فهرست مطالب dr. ahmad abedi sarvestani

The ethical dimensions of agriculture need to be explored, distinguishing between ethics in agriculture and ethics of agriculture. Ethics in agriculture is traditionally based on abstract moral theory, formulated through logical reasoning, but often found inadequate to address the complex ethical challenges within agriculture due to its abstract nature and lack of practical visibility. Conversely, ethics of agriculture is approached within a context-specific framework derived from the research topic with the aim of providing more tailored solutions.

A comprehensive review of the relevant literature is conducted, using a descriptive-analytical approach to provide a conceptual framework for understanding agricultural ethics.

The article highlights the critical need for a comprehensive ethical framework to address the multifaceted ethical challenges in the agricultural sector. The importance of analyzing and resolving ethical dilemmas at all stages of agriculture is underscored in order to align practices with human ideals and to ensure ethical decision-making by stakeholders involved in agriculture.

Management of rangelands requires an innovative perspective and forward-looking approaches in a way that can face the challenges of the present age. Climate change and new diseases are examples of challenges for which it is necessary to predict appropriate strategies for the future of rangelands according to their impact. This research aimed to identify the drivers of rangeland management in the Covid-19 pandemic period. For this purpose, the interaction of Covid-19 disease with the main components of rangeland management (pastoralist, livestock, and rangeland) was investigated with the descriptive-analytical method and mutual effects analysis technique. After preparing a 24-item list of influential factors on rangeland management with qualitative approaches, the required information was collected by the questionnaire using the purposeful sampling method from 30 rangeland experts and rangeland exploiters elites in Golestan province in autumn, 2021. Data were analyzed using MICMAC software. The results showed the unstable situation of the rangelands management system in Golestan province. Based on the degree of direct and indirect effect of the factors, the most important drivers of rangeland management included six factors related to the "pastoralist" component, two factors related to the "rangeland" component, and one factor related to “livestock” component which were respectively: "pastoralist's sense of ownership of the range", "pastoralist's knowledge and skill level", "vegetation cover and fodder production of the rangeland", "adherence to the principles of range management", "participation and teamwork of the pastoralist", "proportion of the rangeland in the livelihood of the pastoralist", "job security of the pastoralist", "duration of livestock presence in rangeland ", and "existence drinking water in the rangeland". Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic was not a factor in rangeland management because it did not affect the rangeland management system, nor was affected by other factors. According to the findings, a scenario for managing ranges in Golestan province was developed and practical suggestions were presented.

Citizens' behavior towards the environment and their moral values in interaction with nature are among the issues that are important in the quality of urban life and sustainable viability of cities. In the present study, using stratified random sampling, Gorgan residents were examined regarding environmentally friendly behaviors and ethical values. The data collection tool was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by face validity and reliability by Cronbach's test. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS18 software. The results showed that the pro-environmental behavior index was at a moderate level. However, women and men were not different in regards to pro-environmental behaviors. As studied people grew older, pro-environmental behavior improved, but education level did not correlate significantly. The results also showed no significant correlations between anthropocentric and theocentric orientations with the pro-environmental behaviors index. However, with strengthening ecocentric orientation, the pro-environmental behaviors decrease. These results reaffirm the gap between moral values and behavior in which behaviors have no relationship with environmental beliefs. According to the results, it is suggested that necessary facilities to reduce the cost of environmentally-friendly behaviors should be provided for citizens.

Destruction and forest fire are one of the most important environmental problems. Annually, forest fire destroys thousands of hectares of trees, shrubs and forest plants and the vulnerability of the livelihood of villagers and forest dwellers increases. The present research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effects of forest fires on the livelihood of villagers in forest areas.

This research is a descriptive-survey type and a researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. The geographical area of ​​the research includes Chehelchai watershed, Minoodasht city, Golestan province. To investigate and measure the index of vulnerability caused by forest fires, five dimensions of sustainable livelihood index including natural capital, financial capital, physical capital, human capital and social capital were used with a total of 19 items. Each item was measured based on a five-point Likert scale. The statistical population of the research included 400 households in the villages of the Chehelchai watershed, where the highest number of fires have occurred in recent years in their geographical area. In this research, using Cochran's formula, 200 rural households were selected and interviewed by stratified random sampling method. Spearman's correlation coefficient test was used to determine the relationship between the respondents' personal characteristics and their opinions regarding the effect of forest fires on the villagers' livelihoods. Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the opinions of the respondents regarding the extent of the impact of forest fires on the livelihood of villagers.

The results showed that forest fires had the greatest impact on the livelihood of villagers, respectively, on natural capital with a non-weighted linear combination of 4.08 and the least impact on social capital with a non-weighted linear combination of 1.63. The results of the correlation coefficient test showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the amount of agricultural land under ownership and the agricultural history of the respondents with their views on the impact of forest fires on the livelihood of villagers. There is a negative and significant relationship between the variable of age and also between the variable of the number of dependents and the opinion of the respondents regarding the effect of forest fire on livelihood. The findings also showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the level of education and the opinion of the respondents regarding the effect of forest fires on the livelihood of villagers. The results of the Mann-Whitney test showed that there is no significant difference between the views of different groups of respondents regarding the extent of the effect of forest fires on the livelihood of villagers.

The local communities studied in this research unanimously believe that forest fires have negative effects on their livelihoods through the impact on natural, financial and human capitals. Therefore, it is suggested that the responsible organizations strengthen the efficiency of protection measures, reforestation, and reduce damages caused by forest fires by planning and implementing social and cooperative forestry.

 he aim of this research is to identify the indigenous knowledge of camel husbandry in the territory of Kalkuyee nomads in Masileh plain of Qom province, who have a long history of camel husbandry in this region. The way of obtaining the data is in the field with the continuous presence of the tribes of the Kalkuyee tribe in the form of interview (question and answer), observation, filming and photography during three years. Also, in addition to individual interviews with native camel herders and nomadic experts, group interviews were also used in order to collect data and gain knowledge about the local knowledge of camel herders. The information has been classified based on convergence and divergence. The findings include indigenous knowledge related to naming, marking, the position of camels, characteristics of good camels, and reproduction among nomads of Kalkuyee tribe. The results of the research in the territory of Kalkuyee nomads showed that they have local knowledge and extensive work experience in camel husbandry. From the local knowledge of camel herders, we come to the conclusion that camel herding has long been a traditional and cultural activity with specific regional characteristics, and with camel herding and traditional life,

Legal issues have special importance in flood management. The present study has investigated the most important legal issues related to floods through descriptive survey research. The study population included employees with expert positions in legal offices and heads of county natural resources offices in all counties of Golestan province who were surveyed by census method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by the legal experts. SPSS18 software was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics and also Sign and Wilcoxon tests were used. The results showed the effectiveness of the current legal system in preventing floods, the influence of legal sentences regarding river and stream privacy, the power of legal units to litigate violations on the floodplain of rivers and streams, as well as the effectiveness of the current structure of the legal units of the natural resources offices to deal with the causes of floods, are at a moderate level. The most important legal weakness in flood management is related to monitoring the implementation of laws. According to the respondents, non-compliance with the rules and regulations of natural resources has played a strong role in the recent floods. Respondents also believed that the degree of overlap of duties between the custodians of rivers and streams and also disagreement among the custodians regarding the floodplain area of rivers and streams is considerable. The most important solutions to reform the legal system to improve flood management include imposing severe penalties for encroaching on the floodplain area of rivers and streams and giving priority to litigation of natural resource cases. According to the results, practical suggestions and recommendations have been presented to improve flood management.

Protected areas have emerged as one of the most important and effective tools in the world for biodiversity conservation. Changing the use of natural lands, especially rangelands to protected areas, causes livestock grazing to be restricted in some of the grazing lands. These restrictions cause conflict between different natural land stakeholders. This study investigates the grazing management conflicts in the Bahram-e Goor protected area in Iran. In the first stage of the study, in order to investigate the existing conflicts, interviews were conducted with various stakeholders. The sampling method is classification, optimum allocation and targeted sampling method and the statistical population size is obtained from snowball method. The tool used for data collection was questionnaire and SPSS and Gephi software were used for statistical analysis of data.  In general, the results of this study show the conflict between the three stakeholders of the Department of Environment, the Department of Natural Resources and herder more than others, that the number of conflicts related to the Department of Environment and the herder is more than others. Based on the findings of this study, in order to resolve key and important conflicts, planning can be done by the management of natural resources and protected areas.

Adapting to weather fluctuations is one of the most suitable strategies to reduce vulnerability from climate change. The present research was conducted with the aim of investigating the limits of adaptation of rural communities to climate change in Golestan province. The study population consisted of 1158 households in 10 villages located in the mountainous area of the Oghan watershed, of which 290 people were investigated by random classification method. The required information was collected with a questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS21 software. The results showed that the amount of limitation in adapting to climate change was moderate and the highest and lowest limitations were related to "economic" and "physical" aspects, respectively. The limitation of adapting to climate change was among single people and also less people who were members of cooperatives and organizations and used promoters and facilitators. At the same time, people with university education and those who did not attend training courses faced more restrictions to adapt to climate change. Increasing local people's access to promoters and facilitators, using educational and promotional programs, membership in cooperatives and organizations, as well as setting up small rural credit funds are some of the suggestions of this research to reduce the limitations of compatibility with It is climate change.

Today's environmental issues are deeply socialized and consequently, a responsible view of the environment is one of the hallmarks of many societies for moving towards sustainable development. Environmental attitudes are defined as a set of friendly (positive) and unfriendly (negative) feelings towards the environment and related topics. Environmental attitudes are strong predictors of environmental behaviors. Therefore, solving environmental crises depends on changing one’s attitude and perceived value to the environment. Two perspectives can be identified in terms of two paradigms regarding attitudes towards the environment. One view is referred to as the dominant social paradigm and the other is the new environmental paradigm. The new environmental paradigm points to the limitations that must inevitably be placed on human (economic) growth, namely the importance of maintaining a balance between nature and the development of a sustainable economy, or the need to rethink the belief that nature exists solely for the sake of human needs. This paradigm emphasizes the balanced relationship between humans and other species as well as sustainability in the use of natural resources. This paradigm consists of three dimensions, which include ‘growth restriction’, ‘rejecting anthropocentrism’, and accepting the ‘fragility of nature’s balance’. Given the importance of attitudes towards the environment and its role in dealing with nature, the question posed in this study is: which environmental perspective is common among societies? Some experts attribute environmental problems to people and believe that their views on the environment are not appropriate and their indifference to the environment is excessive and unjustifiable. But is this claim true, and is it just for ordinary people? In other words, do natural resource management and conservationists have a good view of the environment? This research was conducted to find the environmental views of forest guard staff in Golestan province. 

This research was conducted using the survey research method. The study population consisted of the Forest Guard staff of the Golestan Province. Using the stratified random sampling method, 264 of them were selected in the counties of Golestan province. Data collection was done in 2018 using a questionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire included questions about the demographic and occupational characteristics of staff including age, marital status, work experience, level of education, and place of residence. The second part consisted of 15 items related to the Environmental Attitude Index based on the new environmental paradigm. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed by face validity and Cronbach's test, respectively. 

The results of the study showed that the average age of respondents was 40.36 years. They had an average of 14.26 years of work experience. The majority of them (92%) were married. Also, 60.2% of them lived in cities, and the rest in rural areas. The average educational level of the study samples was above the high school diploma. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the structure of Forest Guard staff’s attitudes towards the new environmental paradigm derives from five factors including ecological equilibrium, growth restriction, technology-oriented, optimism about the future, and anthropocentrism, which explained 56.32% of the variance of the dependent variable. Among these factors, ‘growth restriction’ is the first priority and ‘no optimism about the future’ is the last priority. Married participants reject more anthropocentrism than singles, but singles are more skeptical about the future of the environment than married. The attitudes of Forest Guard staff were independent of age, marital status, and place of residence, but with increasing levels of education, their attitude towards the new environmental paradigm became weaker. 

The results of the present study showed that the environmental attitude of the study population could be assessed at a relatively appropriate level. However, this attitude was not strong enough. In addition, attitudes towards the new environmental paradigm is a multidimensional phenomenon with five dimensions including ecological equilibrium, growth restriction, technology-oriented, optimism about the future, and anthropocentrism. The dimensions revealed in the present study are consistent with those introduced for the new environmental paradigm in other studies, namely the rejection of human dominance over nature, ecological balance, and limited development. Using re-training and in-service programs to improve the environmental attitudes of Forest Guard staff are suggested. Keywords: Environment, Attitude, Conservation, Natural Resources.

The importance of the market for agricultural products is as important as the production of the product. However, marketing has always been one of the major problems of smallholder and family farmers. The present descriptive survey research has investigated the marketing efficiency of agricultural products of rural small family farms. The study population included 2000 family farmers in Basht county in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces. Using the Georgian and Morgan table, 322 of them were studied by random cluster sampling. A questionnaire was used to collect information, the validity of which was confirmed by referring to university professors, and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The results showed that the marketing efficiency of family farm agricultural products is equal to 2.5. In other words, one unit increase in product costs, 2.5 units in price increase, which is to the benefit of the producer and to the detriment of the consumer. However, with increasing levels of education, annual agricultural income, number of workers, local infrastructure services, and financial services, the marketing efficiency of products increases. Also, increasing in size of the owned land is inversely related to the numerical value of marketing efficiency. In other words, as the size of owned land increases, the numerical value of marketing efficiency decreases. With increasing in the annual cost of agriculture, the amount of marketing efficiency decreases. The results showed that the marketing efficiency of agricultural products of literate farmers as well as farmers with arable land size more than 1.5 hectares was higher than other farmers. In sum, only 0.3% of farmers had marketing with the desired efficiency (equal to one), and the highest efficiency was related to the path of producers to wholesalers. Establishing marketing cooperatives and promoting a suitable cultivation pattern are among the suggestions of the present study to increase the marketing efficiency of agricultural products.

Owing to premium properties such a transformation of forage with low quantity and quality into high quality dairy and meat products, compromising with arid and semi-arid rangeland and resistance against diseases, camel has basic function in extensive grazing systems. These properties have made camel herding as one of the strategies in sustainable development in natural resources management and sustainable livelihood of local communities. Nevertheless, camel herding is facing various challenges in Iran. This study aimed to strategic analysis of camel herding systems from Kalkooyi nomads and rangeland experts’ viewpoints in Qom Province. In this order, strength, weakness, opportunity and threat factors were identified using semi-structured interview. Then, weighting factors was done through designing and completing questionnaire based on two stakeholders. Data analysis was done using SWOT framework in Microsoft Office Excel. Result showed that the most important internal factors affecting camel herding in strength criteria was positive attitude and the interest and motivation towards camel herding among Kalkooyi nomads and in weakness criteria was shortage in suitable water sources for livestock drinking from both nomads and experts’ viewpoints. Also, between external factors as opportunity criteria, positive attitude of community members towards camel and its products and in threat criteria lack of comprehensive planning and roadmap for camel herding were the most important factors. Strategic position of camel herding was determined as offensive (SO) from nomads’ viewpoint with weights of 3.502 and 3.407, respectively. This position was determined as competitive (WO) from experts’ view point with weights of 2.073 and 2.517, respectively. Since both stakeholders assigned high weights to opportunity factors, the ultimate emphasis is on providing the condition for using opportunities of camel herding as well as strengthening the strengths and reducing the weaknesses. The result of this study helps executive managers and policy makers to plan and adjust camel herding roadmap with providing more information.

Climate change affects the environmental, economic, and social aspects of rural communities. For this reason, proper measures are needed to reduce the vulnerability of watershed residents. The present research has investigated the vulnerability of villagers' livelihoods from climate change in Oghan Watershed of Golestan Province. The study population consisted of 1158 households, that 297 households were investigated using the stratified random sampling method. Data were collected by the questionnaire that its validity and reliability were confirmed by face validity and Cronbach's Test, respectively. The results showed that livelihood vulnerability to climate change was slightly above average. Among the five livelihood assets, the most and the least damage was related to the financial and human assets of households, respectively. With increasing household members, the number of livestock, and the area of owned agricultural lands, the vulnerability to climate change has increased. In contrast, by increasing monthly income and duration of stay in the village, the livelihood vulnerability has decreased. Joining cooperatives, using indigenous knowledge and technical skills to combat climate change, and getting help from change agents and facilitators, have resulted in less livelihood vulnerability of climate change. Studying livelihood status of the inhabitants of watersheds due to changes in weather parameters, prioritizing the restoration of financial assets, and organizing villagers to use indigenous knowledge for dealing with the negative effects of climate change are the present research suggestions.

Protection of natural resources is an important task that is the responsibility of the country's Natural Resources Protection Unit (NRPU). The purpose of NRPU is to protect natural resources more effectively due to the attacks on rangers and foresters by offenders, wood smugglers, and poachers. One of the problems regarding NRPU is how to manage conflicts with local communities relating protection of natural resources. Various strategies exist for resolving conflicts addressed in the present study. The study population consisted of official agents (180 people) and nonofficial agents (variable in number) of the NRPU in Golestan province that 264 of them were randomly investigated. The results showed that in the range of 1 to 5, the mean score of conflict between the agents of NRPU and local people is 3.10, which could be assessed as moderate to high. “Solution-oriented, "control", and "avoidance" methods have also been used to manage conflicts, respectively. Official agents as well as city dwellers, have increasingly used the "avoidance" method. With increasing of the level of education of the NRPU agents, the use of “control” method has increased, but older agents have used this method less. It is suggested that agents with lower levels of education and older age be used for minor violations and disputes that do not require harsh treatment with local people. In addition, it is recommended that individual and group communication skills training courses be provided for NRPU agents to improve the dialogue between natural resources conservation agents and the public.

Some believe that the most important factor in changing the face of the earth is the change of use of forest lands and deforestation. Transforming forests into agricultural lands, road construction, and construction of buildings in forests are examples of this change. Studies have shown that changing the forest land use can damage the environment and cause some crises such as floods which have negative economic and social effects on communities. In recent years, due to population growth, large areas of the world’s forest lands have been destroyed and turned into agricultural lands. This problem is also evident in Iran, and after water shortages, it is the second major problem in Iran. Land use change is created in natural and human forms. Behavioral theories place special emphasis on attitude, which is referred to as the most important determinant of behavior. Studies have also shown that environmental attitudes are important and influential factors in people's behavior. For this reason, the present study was conducted to investigate the environmental views of villagers in the form of the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP). The main question was whether the villagers in villages near the forest have a favorable view of the environment and whether this view is related to attitudes towards the forest land use change.  

This research was conducted using the survey method. The required data were collected by a questionnaire that included questions about demographic characteristics, the tendency towards the NEP, and attitudes towards forest land use change. Questions about the NEP included 15 items that were designed based on the index provided by Danlap et al. For attitudes towards land use change, 26 questions were used in a Likert type with five choices. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by face validity. To test the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.89 for the NEP and 0.895 for the attitude towards land use change, which indicated appropriate reliability of the questionnaire. The study population included villagers living in the villages near forest areas of Golestan province. A population of 7038 households from 10 counties of the province was included in the study. The required sample size was 364 using the Morgan table. Sampling was performed by the stratified random sampling method. To do this, each group of villages with the highest or the lowest forest deforestation was considered as a stratum. Then, in consultation with experts from the General Office of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of Golestan Province, half of the villages on each stratum were randomly selected for the study. Then, according to the number of households in each village and using the appropriate assignment method, the required number of households in each village was randomly selected. Interviews were conducted with a member of the household with at least 20 years of age. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS19 software.  

Data analysis showed that half of the studied samples were male and the other half were female. The age of respondents ranged from 20 to 65 years, and the mean was 37.7 with a standard deviation of 10.43. The mean score of the tendency towards the NEP was 50.14 with a standard deviation of 6.34, which indicated a relatively good tendency of villagers towards it. Also, their attitude towards land use change can be assessed as moderate. The results showed that residents in villages with most forest destruction were more likely to have a weaker tendency towards the NEP and, conversely, to have a stronger tendency towards land use change. In other words, they were more prepared to change forest lands. The correlation test also showed that as people become more advocated for the NEP, their attitudes towards land use change become weaker and they had less desire to change forest lands.  

The results of the present study showed a relatively good tendency of the villagers to the NEP. This result, which indicates the appropriate view of the villagers living in villages near forests to nature and the environment, showed that the villagers not only do not have a negative attitude towards the environment but also support the environment. But, studies have shown that good attitudes towards nature do not necessarily lead to appropriate behaviors. However, at least in terms of the type of view towards nature and the environment, there was a relatively good situation among the studied villagers. Furthermore, residents of villages with low-destructed forests have had more tendency towards the NEP, which could confirm the link between people's attitudes towards the environment and the quality of the environment. Of course, it should be noted that the tendency to supporting views of the environment is only one variable along with other economic, social, cultural, and political variables that affect the quality of the environment. Therefore, in addition to environmental views, it is important to examine the effect of other factors on the condition of forests. The findings of the present study also showed that people's attitudes towards forest land use change are at a moderate level, which is not very suitable among the studied villagers, because emotionally it shows the average readiness of villagers to change land use. However, the residents with the most degraded forest lands have a more favorable attitude towards land use change, and in this regard, there is more readiness in them to change forest lands. The finding raises concerns that if the conditions for forest land change are favorable, it will not be encountered with much resistance from the villagers. However, based on the results of the study, it can be hoped that by strengthening the views in favor of the environment, the attitudes in favor of changing the use of forest lands will be reduced. Therefore, in forest management and conservation programs, the attitudes of the public towards the environment and the protection of forest lands should be considered as an important issue. To do this, it is suggested that by implementing participatory programs in forest management and protection, the villagers have the opportunity to gain sufficient knowledge and perceptions about the importance and functions of forests to improve their view towards forests.  

Despite the efforts made in the formation of non-governmental organizations and their role in the protection and sustainability of natural resources, non-governmental organizations have not yet been able to gain a proper position. The aim of this study was to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing NGOs in environmental and sustainable forest management. The study population included experts and members of 12 natural resources and environment non-governmental organizations in Golestan province, 120 of whom were selected as the sample. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire in which the questions were designed based on the opinions of experts and members of non-governmental organizations obtained during 60 interviews. SWOT method was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the weight of strengths is more than the weight of weaknesses and the weight of threats is more than the weight of opportunities faced by NGOs. Based on the results of analyzing internal and external factors, the best strategy for NGOs is an offensive strategy that emphasizes the use of existing strengths and opportunities to expand the activities of NGOs.

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of environmental values, attitudes and ethics with environmental behaviors among ranchers’ members of rangeland cooperatives in Gonbad Kavous. The statistical population was 644 operators who were members of rangeland cooperatives in 17 conventional systems, of which 240 were selected by stratified random sampling using Krejcie and Morgan table. A questionnaire was used to collect information. The content and appearance validity of the questionnaire were confirmed by experts, and its reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha method. Data were analyzed using mean comparison, correlation and regression tests. The results of the mean comparison test showed that there is a significant difference between different groups of respondents according to the level of education regarding the component of environmental ethics, based on the history of animal husbandry, regarding the component of environmental value, based on the second job, regarding the components of attitude, ethics and environmental behavior, and based on the frequency of participation in training courses on value components and environmental behavior. The results of correlation test showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the variables of attitude, and environmental ethics, and the environmental behavior of the respondents. The results of regression analysis showed that having ethics and environmental attitude has a positive effect on environmental behavior, and ethics has a greater effect. This study recommended increasing the use of cooperative capacity of ranchers by creating and supporting environmental organizations of ranchers to protect the environment.

Water conflict is a major challenge that, if left unmanaged, will become a security issue. Although tensions over water have increased, conflicts over shared water resources are more likely to happen. The study aimed to investigate water conflict and its management strategies among farmers.

The descriptive-survey research method was used. The data-gathering tool was the questionnaire, which its validity was verified through face validity. The study population included farmers who used shared water wells to provide water for agriculture (N=478). Using Cochran's formula, the sample size was 214 farmers who were selected by the simple random sampling method. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.

The results showed that “drought” and “increasing number of farmers”, with an average score of 3.56 and 3.45 respectively on a scale of 1 to 5, are considered as the main causes of agricultural water conflict. From the farmers’ view, the priority for reducing water conflicts was the participation of farmers in managing water wells and negotiating with farmers around the water. On a scale of 13 to 65 with an average of 38.51, the perceived agricultural water conflict was at the medium level. By increasing farm distance from the well, area of agricultural rental land, and annual income from non-agricultural activities, the perception of agricultural water conflict increased. However, by increasing owned agricultural land area and agricultural income, the perception of agricultural water conflict decreased. The main strategy used by farmers to manage agricultural water conflict was “control”, in which coercion and force are used to manage conflict. The “problem-solving” and “avoidance” strategies were the second and third priorities respectively.

Today, due to the problem of unemployment, students should not only be familiar with entrepreneurship, but also with the acquisition of knowledge, their attitude towards education should be strengthened towards the behavior of entrepreneurs. In this regard, the present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between students' academic motivation and their entrepreneurial abilities. The research method was descriptive-applied and was conducted as a questionnaire. The face validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed using experts' views and Cronbach's alpha test, respectively. The statistical population of this study consisted of humanities students in Islamic Azad universities of Golestan and North Khorasan provinces (N= 3095) that using Krejcie-Morgan table, 350 people were studied as a sample size. The results showed that undergraduate students have more academic motivation than other graduates and graduate students have more entrepreneurial abilities than other students. Also, among the five dimensions of entrepreneurial capabilities, students scored higher in the "determination" dimension. The present study showed that there is a positive and significant correlation between academic motivation and entrepreneurial capabilities, which indicates the greater success of students with higher academic motivation in improving entrepreneurial capabilities. Promoting academic motivation among students and aligning curricula with entrepreneurial capabilities are some of the suggestions of this research.

Adverse climate change, drought, and floods have a negative impact on natural resources, crops, and livestock production as the main sources of livelihood for the villagers. Therefore, it is important to study the perception of rural communities about the occurrence of climate change and its relationship with a sustainable livelihood. The present study was conducted for this purpose by descriptive-survey research method. In this study, 297 residents Age 35 years and older in 10 villages of the Oghan watershed in Golestan province were surveyed. The data collection tool of the questionnaire was developed by the researcher; its content validity was confirmed using the opinions of university academics and natural resources experts. The results showed that age, number of livestock, history of animal husbandry, length of stay in the village, and income of individuals with their perception of the symptoms of climate change have a positive and significant relationship. Findings of structural equation model evaluation showed a causal relationship between the perception of the occurrence of climate change symptoms and individuals' livelihood changes so that with increasing awareness of villagers about the occurrence of climate change symptoms, their livelihood is facing more changes.

Since the 2009 Earth Summit, the importance of sustainability in order to protect the environment, cropping systems and food security has been emphasized as part of sustainability. In this regard, the present study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between food insecurity and agricultural sustainability in Gorgan County in the 2019-2020 year.

Data was collected based on two types of questionnaires of farmers and specialists (for weighting criteria and sub-criteria of sustainability). The coping strategy index was used to measure food security and analytical hierarchy process was used to measure agricultural sustainability. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the relationship between food insecurity and agricultural sustainability.

Based on the aggregated sustainability criterion, North Esterabad with a weight of 0.236 was selected as the most sustainable village. Ghorogh, Roshanabad, Anjirab and South Esterabad villages with weights of 0.199, 0.197, 0.195 and 0.173 are in the next priorities. According to the environmental criterion, South Esterabad with a score of 0.216, according to the economic criterion, North Esterabad with a score of 0.249 and according to the social criteria, Roshanabad with a score of 0.204 had the highest level of sustainability. Also, according to the coping strategy index, 14 households (4.67%) had food security, 211 households (70.33%) had poor food insecurity, 54 households (18%) had moderate food insecurity and 21 households (7 %) Experience severe food insecurity. There is also a strong negative correlation between food insecurity and overall, economic and environmental sustainability. Suggestion: Given the importance of agricultural sustainability in improving food security, it is suggested that policymakers design and implement policies in order to improve economics, social and environmental sustainability that have negative effects on food insecurity.

The social capital is based on the relationships of social actors and their communication type within a network. For this reason, the emphasis is on creating a coordinated network between different organizations in order to the successful implementation of development programs. The importance of this issue as a platform for participatory management of watersheds is also emphasized by international organizations. This study investigated the effectiveness of organizational network of the carbon sequestration project in the Tilabad Watershed in promoting the social capital. Using the social network analysis method, 30 organization and institutions related to this project were surveyed in the Azadshahr county of the province of Golestan regards the communication network. The data collection tool was a questionnaire, in which the linkage of information exchange for natural resources management was measured between the concerned organizations before and after the implementation of the carbon sequestration project. Data analysis was performed using the UCINET software, in which the algebra of matrices was used to estimate network parameters and the graph theory was employed to show the relationships. The results indicated that the implementation of the carbon sequestration project led to an increase in organizational network parameters such as size, density, reciprocity, transitivity and closeness centrality. Moreover, the geodesic distance mean and network centralization were decreased. These findings suggest an improvement in the institutional cohesion and an enhancement in the communication network stability. Therefore, the implementation of the carbon sequestration project has reinforced the social capital in the organizations' communication network; thus, it provided better conditions for carrying joint action plans in the Tilabad Watershed.

It is widely understood that most food-borne illness is associated with the inner home environment, and that therefore, the role of women in providing, storage and preparation of healthy food is very important. Given the lack of research on home food safety in Iran, this study focused on the knowledge and behavior towards food safety and its relationship with literacy among rural women.

Data of this cross-sectional survey were collected through questionnaires. The validity of the questionnaire wasevaluated by referring to university experts. The questionnaire reliability was evaluated by Cronbach's test (α=0.782). The study population consisted of rural women in the areas of Gonbad-e Kavous County in Golestan province, north of Iran. Using random cluster sampling, 385 women from 77 villages were studied. Descriptive statistics and t-test were used for analysis.

Knowledge and behavior of the studied rural women towards food safety could be assessed as good and fair respectively. There was no difference between literate and illiterate women in regard to food safety knowledge (t=1.72; P>0.05), but literate compared with illiterate rural women have in general better food safety behavior (t=2.16; P<0.05).

The findings showed that literacy education can activate mechanisms that lead to food safety behavioral changes. However, there was no difference between literate and illiterate women in regard to food safety knowledge. It suggests that illiterate rural women, despite their inability to read and write, can find appropriatemethods to learn about food safety issues.

Rural communities in developing countries are facing challenges for their livelihood due to various reasons such as resources limitations, low income and job opportunities. In forested areas, wood and non-wood forest products have created an opportunity for self-consumption and have become a source of income for local residents. In this regard, the present study seeks to identify the type and rate of forest product utilization and its impact on livelihoods of local communities in the Jaji Aryub forests of Paktia province, Afghanistan.

This study was an applied study that was conducted as a survey in Jaji Aryub forests of Paktia province in Afghanistan. The statistical population of the study consisted of 1404 household heads in 14 villages, of which 303 were selected based on Krejcie Morgan table. The main research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of 20 items related to the type of forest products use in five sections: 4 items fuel consumptions, 3 items construction consumptions, 7 items food and nutrition uses, 2 medication uses, 4 items outdoor recreational services. Livelihood level of the local communities were studied in three dimensions of employment and income with 12 items, nutrition and health with 5 items, and support and housing with 6 items. Expert opinion was used to determine the content validity of the questionnaire and calculated Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to estimate its reliability. After data collection, analysis was performed using SPSS 21 software in two parts: descriptive and inferential statistics.

According to the respondents' viewpoints, in average, fuel consumption with 3.94 and outdoor recreation with 2.57 (from 5 point), had the highest and the lowest using rates by local communities, respectively. Livelihood of rural families was correlated to usage of wood and non-wood forest products with medium rate (approximately 3 from 5) in three dimensions of nutrition and health, support and housing, and employment and income. The results indicated that, there is a significant positive correlation between the using rate of forest products by local communities and their total livelihood (99% confidence level). The results also showed that there was a positive significant relationship (99% confidence level) between respondents' use of forest products and their age and number of household members with correlation coefficients of 0.163 and 0.148, respectively. While a negative significant correlation with their education level were distinguished.

livelihoods of local communities in the Jaji Aryub forests of Paktia province, Afghanistan are, highly, depended to the forest resources due to various reasons such as environmental limitations, individual characteristics, lack of welfare, and limited income and job opportunities. Providing new energies (solar radiation, wind and oil), new job opportunities, creating local and regional markets and supplying processed products, as well as conducting training workshops based on participatory and social forestry were recommended.

Part of the forest protection mission is carried out by a special unit in the Natural Resources Offices, which is currently operating under the supervision of the IRI's police. The present study was conducted using the descriptive-survey method. The study population consisted of 220 forest guard officers in Golestan province, which 132 of them were studied by stratified random sampling method. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by face validity and referring to university professors and experts from the Natural Resources Department and officers of the Protection Unit of Golestan province. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS16 software through factor analysis. The results showed that the occupational stress of the forest guard officers is more than a moderate level. The occupational stress of the forest guard officers comes from 11 factors, among which "organizational challenges," "work hazards" and "laws and relationships," with an explained variance of 15.96, 6.38 and 6.17 respectively, have the most critical role occupational stress. Given the relatively high level of job stress of forest conservation officers, serious action needs to be taken to reduce it. Ensuring the suitability of individual characteristics with forest conservation jobs, upgrading conservation officers' knowledge of laws and procedures to resolve conflicts with local communities, paying adequate and timely salaries, providing the necessary equipment, reduce the extent of the area under the protection and training of individual strategies for coping with stress is the suggestions of the present study to reduce job stress.

The present research aimed to investigate effects of social capital on stakeholder's participation in Tang-e Sulak watershed in Likakin county of Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad province. The research method was descriptive-applied and conducted using stratified random sampling method. Study population included rural households in eight villages (N=754). Based on Morgan's sample, 256 persons in selected households have been interviewed as the sample size. Results showed that relational aspect of social capital and also conservation aspect of participation were at top priority. There were significant relationships between social capital and number of household members and education. Furthermore, significant positive relationships were found between age, duration of residence number of household members, ranching experience and agriculture experience with participation in forestry plans.