Nomadic Pastoralists and Drought in the Rangelands of Gonbad-e Kavous, Iran

Aim Most parts of the pastoralist’s livelihood depend on income from livestock in the rangelands, but drought in rangelands has negative impacts on the ecosystem, cycle of nomadic pastoralists, livestock production, and their family’s living. Recognizing the signs of drought effects in the nomadic environment can play a significant role in rangeland management. The present study was conducted to identify and investigate drought signs in Gonbad-e Kavous County, Golestan Province, Iran. Materials Methods The study’s statistical population consisted of 183 nomadic pastoralists in 10 customary systems, 100 of them were sampled and classified by random method. The data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. Drought signs were investigated in three dimensions: vegetation, soil, livestock, and herd. In order to ensure the validity of the questionnaire, the views of the experts of the Natural Resources Bureau and Cronbach’s alpha method were used for more reliability with an average of 0.717. Findings The results showed that nomadic pastoralists assessed three factors forage quality degradation, increasing bare land, and livestock production as the most important indicators of drought effects in pastureland. Findings indicate a positive and significant relationship between the pastoralist’s viewpoints about the signs of drought effect in the pasture with the variable of the people who depend on them. The results showed a significant difference between respondents’ views on gender and education level in the context of drought effects. Conclusion According to the results of the research, it is suggested that future policies of rangelands can be used in plans for identifying drought signs.