Evaluation and Comparison of Resource sustainability of Two Forest Reserves in Hamadan Province

In recent years, forest control and management in accordance with biodiversity and economic and social issues and its relationship with sustainable development has received a lot of attention. The present study aims to evaluate and compare the resource stability of two forest reserves in the valley of Somaqh   and Baneh Aznavaleh Malayer in Hamadan province. In this study, a combined method, including multi-criteria AHP evaluation method and sustainability indicators the guidelines of the 505th issue of the Forests and Rangelands Organization have been used to determine and prioritize indicators of sustainable forest management at the local level. Biodiversity, with the lowest score in both reserves including legal measures and organizational structure, economic and social functions, forest production functions, forest resources, conservation functions with the lowest score have the greatest impact on the instability of two forest reserves respectively. Somaqh Valley forest reserve with a final weight of 0.571 compared to Baneh Aznavleh forest reserve with a final weight of 0.428 has more relative stability which is due to better biodiversity and species richness. So that the Somaqh Valley Reserve with a score of 51 has moderate stability and Aznavaleh, 31 points, is in a state of instability. Biodiversity, health and well-being, conservation functions, economic and social functions of Somaqh forest reserve has better sustainability which is due to the greater differences and advantages of indicators of forest resources. Indicators show the importance of local participation in the sustainable management of both reserves. So that the lack of social acceptance is one of the most important reasons for the failure of forest rehabilitation plans and programs. The combination of AHP model technique and forest sustainability assessment indicators can be an appropriate tool for sustainable forest management.
 
Keywords: Biodiversity, Sustainable Forest Development, Somaqh Valley, Baneh  Aznavaleh
Introduction
The concept of sustainable forest management has three basic elements including economic, social and ecological sustainability, which has received much attention regarding biodiversity and economic and social issues and its relationship with sustainable development in recent years. Some criteria have been proposed to assess forest sustainability in which biodiversity is considered as one of the important criteria. Nowadays, the recognition of indicators is recognized as a tool to assess forest sustainability by planners and decision makers. Recent studies show that existing benchmarks and indicators are applicable nationally and internationally which can rarely be applied locally. In fact, these national indicators and criteria must be adjusted to make the right decision at the local level to be usable. Therefore, distances and uncertainties should be evaluated in order to determine local criteria and indicators, so that they can be used in relation to forest sustainability assessment at the local scale. These criteria and indicators should include all stakeholders with different economic and social demands and needs and be effective, useful and efficient in sustainable forest management decisions.  The present study aims to evaluate and compare the resource sustainability of two forest reserves Somaqh vally and Baneh Aznavaleh Malayer in Hamadan using a combined method to determine and prioritize sustainable forest management indicators at the local level using AHP multi-criteria evaluation method and indicators. Sustainability is the guideline of the 505th publication of the Forests and Rangelands Organization of the country.
 
Materials and Methods
In this study, a combined approach including AHP hierarchical analysis process method and guidelines of 505 Journal of Rangeland Forests Organization has been used to determine and prioritize criteria and indicators of sustainability at the local level forest reserves of Baneh Aznavaleh and Somaqh vally of Malayer in Hamadan. At first, the viewpoints of the two main groups, including local stakeholders and the second group of academics and research centers were applied to determine local criteria and indicators. Since the views of local stakeholders do not express all the challenges of sustainable management of the two repositories, we have used the second group to complete the process of determining and prioritizing the criteria. Then, the weight and absolute weight are calculated based on AHP method. In the next step, the forest stability score is calculated and compared with the absolute weight according to the instructions of the 505th publication of the Forests and Rangelands Organization. The stability of the two reserves has been evaluated.
 
 Results and Discussion
The evaluation of the criteria showed that the prioritization of the criteria based on weight, from the highest to the lowest, includes biodiversity, socio-economic issues, production roles, health and survival, legal frameworks, erosion, quality and extent, respectively. The role and impact of biodiversity with the highest weight is the most important indicator in the sustainability of both reserves. In general, the study of relative weights for each reserve, total relative weights, final weight of each reserves in terms of sustainability showed the Somaqh forest reserve are more preferred than Aznavaleh reserve in terms of biodiversity, socio-economic criteria, legal frameworks, policies Organizational, production roles and quality .The results show that the Somaqh Valley deposit with a final weight of 0.71479764 is in a better condition in terms of stability than the Baneh Aznavaleh reserves with a final weight of 0.480654343. The results of total relative weights show that after biodiversity, economic and social functions, forest production functions, forest resources range, and conservation functions have the greatest impact on the instability of both forest reserves, respectively.
 
Conclusion
Studies show that the final score of stability of Somaqh forest is 51 and Baneh Aznavaleh forest is 31, which based on the qualitative determination of sustainability indicates the existence of instability in Aznavaleh reserve and moderate stability in Somaqh valley. Surveys show that the importance of biodiversity is very important in forest sustainability leading to instability due to low scores in both reserves. Field observations show that biodiversity, health and vitality, extent and production functions and conservation are the most important indicators that are relatively better in the Somaqh forest. However, studies show that the forests of the region are not able to produce industrial wood due to special ecological conditions. Their main function is a supportive and protective role. These indicators show the importance of local people in the sustainable management of both reserves. The lack of social acceptance is one of the most important reasons for the failure of plans and programs for sustainable forest restoration and development.