Collaborative Research: Consequences of Parks for Land Use, Livelihood Diversification, and Biodiversity in East Africa

在世界大部分地区，保护公园仍然是有目的的生物多样性保护的主要模式。在这些公园周围，特别是在发展中国家，通常仍有相当多的生物多样性，但人口也在迅速增长。这些是人口、土地利用和土地覆盖动态变化的领域，它们具有其他地方通常没有的生物和社会政治风险。该合作研究项目将研究坦桑尼亚和乌干达国家公园周边景观中土地利用、土地覆盖、人民生计和生物多样性之间的相互作用。虽然这些景观仍然是生物多样性的重要栖息地，但它们也是人口和土地利用动态变化的地区，往往有相当大的农业扩张和集约化。很少有科学研究探索这些景观中土地利用、生计变化和生物多样性之间的时空相互作用。两个互补的研究问题是该项目的重点：(1)公园的存在如何影响公园周围的农业用地和其他生计策略？(2)以关键指标动植物类群的分布衡量，农业活动的范围、特征和强度如何影响公园外生物多样性？与此相关的两个首要命题是：(a)公园的存在将刺激导致公园岛化的过程；(2)公园周边景观生物多样性与农业的关系既不是二元关系，也不是线性关系，而是在某些土地利用条件下为正关系，在其他土地利用条件下为负关系。对这些模型的探索和验证将具有重要的科学和政策意义。这是一项在两个截然不同的地点进行的比较研究——一个在乌干达西部，一个在坦桑尼亚北部。它是跨学科的，利用社会和生物多样性调查、民族志工具和卫星图像分析。这个项目的智力价值在于加强了对人口-环境关系以及土地利用和土地覆盖变化的了解，因为这些关系受到保护区邻近程度的影响，这些关系鲜为人知，但却日益重要。这些问题涉及地理学、人类学、生态学和保护生物学。这是一项在两个不同地点进行的比较研究——一个在乌干达西部，一个在坦桑尼亚北部。它是跨学科的，利用社会和生物多样性调查、民族志工具和卫星图像分析。这个项目的智力价值在于加强了对人口-环境关系和土地利用/土地覆盖变化的了解，因为这些关系受到保护区邻近程度的影响，这些关系鲜为人知，但却日益重要。这些问题涉及地理学、人类学、生态学和保护生物学。

Protected parks remain the main mode of purposeful biodiversity conservation in most of the world. Surrounding these parks particularly in developing countries, are landscapes that usually still contain considerable biodiversity but also have rapidly growing human populations. These are areas of dynamic change in demography, land use, and land cover, and they are characterized by biological and socio-political risks not usually found elsewhere. This collaborative research project will examine the interactions among land use, land cover, peoples' livelihoods, and biodiversity in landscapes surrounding national parks in Tanzania and Uganda. While these landscapes remain important habitats for biodiversity, they are also zones of dynamic demographic and land use change, often with considerable agricultural expansion and intensification. Little scientific research has explored the spatial and temporal interactions among land use, livelihood change, and biodiversity in these landscapes. Two complementary research questions are the focus of the project: (1) How does the presence of a park affect agricultural land use and other livelihood strategies surrounding the park? (2) How do the extent, character and intensity of agriculture affect biodiversity outside the park, measured by the distribution of key indicator plant and animal taxa? Two overarching propositions relate to these: (a) the presence of a park will stimulate processes that lead to islandization of the park; and (b) the relationship between biodiversity and agriculture in the landscape surrounding a park is neither dichotomous nor linear, but will be positive under certain land use conditions and negative under others. The exploration and verification of these models would have important scientific and policy implications. This is a comparative study at two contrasting sites -- one in western Uganda and one in northern Tanzania. It is interdisciplinary, utilizing social and biodiversity surveys, ethnographic tools, and analysis of satellite imagery. The intellectual merit of this project lies in an enhanced understanding of population-environment relations and land-use and land-cover change as these are influenced by proximity to protected areas, relationships about which little is known but which are increasingly important. These issues crosscut concerns in geography, anthropology, ecology, and conservation biology.This is a comparative study at two contrasting sites - one in western Uganda and one in northern Tanzania. It is interdisciplinary, utilizing social and biodiversity surveys, ethnographic tools, and analysis of satellite imagery. The intellectual merit of this project lies in an enhanced understanding of population-environment relations and land-use/land cover change as these are influenced by proximity to protected areas - relationships about which little is known but which are increasingly important. These issues crosscut concerns in geography, anthropology, ecology, and conservation biology.