[en] The purpose of this study was to explore the willingness of farmers to participate in the management and conservation of the wetlands in Iran. Theoretically, our study introduces social identity models of collective action into the discourse of sustainable wetland management for the first time. The study site was Ghara Gheshlagh Wetland one of the important wetlands in northwestern Iran. The present applied research was conducted using a cross-sectional survey. The statistical population was the farming communities around the Ghara Gheshlagh Wetland. A proportionally allocated multi-staged stratified random sampling approach was employed to select 373 farmers as a representative sample. The data collection tool was a closed-ended questionnaire whose validity and reliability were tested and approved. The results indicated that the social identity model of collective action (SIMCA) and the encapsulation model of social identity in collective action (EMSICA) were able to explain 0.45 and 0.40 of the variance changes in the farmers' willingness to participate in the management and conservation of the wetland. This finding reveals that the environmental and wetland policies and management practice require collective determination, formation of collective identity beliefs, and we thinking system. Therefore, the SIMCA can better assist wetland managers, policy-makers, practitioners, and socio-ecological intervenors than the EMSICA because of its emphasis on social identity.
Disciplines :
Environmental sciences & ecology
Author, co-author :
Valizadeh, Naser ; Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Sadeghi Shahrnoy, Kaveh ; Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran, Iran
Bijani, Masoud ; Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran, Iran
Hayati, Dariush ; Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Hallaj, Zeynab ; Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran, Iran
Azadi, Hossein ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Modélisation et développement ; Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic ; Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Language :
English
Title :
Towards conserving wetlands: Application of the social identity model of collective action
The authors would like to thank all the participants who dedicated their time and energy to give the required information for the present study. Their sense of responsibility in sharing information was really impressive and admirable. The authors' thanks also go to Ali Faghani who did his best in designing figures and increasing their resolution. In the end, special thanks go to the reviewers whose invaluable and genuine remarks improved the quality of the manuscript.
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