Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Understanding the Contribution of Non-timber Forest Products to the Livelihoods of Forest Dwellers in the Northern Zagros in Iran

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Small-scale Forestry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

One of the features of the forest dwellers in the Zagros region of Iran is their dependence on non-timber forest products (NTFPs). These products can play an important role in the livelihood of households located in the forest. The present study aims to determine the most important sources of forest dwellers’ incomes in the northern Zagros in terms of three income groups (lower, middle, and higher), to assess how changes in income are related to types of NTFPs harvested, and to investigate the most significant socio-economic factors determining absolute and relative household revenue from NTFPs. Income in higher- and middle-income groups come predominantly from border trade between Iran and Iraq, comprising 50 and 44 % of relative income, respectively. The main source of income for the lower-income group is remittance and government interest (such as cash subsidies), comprising 31 % of total household annual income. The relative income from NTFPs depends on the income group, varying between 10 and 21 %. Relative income from NTFPs (such as oak acorns, firewood, Gazoo, and Mazooj) for lower-income households is significantly higher than in middle- and higher-income households (p < 0.05). Feed used for grazing livestock in the forest is the most important type of NTFPs in this area, and its benefit in the higher-income group is significantly higher than that for groups with middle and lower income. A similar result is achieved for tree fodder. Relative income from the NTFPs is positively related to number of household members and negatively related to the average education of adult members of the household, the relative income from border trade, and the relative income from agriculture. Our results support our hypothesis that if there is access to other sources of income for forest dwellers, their dependence on forests would be reduced.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adhikari B, Di Falco S, Lovett JC (2004) Household characteristics and forest dependency: evidence from common property forest management in Nepal. Ecol Econ 48(2):245–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold JM, Pérez MR (2001) Can non-timber forest products match tropical forest conservation and development objectives? Ecol Econ 39(3):437–447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babulo B, Muys B, Nega F, Tollens E, Nyssen J, Deckers J, Mathijs E (2009) The economic contribution of forest resource use to rural livelihoods in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. For Policy Econ 11:109–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belcher B, Ruiz-Pérez M, Achdiawan R (2005) Global Patterns and trends in the use and management of commercial NTFPs: implications for livelihoods and conservation. World Dev 33(9):1435–1452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brouwer R, Falcão MP (2004) Wood fuel consumption in Maputo, Mozambique. Biomass Bioenergy 27:233–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CIFOR (2010) The poverty environment network (PEN) prototype questionnaire. http://www.cifor.org/fileadmin/fileupload/PEN/pubs/pdf_files/PEN_Prototype_Questionnaire_-_version_4-4_-_September_2008.pdf. Accessed 3 July 2013

  • CIFOR (2011) Forests and non-timber forest products. CIFOR fact sheets. http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/corporate/factSheet/NTFP.htm. Accessed 14 May 2015

  • Croitoru L (2007) Valuing the non-timber forest products in the Mediterranean region. Ecol Econ 63:768–775

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egero AS (2014) Rural households’ fuelwood demand determinants in dryland areas of eastern Uganda. Energy Source 9:39–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2008) Links between national forest programmes and poverty reduction strategies. ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/k3730e/k3730e.pdf. Accessed 15 May 2015

  • Geravand Z (2013) Investigating the role of charcoal production in the livelihood of local residents of Aoladqobad (Lorestan–Kuhdasht). Dissertation, University of Kurdistan (in Persian)

  • Ghazanfari H, Namiranian M, Sobhani H, Mohajer RM (2004) Traditional forest management and its application to encourage public participation for sustainable forest management in the Northern Zagros Mountains of Kurdistan province, Iran. Scand J For Res 19(4):65–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hajinejad A, Pourtaheri M, Ahmadi A (2010) The effects of commercial tourism on physical-spatial development of urban areas case study: Baneh city. Hum Geo Res Q 70:91–109 (in Persian)

    Google Scholar 

  • Heubach K, Wittig R, Nuppenau EA, Hahn K (2011) The economic importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for livelihood maintenance of rural west African communities: a case study from northern Benin. Ecol Econ 70:1991–2001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogarth NJ, Belcher B, Campbell B, Stacey N (2013) The role of forest-related income in household economies and rural livelihoods in the border-region of southern China. World Dev 43:111–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jazirehi MH, Ebrahimi Rastaghi M (2003) Silviculture in Zagros. University of Tehran Press, Tehran (in Persian)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamanga P, Vedeld P, Sjaastad E (2009) Forest incomes and rural livelihoods in Chiradzulu District, Malawi. Ecol Econ 68:613–624

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kar PS, Jacobson MG (2012) NTFP income contribution to household economy and related socio-economic factors: lessons from Bangladesh. For Policy Econ 14:136–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khosravi S, Namiranian M, Ghazanfari H, Shirvani A (2012) Crown biomass relationships of Lebanon oak in northern Zagros forests of Iran. Croat J For Eng 33(2):239–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Kusters K, Achdiawan R, Belcher B, Ruiz Pérez M (2006) Balancing development and conservation? An assessment of livelihood and environmental outcomes of nontimber forest product trade in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Ecol Soc 11(2):20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahdavi A, Shamekhi T, Sobhani H (2011) The role of non-wood forest products in livelihood of forest dwellers (Case study: Kamyaran city, Kurdistan province). Iran J For Poplar Res 19(3):370–379 (in Persian)

    Google Scholar 

  • Mamo G, Sjaastad E, Vedeld P (2007) Economic dependence on forest resources: a case from Dendi district, Ethiopia. For Policy Econ 9(8):916–927

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohammadi M, Dini M, Tavakoli M (2003) Investigatian of oak manna of Quercus infectoria (gas-e-alafi) and production mechanism and utilization. Iran J Med Aromat Plants 19(4):367–387 (in Persian)

    Google Scholar 

  • Nygren A, Lacuna-Richman C, Keinanen K, Alsa L (2006) Ecological, socio-cultural, economic and political factors influencing the contribution of non-timber forest products to local livelihoods: case studies from Honduras and the Philippines. Small-Scale For Econ Manag Policy 5:249–269

    Google Scholar 

  • PEN (2007) PEN technical guidelines version 4. Poverty and Environment Network. http://www.cifor.org/pen/research-tools/the-pen-technical-guidelines.html. Accessed 29 Sept 2013

  • Perez MR, Byron N (1999) A methodology to analyze divergent case studies of non-timber forest products and their development potential. For Sci 45(1):1–4

    Google Scholar 

  • Rayamajhi S, Smith-Hall C, Helles F (2012) Empirical evidence of the economic importance of Central Himalayan forests to rural households. For Policy Econ 20:25–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salehi A, Karltun LC, Söderberg U, Eriksson LO (2010) Livelihood dependency on woodland resources in southern Zagros, Iran. Casp J Environ Sci 8(2):181–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaanker RU, Ganeshaiah KN, Krishnan S, Ramya R, Meera C, Aravind NA, Kumar A, Rao D, Vanaraj G, Ramachandra J, Gauthier R (2004) Livelihood gains and ecological costs of non-timber forest product dependence: assessing the roles of dependence, ecological knowledge and market structure in three contrasting human and ecological settings in south India. Environ Conserv 31(3):242–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shackleton C, Shackleton S (2004) The importance of non-timber forest products in rural livelihood security and as safety nets: a review of evidence from South Africa. S Afr J Sci 100(11–12):658–664

    Google Scholar 

  • Soltani A, Shamekhi T, Noori Naieni MS, Arabmazar A (2011) Effects of forest resources on income distribution and poverty (Case study: watershed of Tang Tamoradi). J For Wood Prod (Iran J Nat Res) 63(4):369–385 (in Persian)

    Google Scholar 

  • Statistical Centre of Iran (2012) Data of the 2011 National Population and Housing Census http://www.amar.org.ir/Portals/0/sarshomari90/Files/ABADY-90/os12.xls. Accessed 10 May 2015

  • Ticktin T (2004) The ecological implications of harvesting non-timber forest products. J Appl Ecol 41(1):11–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Türker M, Pak M, Öztürk A (2005) Turkey. In: Merlo M, Croitoru L (eds) Valuing Mediterranean forests: towards total economic value. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, pp 195–211

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Völker M, Waibel H (2010) Do rural households extract more forest products in times of crisis? Evidence from the mountainous uplands of Vietnam. For Policy Econ 12:407–414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (2005) Islamic Republic of Iran. Cost assessment of environmental degradation. Rural Development, Water and Environment Department, Middle East and North Africa Region. Washington. http://earthmind.net/marine/docs/wb-2005-iran-cost-environmental-degradation.pdf. Accessed 20 Sept 2014

  • Yachkaschi A, Adeli K, Latifi H, Mohammadi Samani K, Seifollahian M (2010) Trends in forest ownership, forest resources tenure and institutional arrangements: are they contributing to better forest management and poverty reduction? A case study from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Prepared for Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations, Tehran

  • Yemiru T, Roos A, Campbell BM, Bohlin F (2010) Forest incomes and poverty alleviation under participatory forest management in the Bale Highlands, Southern Ethiopia. Int Forest Rev 12(1):66–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zandebasiri M, Ghazanfari H (2010) The main consequences of affecting factors on forest management of local settlers in the Zagross forests (case study: Ghalegol watershed in Lorestan province). Iran J For 2(2):127–138 (in Persian)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zenteno M, Zuidema PA, de Jong W, Boot RGA (2013) Livelihood strategies and forest dependence: new insights from Bolivian forest communities. For Policy Econ 26:12–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our appreciation to all the households that contributed to the study. We gratefully acknowledge the kind help of Dr. Christie Klimas in reviewing and improving the English of the paper. And our thanks to the anonymous reviewers who offered very useful comments on an earlier draft of the article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculture, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Sheyda Khosravi, Rahim Maleknia & Mahdi Khedrizadeh

Authors
  1. Sheyda Khosravi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rahim Maleknia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mahdi Khedrizadeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rahim Maleknia.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Khosravi, S., Maleknia, R. & Khedrizadeh, M. Understanding the Contribution of Non-timber Forest Products to the Livelihoods of Forest Dwellers in the Northern Zagros in Iran. Small-scale Forestry 16, 235–248 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-016-9353-y

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-016-9353-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation