Stakeholders and ~
~
Criteria for their Identification in Natural Resources Management (Case Study: Golestan Province Forests)

The important factors for success of planning and decision making by natural resources policy-makers and managers in northern forests of Iran relate heavily to the identification of stakeholders and criteria involved in this process. In the past two decades much researches have been implemented to discover the important cited success factors. However، each area is unique which makes them requiring comprehensive surveys. The results of this study using questionnaire designed based on Lickert method showed acceptable validity and a Cronbach''s alpha of 0. 811 which is reliable. It found that three main criteria for identification of stakeholders are habitation، utilization and protection by the stakeholders and included 19 sub-criteria. For identification and determination of different stakeholders the Cronbach''s alpha=0. 803 was acceptable and stakeholders were found to be beneficiaries، experts، farmers، professors، ranchmen، NGOs and tourists. These stakeholders themselves included 19 sub-stakeholders. These results are consistent with those of other researchers. The results showed the necessity of attention to stakeholders and their criteria in natural forests management. Attending to this has important effects on decreasing challenges of natural resources management specially forests and increasing of cooperation and collaboration among different stakeholders.