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The steps for developing a methodological framework for the livelihood model (adapted from Soltanmohammadi et al. 2010; Tavana and Hatami-Marbini 2011; Al Maliki et al. 2012; Misra and Ray 2013)
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Although a set of appropriate livelihood alternatives has already been developed to approach sustainable rangeland management (SRM), determining an appropriate livelihood model for supporting policy makers still remains to be a challenge. Livelihood alternatives are affected by multiple factors such as livelihood capital, vulnerability contexts as...
Citations
... In the 21st century, SRM has evolved from a mere focus on sole livestock production to diversified livelihood strategies so that all rangeland users can have sustainable livelihoods (Fuhlendorf et al., 2012;Sayre et al., 2012Sayre et al., , 2013Khedrigharibvand et al., 2017;Khedrigharibvand, 2018;Khedrigharibvand et al., 2018). As a complement to this assertion, we developed a set of appropriate livelihood alternatives as a potential solution to approach SRM, by which new opportunities have been presented in order to develop alternatives that seem more resilient and sustainable (Khedrigharibvand et al., 2015). ...
Key Words: collaborative knowledge-sharing systems collaborative research participatory decision making rangeland degradation team knowledge vulnerability The importance of knowledge sharing, as an integral part of decision making, has been highly acknowledged by many authors. However, the process in which knowledge sharing should be conducted has remained a debatable issue. In this study, changes in experts' attitudes, as a result of the knowledge-sharing process, in the context of rangeland management were assessed. We demonstrated a three-step knowledge-sharing process while recognizing collaborative knowledge sharing systems, which involves knowledge-sharing tools including face-to-face and virtual approaches. The process was applied to explore experts' attitudes regarding livelihood alternatives in the Bazoft region of southwestern Iran. Sixty experts were selected from three groups categorized as key local stakeholders, practitioners, and scientists. First, the experts were independently given the task of ranking livelihood alternatives. Next, for a better understanding of alternatives and enhancing their view, additional knowledge and information were provided. Thereafter, their attitudes in the final step were assessed. According to the findings, change in the experts' attitudes could take place, which eventually resulted in the prioritization of livelihood alternatives to approach sustainable rangeland management (SRM). The synergy of experts' knowledge , which can be realized through a collaborative knowledge sharing process, can be further pursued by devising a workable policy framework to approach SRM.
... The science of rangeland management has progressed dramatically over the last couple of decades (Azadi et al., 2009). However, to adequately develop and ensure a sustainable future for rangelands, there is a need for a modern system for rangeland management and pastoral growth strategy, which will consequently raise the need for alternative approaches to sustainable rangeland management (SRM) (Khedrigharibvand et al., 2019). Sustainable land management (SLM) is described as "a system of technologies and/or planning that intends to combine ecological, socioeconomic, and political principles in the planning of land for agricultural and other activities in order to accomplish intraand intergenerational equityˮ (Hurni et al., 2008;personal communication, modified from Eswaran & Blum, 2011). ...
Sustainable land management (SLM) as a holistic method seeks to combine ecological values with socio-cultural
and policy concepts, through which local populations play a significant role in achieving this management. Qasr
Yaqoub village was selected for the present study, which is located in Safashahr city in Fars province, south of
Iran. The common method of herding in Qasr Yaqoub village is participatory and in the form of assistance
systems. Therefore, in order to have a comprehensive evaluation of the stability of the local stakeholder network
in different dimensions of sustainability and social networks, two methods of indicators analysis including social
network analysis (SNA) and sustainability barometer model (SBM) were used. The index values for trust and
social cooperation ties among stakeholders in the local stakeholders’ network in Qasr Yaqoub village, consisting
of 42 individuals, were found to be 63.1% and 59.8%, respectively. These values indicate a stable density in the
trust network and an average density in the cooperation network among stakeholders in the region. In addition,
the social network index, which measures the extent of connections, is 1086 for trust and 1030 for social
cooperation, both covering more than 50% of the expected ties. This signifies a significant level of interaction
between stakeholders regarding relevant issues, facilitating the promotion of social cohesion in the study area.
These findings highlight the positive dynamics within the stakeholder network, fostering trust, cooperation, and
social cohesion in Qasr Yaqoub village. This study showed that the combination of network analysis and sustainability
barometer model could be a useful tool in the sustainability analysis of local communities in rangeland
ecosystems.
... The basic purpose of livelihoods research has been to find the causes of poverty and provide multiple solutions (Fahad et al. 2023). However, due to the differential adaptive capacity of rural communities and their resource endowments, livelihoods have obvious regional characteristics, threats, challenges, and opportunities to build sustainable livelihoods which vary across regions (Khedrigharibvand et al. 2019). Therefore, livelihood research should not be limited only to poor areas, ecologically fragile areas, or farmers, but should be broadened to include a wide range of regions and research subjects (Gharibvand et al. 2015) to make livelihood sustainability research more representative. ...
Sustainable livelihoods (SL) have emerged as a crucial area of focus in global environmental change research, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This field is rapidly gaining prominence in sustainability science and has become one of the primary research paradigms. In our study, we conducted scientometrics analysis using the ISI Web of Science core collection database to examine research patterns and frontier areas in SL research. We selected 6,441 papers and 265,759 references related to SL published from 1991 to 2020. To achieve this, we employed advanced quantitative analysis tools such as CiteSpace and VOSviewer to quantitatively analyze and visualize the evolution of literature in the SL research field. Our overarching objectives were to understand historical research characteristics, identify the knowledge base, and determine future research trends. The results revealed an exponential increase in SL research documentation since 1991, with the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Center (CGIAR) contributing the highest volume of research documents and citations. Key journals in this field included World Development, Global Environmental Change, Ecological Economics, and Ecology and Society. Notably, Singh RK and Shackleton CM emerged as prolific authors in SL research. Through our analysis, we identified six primary clusters of research areas: livelihoods, conservation, food security, management, climate change, and ecosystem services. Additionally, we found that tags such as rural household, agricultural intensification, cultural intensification, and livelihoods vulnerability remained relevant and represented active research hotspots. By analyzing keyword score relevance, we identified frontier areas in SL research, including mass tourism, solar home systems, artisanal and small-scale mining, forest quality, marine-protected areas, agricultural sustainability, sustainable rangeland management, and indigenous knowledge. These findings provide valuable insights to stakeholders regarding the historical, current, and future trends in SL research, offering strategic opportunities to enhance the sustainability of livelihoods for farmers and rural communities in alignment with the SDGs.
... In recent decades, various scholars have offered the concept of sustainable livelihood as the framework to realize environmental management and economic growth around the world (Eriksson et al., 2012;Hieu et al., 2018;Mazzone, 2019;Su et al., 2019;Woyesa and Kumar, 2021). In other words, environmental and economic scopes have made the sustainable livelihood framework attractive (Khedrigharibvand et al., 2019a(Khedrigharibvand et al., , 2019bWang et al., 2016;Yang et al., 2018). In fact, the framework intends to lead living in an environmentally and economically sustainable style (You and Zhang, 2017). ...
... Their vast dependence on natural rangelands, because of the traditional livelihood style based on ranching, leads to rangeland degradation and household poverty. It should be noted that the share of this activity is 70% of the household net revenue which indicates the extent of the livelihood dependence of nomad society on rangelands (Khedrigharibvand et al., 2019a(Khedrigharibvand et al., , 2019b. ...
... This approach allows for a comprehensive evaluation of different materials based on multiple criteria. The theory of sustainability endorses the utilization of biodegradable polymers as they play a critical role in minimizing the ecological impact of the packaging industry (Aktaş & Demirel, 2021;Khedrigharibvand et al., 2019). However, it's important to note that biodegradable polymers alone may not be enough to achieve sustainable packaging. ...
Manifold aspects, such as the booming market for superior quality food items with increased shelf life and the escalating concern to mitigate plastic trash due to plastic packaging have motivated researchers and food industrialists to explore sustainable eco-friendly packaging solutions extensively. Biodegradable polymers are being rigorously investigated to replace conventional plastics that are toxic, non-biodegradable, and detrimental to the marine ecosystem. The scientific methodology for the prudent selection of biodegradable polymer among the frequently used biopolymers for food packaging is being reported here. The data were extracted from the available literature. A hybrid multi-criteria decision-making framework has been developed to address the problem of material selection owing to the multiple conflicting criteria involved. Assignment of equal weights to primary criteria was selected to establish the criteria weights. Different decision-making techniques (weighted sum method (WSM), weighted product method (WPM), weighted aggregated sum product assessment method (WASPAS), and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS)) were used for the comparative analysis. Thereon, the different ranks obtained for each alternative were aggregated using the degree of membership technique. The robustness of the solution was checked using sensitivity analysis which was conducted by varying weights of importance using the entropy method, the CRITIC method, and the equal weights to secondary criteria. The analysis reported polylactic acid (PLA) as the most reliable polymer for food packaging applications. The sensitivity analysis concluded that the solution was without prejudice, and water vapor permeation rating was the most critical decision criterion in deciding the optimal polymer.
Graphical Abstract
... Livelihood capitals refer to a person's capacity to sustain livelihood and directly affect livelihood strategies (Manlosa et al., 2019;Khedrigharibvand et al., 2019;Ellis, 2000) as well as activities engaged and choices made to achieve a desired livelihood (Carloni and Crowley, 2005). Livelihood capitals form the material basis to sustain farmers' livelihood and the medium that explains the fundamental behaviours of farmers (Bebbington, 1999). ...
The involvement of land users, such as farmers and herders, is crucial in protecting ecosystems, and the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is often regarded as a suitable measure to achieve this. Simultaneously, PES programs have sometimes failed to deliver on their stated aims. This article moots that livelihood capitals and policy credibility are important to consider in the implementation of PES programs. Livelihood capitals affect land users' perceptions towards ecological protection, which in turn, affect policy credibility. To assess the relation between policy credibility and livelihood capitals, we developed a theoretical framework predicated upon the credibility thesis and the sustainable livelihoods approach. We constructed quantitative models for the measurement of credibility, and for the assessment of the relation between credibility and livelihood capitals. The models were applied to a Payment for Grassland Ecosystem Services (PGES) scheme implemented in Inner Mongolia, China. We thus were able to pinpoint the mechanisms that explain how policy credibility affects herders' livelihood capitals and livelihoods. This study contributes to the research on PGES and pastoralism by: 1) delineating a new approach for studying the endogenous mechanisms of credibility in relation to livelihood capitals; 2) providing a theoretical and methodological basis that enables differentiating ecological conservation policies for various target groups (i.e. full-time, part-time, and non-agricultural herders); 3) presenting a selection of operational measures that may be used following the implementation of the Credibility Scales and Intervention (CSI) policy tool.
... Next, the chosen factors were assessed and the respective weights of the factors and sub-factors were determined by applying BWM; next, ranking of the CSR application was carried out by applying the m-VIKOR method. Even though factor assessment and alternative choice can be accomplished via other MCDM approaches (TOPSIS, AHP, DANP, etc.), these methods include numerous pairwise comparisons that need frequent consistency checks and huge amounts of data [39][40][41]. To solve this matter the best worst method was used here [42,43]. ...
Since its conception, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has seen continuous growth and become a highly discussed issue. In this paper, we propose an evaluation of how the COVID-19 pandemic could impact CSR applications. The pandemic has provided an opportunity for commerce to move on to being more authentic, to offer genuine CSR applications and to contribute toward dealing with pressing environmental and social issues. Hence, this purpose of the research is to obtain a better understanding of whether the integration of environment, social, corporate governance and economic (ESGE) aspects into CSR strategies can support sustainable development toward more sustainable growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. To meet this challenge, we offer a mixture multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) model. Very few empirical studies have discussed CSR in the high-tech industry and proposed strategies and planning for ESGE efficiency. Using interviews with experts and a literature review, we identify the elements related to actual practices of the high-tech industry’s appraisal and the integrated MCDM techniques to suggest efficient enhancement models. The best worst method (BWM) and modified VIKOR are implemented to estimate the strategic weights and the gaps of the aspiration value. The results are valuable for classifying the priorities of CSR and are therefore helpful for those who are associated with high-tech industry management, practices and implementation.
... Eş (2008) Lamata et al. (2018) have taken into account more than one firms competing in the same sector or from different sectors to compare their sustainability performances. There are many MCDM methods available in the literature, which can be categorized based on different purposes, with some pros and cons for each method (Khedrigharibvand et al., 2019). Mostly, TOPSIS method has been used for ranking and entropy method has been used for weighting due to their convenience and objectivity. ...
Firms have to improve sustainable processes and carry out performance measurement in today’s competitive environment as well as optimize their business processes. Corporate sustainability which is the definition of sustainable development on the business scale not only focuses on corporates’ profitability, but also takes into account the environmental and social improvements. In this study, an approach based on a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method is proposed in order to help firms to evaluate the degree of achieving their economic, environmental, and social goals. Entropy method is used to find out criteria weightings, and then VIKOR (VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje), TOPSIS (the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution), and MAUT (Multi-Attribute Utility Theory) methods are implemented with the help of the weights obtained to define performance ranking of alternative sustainability reports. Lastly, a combined ranking is obtained by utilizing the three rankings of the mentioned methods via the Borda count method, which is a data fusion technique. By performing a real case of sustainability performance evaluation of a furniture company, it is aimed to assist decision-makers in making integrated decisions for their sustainability performance and improving their activities in terms of sustainability. The results show that VIKOR and MAUT have the same ranking list for economic and environmental dimensions, whereas they produce different results in terms of social dimension. According to the combined results with Borda count method, the best and worst performance years for the economic and environmental dimensions are determined as 2018 and 2013, respectively. On the other hand, 2017 is determined as the best performance year for the social dimension with Borda count method, while 2015 is the year of the lowest performance.
... Technique of Order Preference Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Analytic Network Process (ANP), Multi-Attribute Value Theory (MAVT), Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) etc.), each having its own strengths, weakness, and applications. Application areas of MCDM techniques includes businesses (Pirdashti & Behzadian, 2009), environment (Doukas & Nikas, 2020), land management (Khedrigharibvand et al., 2019), military (Akgün & Erdal, 2019), energy policy (Trotter, McManus, & Maconachie, 2017), supply chain (Hosseini & Al Khaled, 2019;Wu, 2009), manufacturing (García-Cascales & Lamata, 2009Toloie-Eshlaghy & Homayonfar, 2011) etc. Several researchers applied MCDM techniques in humanitarian aid (Cotes & Cantillo, 2019;Gutjahr & Nolz, 2016;Vitoriano, Ortuño, Tirado, & Montero, 2011) and emergency relief responses during natural and man-made disasters (Boonmee, Arimura, & Asada, 2017;Hasani & Mokhtari, 2018;Miç, Koyuncu, & Hallak, 2019). ...
Due to ethnic conflicts at Myanmar, about one million Rohingya refugees took shelter in Bangladesh that has become a huge liability to the host country's economy beyond its resource capacity. The displaced community is suffering from the dire need of basic resources due to scarcity of reliefs. In such a disastrous situation, humanitarian reliefs need to be distributed fast and effectively while fulfilling the requirement of the helpless people within a limited budget. To manage such a situation, this paper applies a priority-based relief allocation models combining two Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) tools-Technique of Order Preference Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This model determines the percentage of relief to be allocated for specific camps according to the urgency based on the number of populations, households, infants, and people with specific needs. Refugee population factsheet data published by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is used for the calculation. In the model, AHP is used to prioritize the criteria, and TOPSIS is used to rank the camps. Thus, the model considers the urgency of needs at various camps to facilitate a proper relief allocation given the limited resources. The result and analyses followed by a discussion of the paper can help decision-makers to allocate relief effectively at the Rohingya camps as well as at other refugee camps worldwide.
... Multi-criteria group decision making consists of selecting the best alternative, or ranking the alternatives with respect to several criteria. Over the past two decades, there are many literatures study on multicriteria group decision making problem( [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]). For example, Morente-Molinera et al. [1] presented a decision support system that can be accessed from anywhere and anytime, experts use multi-granular linguistic information (different sets of labels) and choose among different preference representation formats to express their preferences. ...
