IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/forpol/v161y2024ics1389934124000303.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conservation policy and forest transition in Zagros forests: Statistical analysis of human welfare, biophysical, and climate drivers

Author

Listed:
  • Heidarlou, Hadi Beygi
  • Mirshekarlou, Asma Karamat
  • Lopez-Carr, David
  • Borz, Stelian Alexandru

Abstract

Understanding patterns in forest cover change (FCC) is urgently needed to support government policies aimed at long-term sustainable forest management. Because of the struggle against forest loss, the Zagros forests (ZFs), which cover 3.5% of Iran's total land area, have been subjected to conservation policies. However, little is known about the efficacy of these strategies, and most information about dynamics of the ZFs is dependent on official data, which can be scant and unreliable. Therefore, the need for accurate statistics is felt more than ever in response to the requirements of international requests for information transparency. If positive or negative changes are recorded during the implementation of these policies, it is essential to assess the extent to which drivers were responsible for these changes. We assess the patterns of forest cover in the ZFs between 2002 and 2022 in the context of the implementation of one of Iran's most significant conservation policies. Furthermore, an evaluation of how forest dynamics relate to the main variables of FCC is performed. For this purpose, we used Landsat data and Google Earth Engine platform to calculate ZF cover dynamics for 61 counties in 11 provinces. Findings indicate that after 20 years of implementing conservation policies, the ZF cover has increased by 0.53%. Changes in the Human Development Index (HDI) and Gini indices were significant during the study period at the 95% confidence level, and the HDI demonstrated a significant correlation with Forest recovery (R = 0.151) and deforestation (R = −0.190) at the 95% confidence level. Changes in ZF have a significant relationship with distance from forests, roads, precipitation, and slope at the county level. In addition to the variables addressed in this research, conservation strategy played a positive role on ZF recovery. Findings can help clarify the changes and amount of forest cover, and have global consequences for concentrating more on improving the socioeconomic status of local people and conserving forests.

Suggested Citation

  • Heidarlou, Hadi Beygi & Mirshekarlou, Asma Karamat & Lopez-Carr, David & Borz, Stelian Alexandru, 2024. "Conservation policy and forest transition in Zagros forests: Statistical analysis of human welfare, biophysical, and climate drivers," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:161:y:2024:i:c:s1389934124000303
    DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103177
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934124000303
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103177?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. Banerjee, Onil & Cicowiez, Martin & Vargas, Renato & Obst, Carl & Cala, Javier Rojas & Alvarez-Espinosa, Andrés Camilo & Melo, Sioux & Riveros, Leidy & Romero, Germán & Meneses, Diego Sáenz, 2021. "Gross domestic product alone provides misleading policy guidance for post-conflict land use trajectories in Colombia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    2. Graeme Chamberlin, 2011. "Gross domestic product, real income and economic welfare," Economic & Labour Market Review, Palgrave Macmillan;Office for National Statistics, vol. 5(5), pages 5-25, May.
    3. Amartya K. Sen, 1997. "From Income Inequality to Economic Inequality," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(2), pages 384-401, October.
    4. Zhipeng Zhu & Guangyu Wang & Jianwen Dong, 2019. "Correlation Analysis between Land Use/Cover Change and Air Pollutants—A Case Study in Wuyishan City," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-15, July.
    5. Blackman, Allen, 2013. "Evaluating forest conservation policies in developing countries using remote sensing data: An introduction and practical guide," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-16.
    6. Fei Chen & Xiaoyong Bai & Fang Liu & Guangjie Luo & Yichao Tian & Luoyi Qin & Yue Li & Yan Xu & Jinfeng Wang & Luhua Wu & Chaojun Li & Sirui Zhang & Chen Ran, 2022. "Analysis Long-Term and Spatial Changes of Forest Cover in Typical Karst Areas of China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-20, August.
    7. Nurfatriani, Fitri & Darusman, Dudung & Nurrochmat, Dodik Ridho & Yustika, Ahmad Erani & Muttaqin, Muhammad Zahrul, 2015. "Redesigning Indonesian forest fiscal policy to support forest conservation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 39-50.
    8. Muok, Benard Oula & Mosberg, Marianne & Eriksen, Siri Ellen Hallstrøm & Ong'ech, Dennis Onyango, 2021. "The politics of forest governance in a changing climate: Political reforms, conflict and socio-environmental changes in Laikipia, Kenya," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    9. Metodi Sotirov & Benno Pokorny & Daniela Kleinschmit & Peter Kanowski, 2020. "International Forest Governance and Policy: Institutional Architecture and Pathways of Influence in Global Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-25, August.
    10. Sagar, Ambuj D. & Najam, Adil, 1998. "The human development index: a critical review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 249-264, June.
    11. Sen, Amartya, 1997. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198292975.
    12. Tatyana P. Soubbotina, 2004. "Beyond Economic Growth : An Introduction to Sustainable Development, Second Edition," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14865.
    13. Marjan Goodarzi & Mehdi Pourhashemi & Zahra Azizi, 2019. "Investigation on Zagros forests cover changes under the recent droughts using satellite imagery," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 65(1), pages 9-17.
    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. Fahimeh Asgari & Seyedeh Gol Ara Ghoreishi & Matin Khajavi & Ali Foozoni & Ali Ala & Ahmad Gholizadeh Lonbar, 2024. "Data Analysis of Decision Support for Sustainable Welfare in The Presence of GDP Threshold Effects: A Case Study of Interactive Data Exploration," Papers 2407.09711, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2024.

    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. Tomasz Potocki, 2022. "Locating Financial Capability Within Capability Approach – Theoretical Survey," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 1, pages 96-106.
    2. Xia, Jianhong(Cecilia) & Nesbitt, Joshua & Daley, Rebekah & Najnin, Arfanara & Litman, Todd & Tiwari, Surya Prasad, 2016. "A multi-dimensional view of transport-related social exclusion: A comparative study of Greater Perth and Sydney," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 205-221.
    3. Martinet, Vincent & Del Campo, Stellio & Cairns, Robert D., 2022. "Intragenerational inequality aversion and intergenerational equity," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue forthcomi.
    4. Tapiwa D. Karoro & Meshach J. Aziakpono & Nicolette Cattaneo, 2009. "Exchange Rate Pass‐Through To Import Prices In South Africa: Is There Asymmetry?1," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 77(3), pages 380-398, September.
    5. Antonio Villar, 2009. "Distribution Sensitive Multidimensional Development Indices," Working Papers 09.14, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    6. Georgios Tsaples & Jason Papathanasiou & Andreas C. Georgiou, 2022. "An Exploratory DEA and Machine Learning Framework for the Evaluation and Analysis of Sustainability Composite Indicators in the EU," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(13), pages 1-27, June.
    7. Tapiwa D. Karoro & Meshach J. Aziakpono & Nicolette Cattaneo, 2009. "Exchange Rate Pass‐Through To Import Prices In South Africa: Is There Asymmetry?1," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 77(3), pages 380-398, September.
    8. Céline Guivarch & Nicolas Taconet, 2020. "Inégalités mondiales et changement climatique," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(1), pages 35-70.
    9. Xu, Aiting & Qiu, Keyang & Zhu, Yuhan, 2023. "The measurements and decomposition of innovation inequality: Based on Industry − University − Research perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    10. Rüb, Daniel, 2024. "Inequality beyond income quantiles: Distributional effects of climate mitigation policies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    11. Sam Harper & Eric Ruder & Henry A. Roman & Amelia Geggel & Onyemaechi Nweke & Devon Payne-Sturges & Jonathan I. Levy, 2013. "Using Inequality Measures to Incorporate Environmental Justice into Regulatory Analyses," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, August.
    12. Somwrita Sarkar, 2024. "Normative urban science," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 51(5), pages 1079-1081, June.
    13. Freiberg, Germán & Giannotti, Mariana & Bittencourt, Taina A., 2024. "Are mass transit projects and public transport planning overlooking uneven distributional effects? Empirical evidence from Sao Paulo, Brazil," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    14. Christophe Heyndrickx & Natalia Tourdyeva & Victoria Alexeeva-Talebi, 2011. "The SUSTRUS model: a CGE model on regional level for sustainability policies in Russia," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1565, European Regional Science Association.
    15. Tomasz Potocki & Sylwester Białowąs, 2023. "What Factors Predict a Positive Change in a Consumer’s Financial Capability over Time? The New Evidence from Poland," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 634-654, September.
    16. Takahiro Akita, 2024. "Urbanization and Income Inequality," Working Papers EMS_2024_01, Research Institute, International University of Japan.
    17. Garashchuk, Anna & Castillo, Fernando Isla & Rivera, Pablo Podadera, 2023. "Economic cohesion and development of the European Union's regions and member states - A methodological proposal to measure and identify the degree of regional economic cohesion," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    18. Qu, Xiangyu, 2022. "On the measurement of opportunity-dependent inequality under uncertainty," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    19. Alem, Douglas & Caunhye, Aakil M. & Moreno, Alfredo, 2022. "Revisiting Gini for equitable humanitarian logistics," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PB).
    20. Zhang, Tong & Hu, Wuyang & Zhu, Zhanguo & Penn, Jerrod, 2023. "Consumer preference for food products addressing multiple dimensions of poverty: Evidence from China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).

    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:161:y:2024:i:c:s1389934124000303. 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.