Assessing the effects of desertification control projects using socio-economic indicators in the arid regions of eastern Iran

Desertification control projects are implemented against the desertification process, but to reduce the environmental and socio-economic impacts of this threat, their effectiveness must be evaluated. This study aims to assess these projects in the east of Iran using socio-economic criteria. Rates of migration, education, and participation and also factors of poverty, health, income and livelihood, investment, and employment are used to assess social and economic criteria, respectively. Forty-seven individuals were selected among local elders, facilitators, executive managers, and as well as experts and specialists at relevant organizations and agencies. Data were collected via questionnaires, deep interviews, and direct observation. Furthermore, the Delphi method was applied to rank and prioritize the indicators. The validity and reliability of the questionnaires were calculated according to the opinion of the expert community and also using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data were analyzed in SPSS. The reliability of the questionnaire was 0.893 based on Cronbach's alpha. The results of a one-sample t-test showed that the desertification control projects had moderate effectiveness and significantly improved employment and income indicators ( p -value = 0.046), while the investment indicator had not changed significantly. According to the result of the Friedman test, the desertification control projects have had moderate effectiveness and have significantly improved the employment and income indicators. Although the investment indicator had not changed significantly, the rate of participation was highly increased, followed by education, migration, employment, health, and income. However, the projects were unable to reduce emigration. Such projects can be more effective if social, economic, and environmental indicators improved in parallel.