Introduction and purpose: Since the 1970s, in line with centralized forest management, participatory forest management (PFM) emerged as one of the novel approaches to forest resource governance, playing a significant role in enhancing sustainable forest conservation and improving the livelihoods of local communities. This approach emphasizes the active participation of local communities in decision-making, implementation, and monitoring of forest resource management, with the aim of simultaneously achieving sustainable forest conservation and sustainable livelihoods for local communities. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between participatory forest management and the sustainable livelihoods of rural households in forested areas, as well as sustainable forest conservation in the Zagros forests.
Materials and Methods: The research method of this study is quantitative in nature and adopts a descriptive–analytical design with a survey-based approach. The statistical population of this study consisted of all household heads in areas where participatory forest management (PFM) projects have been implemented in five villages—Taram and Rabat-Kuh, Dourak Sofla, Maze-Reshteh, Gazestan, and Tabarak Sofla—located in the Bazoft District of Kuhrang County. A census sampling method was employed, whereby all eligible household heads in PFM implementation areas were included in the study. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire covering demographic characteristics, participation in PFM, sustainable livelihoods (including human, social, financial, physical, and natural capital), and sustainable forest conservation. Data were analyzed using SPSS (version 26) and SmartPLS (version 4). In this study, the measurement and structural models were rigorously evaluated using established validity and reliability criteria.The results showed that all items and indicators had high factor loadings above 0.6. Moreover, the internal consistency reliability indices (Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability [CR], and rho_A) and convergent validity (AVE) were also at acceptable levels (AVE≥0.5 and CR≥0.7). In addition, the assessment of discriminant validity using the HTMT criterion (values below 0.85) confirmed the distinctiveness and independence of the studied constructs. Finally, the overall model fit was assessed using the GOF index (0.656), which exceeded the threshold (0.36).
Results: In this study, based on the obtained results, the value of R2 for the level of participation in PFM was found to be 0.473, indicating that approximately 47.3% of the variations in this construct are explained by exogenous variables. This value indicates a relatively good explanatory power of the model in accounting for the variable measuring the level of participation in the implementation of PFM. In addition, based on the results obtained, the value of R2 for the variable of sustainable livelihood was found to be 0.443. This result shows that 44.3% of the changes in the sustainable livelihood variable are explained by the variable measuring the level of participation in the implementation of PFM. Additionally, for the variable representing the level of sustainable conservation, the R2 value was found to be 0.857, indicating a strong explanatory power for this construct. Therefore, 85.7% of the variations in the variable “level of sustainable protection,” which represents one of the main objectives of participatory forest management and a prerequisite for the Zagros forests of Iran, are explained by the two variables “level of sustainable livelihood” and “level of participation in PFM implementation.”
The results obtained from the structural model analysis using the bootstrapping technique indicate that the level of participation in PFM has a positive and significant impact on the level of sustainable protection (β=0.413, t = 7.131, p<0.000). This finding suggests that as the participation of local communities in participatory forest management processes increases, the level of sustainable forest protection also rises. The variable “level of participation in the implementation of participatory forest management” has a positive and significant impact on the “level of sustainable livelihood” (β=0.666, t = 12.951, p<0.000). This relationship exhibits the strongest positive path coefficient within the model, indicating that increased implementation of participatory forest management programs and greater community involvement in executing these programs lead to a significant improvement in their sustainable livelihood levels. Furthermore, based on the findings of this research, the statistical relationship between the variables “level of sustainable livelihood” and “level of sustainable forest protection” has been found to be positive and significant. In other words, the variable “level of sustainable livelihood” of local communities has a positive and significant impact on the “level of sustainable forest protection”.
Discussion and Conclusion: According to the results of this research, 3.47% of the variations in the level of individual participation in the implementation of Participatory Forest Management (PFM) programs are explained by the predictor variables within the model. This result indicates a moderate to relatively favorable explanatory power for this construct. For the “sustainable livelihood” construct, 3.44% of the variations in individuals’ sustainable livelihood level are explained by the variable of participation level in the implementation of the Participatory Forest Management (PFM) project. This highlights the significant role and importance of participation in PFM implementation, as well as the crucial contribution of participatory forest management programs and collaborative forestry to the sustainable livelihood of local forest-dependent communities. This highlights the significant role and importance of participation in PFM implementation, as well as the crucial contribution of participatory forest management programs and collaborative forestry to the sustainable livelihood of local forest-dependent communities. The most prominent and significant finding regarding the explanatory power of this research’s model pertains to the sustainable conservation construct, for which an R² value of 0.857 was obtained. This result indicates that approximately 85.7% of the variations in the level of sustainable conservation—a key objective in Zagros forest management—are explained by the variables of participation level in PFM implementation and sustainable livelihood level.
Based on the obtained results, the level of participation in PFM program implementation has a positive and statistically significant impact on the sustainable conservation of the forest. This finding demonstrates that an increase in local participation in participatory forestry programs leads to an improvement in the sustainable conservation of natural resources. This relationship signifies that the successful implementation of PFM programs not only contributes to forest conservation but also directly leads to the improvement of the livelihood status of local communities. .