Impacts of the Hara Biosphere Reserve on Livelihood and Welfare in Persian Gulf

[en] Despite the importance of biosphere reserves in Iran's livelihood and welfare, the economic significance of Hara Biosphere Reserve has never been comprehensively studied. This study examines the current importance of Hara Biosphere Reserve (HBR) in local livelihood and welfare. Using a household survey, data were collected through a questionnaire, key informant interviews and direct observations. Two hundred and forty-four households were randomly selected from 10 villages through proportional sampling. Results showed that non-environmental income was the first driver of the total income, poverty alleviation and narrowing income inequality gap. Park income was the second. The results also showed that excluding park income from total income would significantly increase headcount poverty, widen the poverty gap, and raise the Gini coefficient. Wealthier households had the greatest absolute income from the environment, including forest, fishing and fodder. However, the poorest group had smallest absolute income from these sources. Thus, the study demonstrated that wealthier households are responsible for the overharvesting of environmental resources. Interestingly, the study showed that wealthier households are more dependent on profitable environmental incomes sources while the poorest are more dependent on non-profitable ones.

Disciplines :

Environmental sciences & ecology

Author, co-author :

Dehghani Pour, Milad

Motiee, Naser

Akbar Barati, Ali

Taheri, Fatemeh

Azadi, Hossein

Gebrehiwot, Kindeya

Lebailly, Philippe ; Université de Liège > Agronomie, Bio-ingénierie et Chimie (AgroBioChem) > Modélisation et développement

Van Passel, Steven

Witlox, Frank

Language :

English

Title :

Impacts of the Hara Biosphere Reserve on Livelihood and Welfare in Persian Gulf

Publication date :

2017

Journal title :

Ecological Economics

ISSN :

0921-8009

eISSN :

1873-6106

Publisher :

Elsevier Science

Volume :

141

Issue :

November 2017

Pages :

76–86

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800916307303

Available on ORBi :

since 06 June 2017

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