The Concept of Policy Profile Ratio (PPR) in Determining Stakeholders’ Attitudes to Changing Agriculture and Natural Resources Practices

Subject Areas : forestry

fatemeh  kateb ¹ (MSc Student of Watershed Management Engineering, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.)
Abazar  EsmaliOuri ² (Professor, Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Member of Water Management Research Center, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili.(Corresponding Author))
Raoof  Mostafazadeh ³ (Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Member of Water Management Research Center, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili.)
Mearaj  Sharari ⁴ (Assistant Professor, Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Member of Water Management Research Center, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili.)
Zeinab  Hezbawi ⁵ (Assistant Professor, Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Member of Water Management Research Center, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili.)

Received: 2019-11-26 Accepted : 2020-12-21 Published : 2022-12-22

Keywords: participation, Practitioners, Power of influence, Decision making,

Abstract :

Background and Objective: It is difficult to formulate a comprehensive plan for the development of agriculture, natural resources, and watershed management to identify all the needs and issues of different stakeholders, separately. To this end, using of policy profile as a valuable tool in the watershed planning process could be helpful to identify relevant social issues, collect essential information about them, and ultimately summarize and applied these data in the agricultural and natural resources management program. Material and Methodology: The current research is descriptive-analytical in terms of method and applied research in terms of purpose. Findings: In this paper, the concept of policy profile ratio (PPR) in determining the stakeholder attitudes regarding the changing agricultural and natural resources measures, has been introduced and elaborated. In addition, a comprehensive and necessary information on the individuals, groups and organizations role on the decision making of government agencies has been provided for managers to use of stakeholder participation in decision making and implementation processes. In this approach, firstly an issue or problem and then different stakeholders of the project are identified and based on the questionnaire information; the stakeholder’s attitude will be assigned through determining their position, importance and power. Hence, the values of policy profile ratio will be computed. The values of calculated index ​​will allow to assess the role of each practitioner or stakeholder in the problem solving or deciding on it. Discussion and Conclusion: The introduced approach can be applied to identify the strengths and weaknesses of decision-making and to take various actions to solve the problem or adopt a new approach.

References:

1. Sawari, M., Eskandari Doman, H. 2018. The role of participatory management in empowering local communities against drought in the south of Kerman province, Land Planning and Development, No. 2, 124-171. (In Persian)


2. Bagdi, , Kurothe, R. 2014. People’s participation in watershed management programmes: Evaluation study of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in India. International Soil and Water Conservation Research 2(3), 57-66.


3. McDermaid, K.K., Barnstable, D.C. 2001. User Step by step guide to conducting a social profile for watershed planning. University of Illinois, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES). 96p.


4. Fiona, P.M., Kessler, A., Leber, K., Visser, 2013. The use of stakeholder analysis in integrated watershed management. Mountain Research and Development, 33(2): 122-131.


5. Wagenet, L., Pfeffer, M. 2003. Stakeholder participation in watershed mangment. Water Resources IMACT, PART 1.


6. Heathcote, W. 1998. Integrated watershed management, principles and practice. School of engineering university of Guelph, USA. 464p.


7. Malekli, H. 2018. Evaluating the effect of watershed management measures with the aim of determining the proportion of social profile in the watershed decision-making process (Case study: Imamkandi watershed of Urmia). Master's Thesis in Watershed Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mohaghegh Ardabili University: page 84. (In Persian)


8. Kristin, F., Akamani, K., Halvorsen, K.E., Kozich, A.T. 2015. The role of social science in successfully implementing watershed management strategies. Contemporary Water Research & Educatio, 154: 85-105.


9. Thomas, W.L., Pellett, C.A., Allen, J. 2019. Stakeholder engagement: methods of inclusion in south arolina state water plan decision-making. South Carolina Water Resources, 6(1): 62–69.


10. Arun, K.C., Pant, A., Aggarwal, P.K., Vasireddy, V.V. 2019. Stakeholders' prioritization of climate-smart agriculture interventions: Evaluation of a framework. Agricultural Systems, 174: 23-31.


11. Vaithiyanath, G.S., Sreenivasa Rao, I. 2018. A study on extent of participation and perception of farmers on benefits of IWMP (integrated watershed management programme). Extension Education, 30(2): 6055-6048.


12. Ignatius, S., Gijt, J.G.D., Parahyangsari, S.K., Niyomukiza., J.B. 2020. Watershed management index based on the approach of the village watershed model (VWM) towards sustainability. International Soil and Water Conservation Research, 8(1): 35-46.


13. Shahroudi, A.A., Chizari, M. 2016. Influential factors of farmers' attitude towards participation in water harvesting cooperative (a case study in Razavi Khorasan Province), Agricultural Sciences and Techniques and Natural Resources, No. 42, 299-312. (In Persian)


14. Moini, A., Mohammadi Kangrani, H., Halisaz, A. 2013. Investigating the network of cooperation between public and government institutions in the implementation of watershed projects (Barnetin village of Hormozgan province), Environmental Erosion Research, 9: 45-58. (In Persian)


15. Ravanborg, J.N.H.M., Westermann, , Probst., K. 2001. User participation in watershed management and research. Water Policy 3:507-520.


16. Bardi Sheikh., V., Mostafazadeh, R. 2019. Watershed project management guide, first volume, publications of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, p. 461. (In Persian)


17. Moberg, A. 2006. Environmental systems analysis tools for decision-making. Royal Institute of Technology Department of Urban Planning and Environment Environmental Strategies Research, 56p.


18. Barati, A.A., Ramezani, M., Amini, A.M., Ali Beigi, A.H. 2013. Attitude and tendency of farmers in Isfahan province towards participating in agricultural educational and extension courses based on the Fish-Bain-Eysen model, Agricultural Education Management Research Quarterly, No. 29, 6-73. (In Persian)


19. Hutahaean, M. 2016. The Importance of Stakeholders Approach in Public Policy Making. International Conference on Ethics in Governance: Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 84.


20. Creighton, J.L., Priscoli, J.D., Dunning, C.M. 1998. Public involvement techniques. Institute for Water Resources, U.S. Corps of Engineers Alexandria, VA. 16p.


21. Fiona, P.M., Kessler, A., Leber, K., Visser., S. 2013. The use of stakeholder analysis in integrated watershed management. Mountain Research and Development, 33(2): 122-131.