The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Employment, Income of Local People and Conservation of Hircanian Forests from the Viewpoint of Vaz Area Residents, Noor City

Indigenous knowledge refers to a set of skills, values, beliefs and methods of a social group that has been inherited in various areas of life through the experiences and approval of generations of generations. A great number of villagers have been living on the outskirts of the valuable Hircanian forests of northern Iran for hundreds of years. This research was carried out with the aim of the role of indigenous knowledge in employment, income of local people and conservation of forests of Vaz, city of Noor. The research was a survey and information gathering method in this documentary-field study and data gathering tool was questionnaire and interview. To determine the validity of the research, expertschr('39') opinions were used and to determine its reliability was applied the Cronbachchr('39')s alpha (0.8) and SPSS software. The statistical population consisted of residents of the area of ​​Vaz (800 people) and the sample size (260) was randomized using Cochran sampling method. In order to prove the hypotheses, inferential statistics such as Spearman Correlation Coefficient (for quantitative data), chi-square’s test, one-variable regression and one-sample t-test were used. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between the educations, the duration of the presence in the area, the employment, monthly income and the type of income earned by the individuals in the area with native knowledge (p≤0.05). This is while there was not a significant relation between of gender, age, place of residence, and the time of employment and income of individuals with indigenous knowledge. The results also revealed that familiarity with native knowledge creates employment and income and improves the protection of forests in the region.