Journal of Spatial Analysis

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Prioritization analysis of effective factors in non-participation of local societies in desertification projects (Case Study: Ain Khosh region, Ilam province)
 
Introduction
Participation in social affairs is a commitment and acceptance of individual and social responsibility that all human beings will have to accept. This commitment and responsibilities may take the form of definite and unlimited activities. By increasing the population and the complexity of the goals and efforts of the human community to advance economic, cultural, social and political goals, we inevitably need partnership and cooperation. Participation means using personal resources to participate in a collective action. The first step is to increase popular participation in desertification initiatives, identify and remove barriers to effective non-participation in project implementation. The main objective of this research is to prioritize the factors affecting the lack of public participation in desertification plans using the FUZZY-AHP method and the Friedman nonparametric test.
 
Materials and methods
The statistical population of the study consisted of households in Ein-e-Khosh village of Dehloran Ilam and experts of Ilam University and natural resources organization of Ilam province and Dehloran County with more than ten years’ experience in combating desertification issues. In this research, the indexes and sub-indicators related to library studies, questionaire from experts of the university, experts from the Natural Resources Department of Ilam province and Dehloran city, as well as referring to the region and interviews with the residents of the region were identified. Then, the questionnaire designed by the FAHP method evaluated by inconsistency rate and its validity and reliability by Likert scale, and finally tried to prioritizing them based on the following steps. First, the prioritization of the indicators was performed from the expert's point of view using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP). Then, the prioritization of the indicators from the perspective of experts by application of Friedman test and finally, the priority of indices and sub-indicators by the local point of view with Friedman's test.
 
Results and discussion
The findings of the research showed that the ranking of indices using Friedman's nonparametric test is based on the average rating from the viewpoint of residents of the region, respectively, economic index, design-executive, educational-promotional, and social. Also, this prioritization from the perspective of experts using the FUZZY-AHP test is design-executive, economic, educational, promotional and social priority, respectively. Also, the results showed that in the total of 15 identified subcategories influencing the lack of public participation in combating desertification projects, from the perspective of experts, the sub-design of the design-executive entitled "Short-term, mid-term and long-term non-planning for participation" with the average rating of 11.68 was the most important and the sub-index, "Migration of youth in the countryside" with the average rating of 3.59, is the most insignificant sub-indicator. However, from the perspective of residents in the region, the underlying economic indexes "disregarding people's income as a direct incentive to implement combating desertification projects" with an average of 11.24, the most significant and sub-indicator of the design-executive "lack of full allocation of funds during the implementation of combating desertification projects" with average rating of 5.63 is the most significant sub-indicator, which indicates that economic indicators and design-executive, along with the sub-indexes, are the most important reasons for non-participation of people in combating desertification projects in the study area.
Due to the fact that the indicators and sub-indicators are identified based on the opinions of experts and locals in the study area, this has led to familiarizing the respondents with the research. In this research, the FAHP and Friedman test were used. According to the topic of the research in the field of public participation, the best tool for measuring the comprehensive statistical view of experts including experts and locals with regard to the study area is considered. In the reliability of the FAHP questionnaire, the responsiveness questionnaire has high reliability with regard to the multi-stage and multi-stage couples comparing method and the incompatibility rate test (mean 0.043 inconsistency rate). Cronbach's alpha test was used for Likert scale questionnaires. Results (Cronbach's alpha = 0.83) showed that the questionnaire had acceptable reliability. So, results is in consistence with other researchers' findings, including Saleh Pourjem et al. (2017).
 
Conclusion
According to the results obtained from prioritization, it has been shown that in the subject of participation, in spite of the difference between the views of experts and the people of the region, in some cases, the main priorities in the discussion of non-participation are almost similar; these results are consistent with the studies of previous researchers such as Saleh Pourjem et al. (2017).
It is suggested that the removal of obstacles to public participation in combating desertification projects be put on the agenda of trusteeship organizations and public participation in all stages of design, implementation and future protection in the combating desertification projects will be considered.
 
Keywords: People’s Participation, MCDM, FUZZY-AHP, Friedman Test