A Proposal for a Comparative Assessment Process and Environmental Planning for Sustainable Rural Development in Iran

Sustainable development can only be realized and maintained by looking at socio-economic and ecological parameters together with a systematic, coordinated and multi dimensional approach. The sustainability of such a development can be possible in this surroundings. Sustainable rural development in Iran faces serious challenges from mobilization, and the social, economic, and physical resource management. Present planning process is carried out without due consideration of the regional relative advantages, it is sectoral, top down and destructive. This paper is an attempt to analyze the present situation of rural society in Iran. Other countries experiences will also be reviewed with the aim to remove deficiencies and to propose a strategy for sustainable rural development. This study will use systems analysis methodology in research and proposes a new process in which sustainable rural development planning in Iran is based on the results from different environmental assessment for each region.