Assessing the impact of frontier situations on development sustainability in rural areas (Case study: Bamposht borderline district, Saravan County)

Abstract

The research is a study on rural areas of Bamposht district from Saravan County in Sistan and Baluchestan province and assesses the impact of the borderline situation of rural settlements upon their developmental status. The statistical population consisted of the villages’ households. Totally 342 householders from 25 villages of more than 20 households were selected as a statistical sample by stratified random sampling. Data gathered via field operations. The dependent variable of the research is the level of development of studied villages, which has been measured comparatively by using the multi-criteria evaluation methods. Moreover, independent variables were contained population and the distance between village’s border and district center, economic status, border economies, border exchanges, exchange security and accessibility. Data has been collected at the level of the household heads and has been summarized in order to change the measurement level by averaging the relevant sub-samples at the village level. According to the results, the developmental level of 84% of the studied villages was moderate and lower, and the border economy has not have any effect on rural development, despite the high role played by the livelihoods of the studied communities. In addition, border economic activities has have a significant negative relationship with security of exchange and accessibility. Because of it, these activities are performed without structural backbones, mainly from unofficial channels and smuggling; and if they are beneficial activities, they are completely personal and will have no interest for developing the region or improving the situation of the community.

Keywords

• eastern borders
• sustainable development. rural areas
• border exchanges
• saravan county