 315-325.
    12. Kahsay, Goytom Abraha & Medhin, Haileselassie, 2020. "Leader turnover and forest management outcomes: Micro-level evidence from Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    13. Zhan, Shaohua, 2015. "From Privatization to Deindustrialization: Implications of Chinese Rural Industry and the Ownership Debate Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 108-122.
    14. Mukisa, Nicholas & Zamora, Ramon & Lie, Tek Tjing, 2020. "Assessment of community sustainable livelihoods capitals for the implementation of alternative energy technologies in Uganda – Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 886-902.
    15. Holden, Stein T. & Tilahun, Mesfin, 2019. "How Do Social Preferences and Norms of Reciprocity affect Generalized and Particularized Trust?," CLTS Working Papers 8/19, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Centre for Land Tenure Studies, revised 10 Oct 2019.
    16. Barbara Quimby & Arielle Levine, 2018. "Participation, Power, and Equity: Examining Three Key Social Dimensions of Fisheries Comanagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-20, September.
    17. Andersson, Krister, 2013. "Local Governance of Forests and the Role of External Organizations: Some Ties Matter More Than Others," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 226-237.
    18. Stefanie Engel & Charles Palmer & Alexander Pfaff, 2013. "On the Endogeneity of Resource Co-management: Theory and Evidence from Indonesia," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(2), pages 308-329.
    19. Fischer, Harry W. & Ali, Syed Shoaib, 2019. "Reshaping the public domain: Decentralization, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), and trajectories of local democracy in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 147-158.
    20. Ulambayar, Tungalag & Fernández-Giménez, María E., 2019. "How Community-Based Rangeland Management Achieves Positive Social Outcomes In Mongolia: A Moderated Mediation Analysis," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 93-104.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:117:y:2020:i:c:s1389934119305301. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.