Doctoral Dissertation Research: Institutional and Environmental Change in Rajasthan, India

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9304259 JOHNSON One of the most critical uncertainties regarding relationships between the use of natural resources and environmental conditions is the role and impact of institutions and their rule systems. Demographic, technological, socio- economic, and legal pressures have resulted in disintegration of traditional institutional arrangements in many parts of the world in recent decades. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the nature and impact of these changes on environmental conditions in Rajasthan, an arid state in northwestern India. The research will consist of integration of information from a number of different sources. Remotely sensed images will be interpreted as part of a time-series analysis of land-use change in the region, and information about the structure and rule systems of institutions will be assembled from surveys and written sources. Analyses of these data will form the foundation for a more intensive comparative evaluation of three representative villages in the region. Ethnographic methods will be used to identify institutional formation and adaptations within different rule systems, and ecological surveys will be used to test quantitatively the impact of changing institution arrangements on resource management and changes in natural environmental conditions. This project will provide valuable insights into a number of important relationships, including links among changing land uses and institutional systems as well as among regional environmental changes and patterns of local resource use. The project will enhance understandings of the historical evolution of land-use change under different cultural and economic regimes, thereby expanding general knowledge about the human dimensions of global environmental change. As a doctoral dissertation improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career. ***