The study of causes and factors of illegal logging in Caspian Forests

The Hyrcanian or Caspian Forests in Northern Iran are facing critical forest degradation due to unauthorized harvesting and illegal logging (IL). This study investigates the causes and factors of IL in the Caspian Forest. Open interviews were conducted with 51 stakeholders to gather data, which was analyzed using the Grounded theory method. In the open coding, the text of the informants' interviews was broken into concept codes and then categorized. In the axial coding, the relationships between the extracted codes were specified, and in the selective coding, the connections between them were illustrated. In open coding, 22 codes relating to IL were obtained. Based on the paradigm model, the position and connections between the causes and factors around the central issue of IL are determined. Then, the codes were divided in to five components consisting of causal conditions (one), context conditions (seven), intervening conditions (11), action/interaction (three), and consequences (one). The study found that "the collapse of the forest management system and the lack of plans for forest resources conservation" is the fundamental causality for IL. Further, contextual conditions such as high unemployment, poverty, subsistence livelihood, and intervening conditions such as weakness and absence of a system for monitoring IL have significant roles in intensifying it. The result of these conditions has caused the actions/interactions in which some people's greed in earning money with little effort and enormous profits from IL; avoidance of wood industries from tariffs and taxes by IL and "conflict between violators and forest guards, and legal and social issues. The consequences of these actions/interactions include deforestation, biodiversity loss, floods, and landslides. To address these issues, the study suggests establishing forest management systems in the context of forest management plans and providing the essential equipment, facilities, and human capital. The forest management plans should be prepared with local communities' participation, and reduce their direct dependence on the forest resources. This point can moderately unravel infrastructural, managerial, and supervisory barriers toward IL.