Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Social and Physical Dynamics of Environmental Change in Western Burkina Faso

Thomas J. Bassett Leslie Gray伊利诺伊大学香槟分校西部布基纳法索环境变化的社会和物理动态本研究项目的目标是对布基纳法索西部土地退化的社会和物理维度进行多尺度调查。将评价村民的看法和决定，这些看法和决定是连接社会进程与土地退化的因果链中的关键环节。以一个村庄为例，分析改变种植方式对土壤质量和社会组织的影响。将使用来自多个村庄的调查来检验从单个村庄分析中产生的假设。绘制各种过程，比如新的农业技术；土地、劳动力和财富的转变；政府农业和保护政策的转变相互作用并影响了小农的行动、观念和决策，这对于理解和解释特定地点的退化至关重要。这种了解将提高社会尽量减少这种土地退化的能力。

SBR-9506434 Thomas J. Bassett Leslie Gray University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The Social and Physical Dynamics of Environmental Change in Western Burkina Faso A multi-scale investigation of the social and physical dimensions of land degradation in western Burkina Faso is the goal of this research project. The perceptions and decisions of villagers that constitute the crucial links in the causal chain connecting social processes to land degradation will be evaluated. The effects of changing cropping practices on soil quality and social organization will be analyzed for one village. Hypotheses generated from the single village analysis will be tested using surveys from several villages. Mapping how various processes like new agricultural technologies; transformations in land, labor, and wealth; and shifts in government agricultural and conservation policy, have interacted and influenced the actions, perceptions, and decisions of small-scale farmers, is crucial in understanding and explaining place-specific degradation. Such understanding will improve society's ability to minimize such land degradation.