Prioritizing impact of economic, social and ecologicalfactors on sustainable range management (Case study:semi-arid rangelands of Kerman Province, Iran)

Economic, social, and ecological factors in rangelands affect range management. by integrating and studying these factors,a more appropriate method can be applied to assess the sustainability of rangelands. in the present study, analyticalhierarchy process (ahp) as well as the experiences and views of rangeland exploiters and nomadic and natural resourcesexperts in kerman province were used to compare and prioritize the economic, social, and ecological factors affectingsustainable range management in semi-arid rangelands of kerman province in 2017. then, the means comparisons weremade between priorities of rangeland exploiters and experts. using ahp weight data, our results showed that ecologicalcapital had the most impact of 0.71 and 0.61 from the viewpoints of rangeland exploiters and experts, on sustainablerange management in the study area, and the two other factors including economic ones with 0.17 and 0.19 and socialones with 0.09 and 0.19 capital were ranked, respectively. furthermore, according to the results of comparing the viewsof rangeland exploiters and experts, significant differences were found between the views of the two mentioned groupsfor 14 indicators including plant species diversity, soil erosion, groundwater, unity and solidarity at the range allotmentlevel, trusting the experts and promoters, the presence of people in decision making and planning, the presence and roleof women in livestock and non-livestock products, living cost, and livestock number. overall, the results indicate theinconsistency between the views of these two groups. therefore, prior to policy making for sustainable range management,more consistency is required between the views of rangeland exploiters and experts in each of the related organizations forgreater participation of range managers.