Socio-economic vulnerability assessment of rangeland's users: The case of highlands of Natanz County, Isfahan

Vulnerability assessment of ecosystems is required to achieve sustainable management of ecosystems and to identify the best management strategies to minimize damaging effects caused by traumatic factors. This study aimed to assess socio-economic vulnerability in highland rangelands of Natanz County. The most important socio-economic indices were identified using literature review, accordingly. The sample size was calculated based on Cochran’s formula. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. The content validity and reliability of the produced questionnaire were approved using expert reviews and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.861) respectively. Me-Bar and Valdez's vulnerability formula were used to assess the socio-economic vulnerability. According to the results, “local problems and the collapse of past utilization systems”, “number of rangeland user” and “utilization pattern” were identified as the most important indices influencing social vulnerability. Findings further indicated that “livestock number of rangeland users”, “life expenses of rangeland users” and “economic status of rangeland users”, were the most important indices affecting economic vulnerability. The results also identified that more accuracy can be obtained to assess rangelands vulnerability by integrating social and economic factors at local scale. Therefore, identification and classification of rangeland vulnerability can be facilitated by considering and integrating socioeconomic factors.