Factors Influencing People’s Participation in Sustainable Natural Resources Management: A Case Study in Central Iran

Today, identifying and evaluating the factors that influence People’s Participation (PP) in Sustainable Natural Resource Management (SNRM) are the most common challenges that natural resource scientists should address. The purpose of this study was to understand the demographic, socio-cultural, and religious factors that influence PP in SNRM in Isfahan city, Iran. Using a multi-stage, stratified random sampling method, 200 experts and natural resource users were selected through Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient (0.93). Data was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. A panel of experts and Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient, respectively, approved the content validity and reliability of the questionnaire. Results showed that public awareness factors were the key elements when approaching SNRM in the view of natural resource experts, while natural resource users identified religious characteristics as the key factors that influence PP. Furthermore, the results indicated that there was no significant difference between personal characteristics (age, education background, marital status) and PP in SNRM. Thus, it can be concluded that the natural resource experts and users perceive the factors that influence the adoption of SNRM approaches differently. Since these factors are still poorly understood and vary widely across the country, more research is needed in order to better understand the PP and adoption of SNRM.