درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Purpose - Niche tourism refers to how to use a particular tourism product tailored to the needs of a particular segment of the market. Places with niche tourism products are able to achieve a high position and consolidate their future position in the tourism market. This type of tourism helps distinguish tourism products by creating an image of the destination and helping compete in the increasingly crowded environment of the tourism market. This paper investigates and analyzes the niche tourism attractions in Ghaleh Rudkhan tourist destination village using activity-based segmentation, the attitudes of the host community in dealing with niche tourism development, and the ability to implement tourism projects and socio-economic factors influencing tourism development in the region, which eventually offers solutions to overcome the current and potential challenges in the study area. To collect the data, interview-based methods, focus group interviews, individual observations and analysis of the documents obtained from different sources were used. Design/methodology/approach - A questionnaire was designed and distributed among 383 tourists and 190 rural employees. The data of this study were mainly evaluated using thematic and content analysis methods. Besides, we have also introduced the niche tourism potentials and tourism activities in the region. Finding - The results show that thanks to the economic and social opportunities, local communities support tourism development in Ghaleh Rudkhan; however, the challenges associated with tourism marketing, event management, uncertainty of private sector investors and environmental issues must be addressed through a participatory approach.

Purpose- Currently he occurrence of recent droughts in Iran and the severity of its damage indicate the vulnerability of farmers. The economic-environmental damages and the resilience farmers to this incident are evident in diverse ways. Therefore, recognizing the resilience of the population influenced by drought can offer a tool to prevent life-threatening disaster in high-risk areas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the economic resilience of rural households to drought in plain of Kermanshah and answer the following questions. What is the extent of economic resilience of rural households in Mahidasht to drought? What are the most important factors affecting the economic resilience of rural households to drought? Design/methodology/approach- This is an applied research and a descriptive-analytical method along with library analysis and field surveys were adopted for data collection. The statistical population of this study consisted of 5081 households, out of whom 357 samples were selected according to Cochran's formula. Descriptive and inferential statistics (One-sample t-test) and structural equation modeling were used for data analysis. Findings- According to the results of t-test, the variables of vulnerability of villagers' property and assets (mean=3.99) and the impact of drought on the value of assets (mean=3.86) gained the highest average in terms of resilience. On the contrary, the two variables of ability to compensate (mean=1.67) and membership in cooperatives and agricultural companies (mean=1.67) had the lowest averages. Moreover, the test results of all four variables of evaluating farmers’ knowledge and awareness indicate a correlation between the independent variables (prevention, preparedness, reconstruction, institutional management) and the dependent variable (economic resilience). Therefore, it can be contended that the economic resilience of Mahidasht is fairly weak.

Purpose- Social responsibility for environmental protection at all levels and strata of society is an issue that is explicitly emphasized in paragraph 14 of the General Environmental Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the villagers as the main users of environmental resources are expected to take environmental responsibility without exception. The purpose of this study was to investigate and identify level of responsibility of environmental behaviors of villagers and determine social factors affecting it. Design/methodology/approach- In this research, the framework of social psychology was used and the research method was survey and cross-sectional. The unit of analysis is the rural individuals. The statistical population of the study is all residents of rural areas of Mazandaran province in 1398/2019. The sampling method of multi-stage cluster sampling was used. The number of study villages surveyed was 30 villages and the sample size was 536 people. The data required for the research were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire. Finding- The results showed that the level of responsible environmental behavior of villagers is at a moderate level. In addition, the results of multivariate analyzes indicate that there is a significant relationship between social psychological factors (religious beliefs, environmental values and environmental knowledge) and responsible behaviors towards the environment. In the final evaluation, it can be said that the modified model of social psychological factors seems a suitable model for studying factors affecting environmental behaviors in rural communities and can be useful as a model for conducting similar research in other rural areas of the country.

Purpose- Among the most important challenges in the agricultural sector are lack of optimal use of production factors, multiplicity of parcels and dispersion of agricultural lands. Land consolidation is one of the effective solutions which can change the size of fields and organize them to increase production, especially in paddy fields, which facilities agricultural development and ultimately achieves a sustainable livelihood in rural areas. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the success rate of paddy field consolidation project through the study of a group of farmers who are included in the land consolidation project. Design/Method/Approach- The population of the study consisted of 285 farmers from 11 villages of Choobar rural district in Shaft County who have been selected by regular sampling method. To collect the data, library and survey methods (observation and questionnaires) have been used. Cronbach's alpha was used to measure the reliability of the research tools, and in the analytical part, single-sample t-test was used to evaluate the success rate of the project in Choobar rural district; To investigate the relationship between land consolidation project and improvement in economic indicators of rural households, initially Spearman correlation coefficient was used, then simple regression test and coefficient of determination R2 were used to measure the effectiveness of the project on economic indicators. Finding- The research findings on the level of economic and social dimensions and the assessment of the success rate of the project in Choobar rural district showed the project was moderately to highly successful in the study area. The effects of the project in improving the socio-economic indicators of rural households in Choobar rural district are such that the highest correlations were found between the project and economic indicators in the use of machinery, land infrastructure, productivity, household employment, ease of access to machinery and manpower, income, and investment; At the level of social indicators the highest correlations were respectively found in interpersonal and generalized trust, objective participation, sense of physical security, insurance services, formal participation, conflict reduction and institutional trust. From farmers’ perspective, among the socio-economic indicators, the infrastructure indicator which is created by the government and the use of machinery after the implementation of the project, and the ease of access to machinery and manpower, interpersonal and generalized trust have had the greatest impact on the implementation of the project.