The Interregnum Period in Iran's Environment with the Explanation of Popular Participatory Education in Sustainable Ecotourism; Study Case: Karadagh Area (Arasbaran)

Abstract

Nowadays, dealing with environmental issues and its protection, and creating a suitable environment for human life, has become one of the most important concerns of governments all over the world. As a result, policies to deal with and solve environmental issues have been put on the agenda of governments. The tourism industry is one of the most important and attractive activities in the world today. This industry, which is called as the engine of development, is receiving more and more attention day by day due to its importance from the socio-economic point of view, and governments are giving importance to it. Along with paying attention to income generation and job creation, education is very important in this field. The country of Iran with special natural features for ecotourism enthusiasts is very capable in the field of attracting natural tourists at the international level. However, there are many obstacles and problems in Iran's ecotourism industry, which, in addition to the destruction of natural phenomena, has led to a decrease in the attractiveness of the affected lands for domestic and foreign tourists; And the sustainable development process of this industry has been interrupted. One of the influential factors in this is the lack of proper environmental education. The current research is qualitative in terms of method. The participants of the research were 30 local people from KaraDagh district (Arasbaran) who were selected by purpose-based sampling. And the samples have been classified into four groups; the degree of their relationship with tourists is different. The findings of the research are divided into ten main topics based on the reports and interviews of the samples, which examines the issues of ecotourism and sustainable education and the influencing factors of people's participation in this region.