Contextual Analysis of Timber Smuggling in the East of Mazandaran Province

Background: Destruction of environmental resources is one of the serious challenges in today's societies.However, some of these resources seem to be more destructed in developing countries.Forests are constantly being destroyed as one of the environmental resources, especially in our country, and wood smuggling is considered one of the common methods for deforestation, especially in the forests of the north of Iran.The unauthorized cutting of forest timber and its smuggling phenomenon are among the complex problems of natural resources in Iran.Since forest destruction through wood smuggling has irreparable consequences for other parts of the environment, investigating the areas that lead to wood smuggling is of particular importance.However, considering the importance of wood smuggling and subsequent forest destruction, it can be concluded that this issue has cultural, social, and economic contexts, and knowing these factors and contexts paves the ground for proper planning to preserve and improve forest resources.In this research, therefore, an attempt was made to provide an analysis of the status and quantity of wood trafficking in the east of Mazandaran Province by emphasizing a hybrid approach while identifying the factors affecting wood smuggling in Mazandaran Province (eastern region).Methods: This research was carried out in the east of Mazandaran Province using a qualitative and exploratory method.The present study method is qualitative research based on the interpretive paradigm with an emphasis on thematic analysis.Based on thematic analysis, descriptive coding was first followed by interpretive coding, and finally, comprehensive categories were extracted from the data.The main categories included the organizationaladministrative, legal-control, economic, cultural, social, and political context of wood smuggling.The core categories were prioritized after identifying the main themes, core categories, and subcategories.The categories were scored using a five-point Likert scale, including items of very low importance (1), low importance (2), medium importance (3), high importance (4), and very high importance (5).Research information was obtained through unstructured and face-to-face interviews with the main actors related to the issue of wood trafficking.The sampling method in qualitative field research is qualitative sampling, which is also called purposive sampling or theoretical sampling.In this sampling method, the number of interviewed people, or in other words, the sample size depends on the theoretical saturation of the investigated questions.Research information was collected from four groups of stakeholders related to wood trafficking, including local communities (forest dwellers and ranchers), employees of the Natural Resources Organization, wood buyers and sellers (stockholders and smugglers), and environmental activists through semi-structured interviews.Data were analyzed through the thematic analysis technique.In the present study, various aspects were considered to achieve credibility.Three conventional techniques were used to reach the criterion of trustworthiness (Kval & Brinckman, 2009).After the interviews were implemented, the interview text was examined and evaluated by the participants (validation by members).Besides, the correctness of the codes and created themes was evaluated (analytical comparison) by constantly referring to the text of the interviews.Then,