Investigation of socio-economic factors on natural resources degradation of Ardebil province from the viewpoint of utilizers and experts

Although the factors affecting the degradation of natural resources have been more or less identified and introduced, little research has been done on these factors from the view point of socio economic and cultural features. It seems that before any action, degradation of natural resources must be stopped through a cessation program for natural resources degradation. This research was based upon documental, field and desk research method through three types of study including documents surveying, collecting information and field study using observation, companionship and questionnaires in Ardebil province. Ten sampling regions with a surface area of 122020 ha including 68 rural and nomad settlements and 273 households were selected. Our results showed that totally 19 main factors in three groups of livestock (45.9 %), harvesting (20.6 %) and land use change (33.5 %) were effective in degradation of natural resources of Ardebil province. In this research, determination of the destructive factors on the basis of separate vegetation regions gave valid results for natural resoures provincial managers.