Document Type : Research
Authors
1
PhD Student in Agricultural Development, Faculty of Agriculture, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran
2
Assistant Professor, Khuzestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Ahvaz, Iran
Abstract
Agricultural land use conversion and its aggravating factors are among the environmental challenges in the country and, after water scarcity, are considered one of the most important fundamental problems of Iranian agriculture. Therefore, identifying the factors affecting land use change and conversion is important. The main objective of this study is to analyze the factors affecting the change and conversion of agricultural land use to other uses such as recreation areas, etc. in Iran. To investigate this issue, 12 experts from the country's agricultural and natural resources research and education centers in the field of land use assessment and change were used to achieve group agreement among the experts using the purposive and snowball sampling methods and the fuzzy Delphi technique in two stages, and from the 72 extracted indicators, 28 indicators in four groups (economic, social-cultural, legal-institutional, environmental-infrastructure) were selected as the most important factors affecting land use change. The factors affecting land use change were selected based on the opinions of experts, among which the legal and institutional factor was more important, and in this dimension, the lack of proper planning by the government to preserve agricultural lands with a weight of 0.0992, the lack of decisive action by the authorities. With land use changers with a weight of 0.0973 and the dependence of organizations and departments on income from land use change with a weight of 0.0968, they were ranked first to third. Considering these factors can play an important role in managing agricultural land use change. Therefore, the need to revise the land governance structure, examine and correct gaps in land use change laws and existing legal provisions, prevent fragmentation of agricultural lands, and promote culture and improve the level of information among rural communities regarding the necessity of preserving agricultural land use and familiarizing them with the consequences and damages of agricultural land use change by the government can be a suitable solution for protecting agricultural lands.
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