Assessing the socio-economic vulnerability of rangeland beneficiaries and the convergence of opinions of experts and beneficiaries on its effective factors in Yazd province

Backgrounds: The conditions in which an individual or society is under tension due to social, economic, and environmental changes are called vulnerability. Vulnerability of rangeland beneficiaries and subsequent poverty of beneficiaries has caused unsustainable operation of rangelands. On the other hand, the degree pf vulnerability of rangeland beneficiaries in areas with more rainfall restrictions and its side socio-economic influencing factors is not completely known. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the level of socio-economic vulnerability of the rangeland beneficiaries in the dry region of Yazd province and to examine the convergence of beneficiaries' and experts' opinions on their influencing factors. Methodology: The study area of this research is the pastures located in the Yazd-Ardakan Plain and the local communities that benefit from it. The research tool in this study was a researcher-made questionnaire that was completed by 97 farmers and local experts in the pasture sector (n=97). In this research, in order to measure the degree of socio-economic vulnerability, the formula proposed by Me-Bar and Valdez was used and to check the convergence of the opinions of experts and beneficiaries in two dimensions of social and economic, Mann-Whitney and Independent t-Student statistical tests were used using SPSS software. Results: The results of the research showed that among the social factors, the parameter of the demographic characteristics of the beneficiaries with a value of 17.46 has the greatest impact on the level of vulnerability. Among the economic parameters, the parameter of providing support inputs with a value of 17.80 showed the greatest impact on reducing the level of vulnerability. The degree of socio-economic vulnerability of the beneficiaries of this study was calculated as 7.19, which indicates a high degree of vulnerability of pasture land users. The results of the convergence of opinions showed that there is a significant difference between the opinions of experts and users in the field of economic parameters affecting vulnerability. The area of ​​the rangeland and the limitation of the customary system were recognized as the most important parameters of the difference between the two groups in the economic dimension. Also, the results showed that the most agreement between the opinions of experts and operators is related to the parameters of livestock insurance and other productive parts of the pasture, incomes outside the exploitation of the pasture. In the social dimension, no significant difference was found between the opinions of experts and beneficiaries. Separately, in the social dimension, the parameter of access to resources and easy access to information became significant and was introduced as the parameter that the two groups had the most disagreement on in terms of impact on vulnerability.  Conclusion: According to the earned results, solutions such as supporting farmers in crisis situations, cash and non-cash investments in the restoration and exploitation of pastures, teaching the correct way of exploitation in line with sustainable livelihood It is suggested to plan to increase the agreement between the beneficiaries and increase their participation in the field of revitalization and proper exploitation of the pastures in order to reduce the vulnerability of the pastures. The results of the convergence of the opinions of beneficiaries and experts showed that the mentality of beneficiaries and experts on economic factors affecting vulnerability is different. The important result of this research is to reveal the need to improve the knowledge of government officials about parameters that harm the livelihood of pasture beneficiaries in areas with dry geography. Also, the development of pastures requires a review of the economic factors that reduce the damage to the livelihood of local beneficiaries.