Evaluation of the Livestock Removal Plan from Forest and its Impact on Forest Settlers, a Case Study of Central District of Rezvanshahr, Iran

This paper analyzes the impact of the livestock removal from forest areas on the living conditions of forest settlers in the Rezvanshahr district of Guilan Province, Iran. In this research, two groups of people including local authorities and expertise in charge of the removal plan and displaced families resettled in a newly built community of Chefrood, were interviewed. The main findings of the study indicate that livestock removal plan has relatively been successful in providing public services for the displaced families, however, it has not achieved its objectives in terms of job creation and having a reliable income source for them in the new place. As a result, most of the families have lost their incomes previously depended mainly on animal husbandry. Most families removed from forest indicated their dissatisfactions from the implemented plan and asserted their willingness to return to the forest. The study reveals that the continuation of such a plan in northern Iran would not properly achieve its goals if it does not consider other aspects like providing new job and reliable income source for displaced families. Local participation is an important forest management approach which has resulted in better forest conservation, lessening the poverty, increasing the environment sustainability and formulation of effective forest regulations in several places in the world. Such a policy could be implemented in northern Iran too.