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This study aimed to analyze the role of social capital and leadership in improving the adaptive capacity of Iranian pistachio farmers by using Social Network Analysis (SNA). The results indicate that the studied network is not a dense network, and there are few reciprocal and face-to-face relations among farmers. The findings also illustrate that in all cooperative links, there were no noticeable bridging links among the farmers and their tendency toward bonding links, indicating less bridging social capital at the three studied villages. The nature of relationships in social networks will improve if the quality of communication between individuals in a network and actors from other networks and villages is enhanced. This can increase the productivity of social networks and lead to higher quality resources, better support, development of useful information between networks and improvement in farmers' adaptive capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at exploring ways of increasing adaptive capacity and reducing vulnerability of farmers in the face of water scarcity through establishing a link between social network indicators and the dimensions of adaptive capacity. For this purpose, a Social Network Analysis (SNA) model along with a Structural Equation Model was developed to investigate the effects of SNA indices on the dimensions influencing the adaptive capacity of the water users in rural areas in the west of Iran. The developed model links participation in production and knowledge exchange with ten critical dimensions identified to affect the adaptive capacities of water resources users. The results indicated that the most important subdimensions affecting adaptive capacity were governance, innovation, and awareness. Also, the positive effects of individual and whole network level of indices on the adaptive capacity indicated high coherence in the study area and the ability of people to develop social learning to improve the adaptive capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-management requires two or more organizations that collectively manage natural capital. This study aimed to explore the function of social capital in the cycle of establishing co-management in southeastern Iranian rural communities (who participated in the Rehabilitation of Forest Landscapes and Degraded Land (RFLDL) project). Since measuring social capital is important and difficult, and one of the most promising and accurate methods for evaluating this capital is Social Network Analysis (SNA), it has been used as a research method in this research. The results showed an increase in the observed network characteristics of the RFLDL data, which indicates the positive effect of the social mobilization in RFLDL on bonding social capital. In addition, it suggested that the assessment of the success of community based natural resource governance solely based on a relational perspective of social capital is too narrow. Especially, traditional forms of community organization are not taken into account explicitly. Therefore, more research needs to be undertaken on how to incorporate differences in cultural organizations, traditional knowledge, and practices into the perspective of community empowerment. • The main aim was to investigate and analyze the role of intra-group social capital through social network analysis (SNA). • SNA contributed to assessing the changes in reciprocity and transitivity scores in terms of trust and collaboration network. • Results show that there is a high correlation between trust and participation of people in social network. • Stronger trusted relations between the committees promoted sustainable rural growth and collaboration. • Achieving to a lower natural resource demand than population growth can relieve pressure on these resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]