IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v87y2019ics0264837718315680.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Forest protection policy: Lesson learned from Arasbaran biosphere reserve in Northwest Iran

Author

Listed:
  • Sasanifar, Samira
  • Alijanpour, Ahmad
  • Banj Shafiei, Abbas
  • Eshaghi Rad, Javad
  • Molaei, Morteza
  • Azadi, Hossein

Abstract

Protection policy of forests is an important strategy to improve quantitative and qualitative characteristics of forest stands and their services. In addition, the concurrence of global climate change and the decline in natural resources has led scientists to focus on the sustainable development of forest land use. Unfortunately, the allocation of different uses to land has led to urbanization, industrialization, and environmental risks. Forty-five years of forest protection policy in Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve, Northwest of Iran, has created a venue to assess the effectiveness of forest conservation-based management. For this purpose, by using random systematic sampling methodology, 132 samples (66 sample plots in the protected area and 66 sample plots in the unprotected area) with a total area of 300 square meters were collected in the northern slopes. Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of woody species in each plot, as well as regeneration frequency, were recorded. Topsoil samples were also collected, and some soil characteristics were measured. Biodiversity indices were calculated for tree species using the inventory collected data. Results revealed that parameters such as diameter at the breast height (DBH), basal area (BA), proportions of seed-origin stems, total height, crown’s height, and canopy area were significantly higher in the protected area (p < 0.05). In addition, the status of soil parameters in the protected area was better. In addition, tree regeneration (number per hectare) is higher in the unprotected area in comparison to the protected area. In conclusion, the forest protection policy in Arasbaran biosphere was evaluated 'successful' in terms of amending some forest characteristics indicative of the stand sustainability in forest land via reduction of and/or compensation for anthropogenic damages to the environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Sasanifar, Samira & Alijanpour, Ahmad & Banj Shafiei, Abbas & Eshaghi Rad, Javad & Molaei, Morteza & Azadi, Hossein, 2019. "Forest protection policy: Lesson learned from Arasbaran biosphere reserve in Northwest Iran," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:87:y:2019:i:c:s0264837718315680
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104057
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837718315680
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104057?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. 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.
    2. Pirard, Romain & Dal Secco, Lise & Warman, Russell, 2016. "Do timber plantations contribute to forest conservation?," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 122-130.
    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. Alexander B. Ruchin & Sergei K. Alekseev & Oleg N. Artaev & Anatoliy A. Khapugin & Evgeniy A. Lobachev & Sergei V. Lukiyanov & Gennadiy B. Semishin, 2022. "Dataset: Fauna of Adult Ground Beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) of the National Park “Smolny” (Russia)," Data, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-10, June.

    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. Blackman, Allen & Goff, Leonard & Rivera Planter, Marisol, 2018. "Does eco-certification stem tropical deforestation? Forest Stewardship Council certification in Mexico," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 306-333.
    2. Iriarte-Goñi, Iñaki & Ayuda, María-Isabel, 2018. "Should Forest Transition Theory include effects on forest fires? The case of Spain in the second half of the twentieth century," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 789-797.
    3. Cubbage, Frederick & Kanieski, Bruno & Rubilar, Rafael & Bussoni, Adriana & Olmos, Virginia Morales & Balmelli, Gustavo & Donagh, Patricio Mac & Lord, Roger & Hernández, Carmelo & Zhang, Pu & Huang, J, 2020. "Global timber investments, 2005 to 2017," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    4. Cariola, Lucía & De la Peña García, Antonio & Hilgert, Norma I., 2020. "Adaptive farm management in the context of the expansion of industrial tree plantations in northern Argentina," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    5. Miranda, Juan Jose & Corral, Leonardo & Blackman, Allen & Asner, Gregory & Lima, Eirivelthon, 2014. "Effects of Protected Areas on Forest Cover Change and Local Communities," RFF Working Paper Series dp-14-14, Resources for the Future.
    6. Katie Devenish & Sébastien Desbureaux & Simon Willcock & Julia P. G. Jones, 2022. "On track to achieve no net loss of forest at Madagascar’s biggest mine," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(6), pages 498-508, June.
    7. Gabriela Demarchi & Subervie Julie & Thibault Catry & Isabelle Tritsch, 2020. "Using publicly available remote sensing products to evaluate REDD+ projects in Brazil," Working Papers hal-02898225, HAL.
    8. Katharina Schulze & Žiga Malek & Dmitry Schepaschenko & Myroslava Lesiv & Steffen Fritz & Peter H. Verburg, 2023. "Pantropical distribution of short-rotation woody plantations: spatial probabilities under current and future climate," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 28(5), pages 1-22, June.
    9. Harbi, Jun & Erbaugh, James Thomas & Sidiq, Mohammad & Haasler, Berthold & Nurrochmat, Dodik Ridho, 2018. "Making a bridge between livelihoods and forest conservation: Lessons from non timber forest products' utilization in South Sumatera, Indonesia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1-10.
    10. Feng, Dingrao & Bao, Wenkai & Yang, Yuanyuan & Fu, Meichen, 2021. "How do government policies promote greening? Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    11. Caviglia-Harris, Jill & Biggs, Trent & Ferreira, Elvino & Harris, Daniel W. & Mullan, Katrina & Sills, Erin O., 2021. "The color of water: The contributions of green and blue water to agricultural productivity in the Western Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    12. Miranda, Juan José & Corral, Leonardo & Blackman, Allen & Asner, Gregory & Lima, Eirivelthon, 2016. "Effects of Protected Areas on Forest Cover Change and Local Communities: Evidence from the Peruvian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 288-307.
    13. Liu, Zhaoyang & Kontoleon, Andreas, 2018. "Meta-Analysis of Livelihood Impacts of Payments for Environmental Services Programmes in Developing Countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 48-61.
    14. He, Zhichao & Zhao, Chunhong & Fürst, Christine & Hersperger, Anna M., 2021. "Closer to causality: How effective is spatial planning in governing built-up land expansion in Fujian Province, China?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    15. Jeffrey R. Vincent, 2016. "Impact Evaluation of Forest Conservation Programs: Benefit-Cost Analysis, Without the Economics," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(2), pages 395-408, February.
    16. Julia Szulecka, 2019. "Towards Sustainable Wood-Based Energy: Evaluation and Strategies for Mainstreaming Sustainability in the Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, January.
    17. Walker, Kendra L., 2021. "Effect of land tenure on forest cover and the paradox of private titling in Panama," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    18. Blackman, Allen, 2015. "Strict versus mixed-use protected areas: Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 14-24.
    19. Nur Arifatul Ulya & Edwin Martin & Mamat Rahmat & Bambang Tejo Premono & Leo Rio Ependi Malau & Efendi Agus Waluyo & Andika Imanullah & Abdul Hakim Lukman & Asmaliyah & Armansyah & Dani Saputra & Etik, 2022. "Enabling Factors of NTFP Business Development for Ecosystem Restoration: The Case of Tamanu Oil in Indonesian Degraded Peatland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-26, August.
    20. Tritsch, Isabelle & Le Velly, Gwenolé & Mertens, Benoit & Meyfroidt, Patrick & Sannier, Christophe & Makak, Jean-Sylvestre & Houngbedji, Kenneth, 2020. "Do forest-management plans and FSC certification help avoid deforestation in the Congo Basin?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(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:lauspo:v:87:y:2019:i:c:s0264837718315680. 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: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    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.