The role of social capital in forest conservation: An approach to deal with deforestation

Understanding the position of social capital to coping with deforestation is very important. In this regard, the main goal of this study is to investigate the effect of social capital of rural households on forest conservation behavior (FCB) in Iran. The three specialized goals of this research include (1) the role of social capital of rural people in facilitating forest conservation measures (2) identifying the most effective factors of social capital influencing forest conservation (3) identifying the mechanism of social capital's effect on FCB. In this study, questionnaire survey method and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used. The statistical population included all the rural communities inside and on the edge of Arasbaran forests in the northwest of Iran. The results showed that the components of social capital (social trust, social networks and social engagement) can facilitate forest conservation measures and were able to explain 46.3 % of its variance. In addition, the findings indicated that these components affect protective measures through a specific mechanism, which means that they can affect protective behaviors by influencing the cognition of policies and increasing the awareness of rural communities. In general, the results of this research, in addition to improving the existing knowledge, provide new insights for the policy-makers and ultimately help the sustainable management of the forests in this region. [Display omitted] •Does the social capital of local people play a significant role in facilitating their forest protection measures?•What is the most effective factor of social capital influencing FCB?•Through what mechanism does social capital affect FCB?