Social network analysis of human - environment conflict management based on evidence of wolf attacks in local communities of Hamadan province

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD student of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agricultural Economics and Development, University of Tehran-Karaj-Iran.

4 Associate Professor, Research Unit of Biodiversity (UO/CSIC/PA), Oviedo University, 33600, Mieres, Spain.

Abstract

Nowadays, in western Iran, especially Hamadan province, conflicts between local communities and wolves has peaked and has become a major concern for local people. In this research, in order to investigate the role of social components, social network analysis was used to portrait a scenario in reducing conflict between local communities and environment. To the end, the aim of this study was to find the most important social events under human decisions in reducing conflict between human and the environment. Decisions that they state can provide a conservation structure for local communities. For this purpose, in areas of Hamadan province that had the most wolf attack points, using Daniel method and based on households throughout the county villages in this province a total of 400 questionnaires about local people's decision related to wolf attacks in the form of events such as help from Department of Environment (HDOE), help from village head, using of livestock-guarding dogs, children's education, television and newspaper as well as aggressive acts such as killing wolves were design and in 2016 social networks and related measures was illustrated  for behavior analysis and for extracting a scenario. Our results showed that, among the methods used by local communities, education, livestock-guarding dogs and help by village head respectively, have the highest centrality in conservation network. The consent of local communities after using each of these methods has increased compared to before use. Help by HDOE head has the lowest degree of centrality in this network. With determining the pivotal role of environmental education, we proposed that education to local communities should be placed at the top of management actions by HDOE.  

Keywords

References

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Iranian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research
Volume 49, Issue 3
August 2018
Pages 461-472

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