HSD: Collaborative Research: Parks as Agents of Social and Environmental Change in Eastern and Southern Africa

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Land use around parks and protected areas is changing rapidly in both East and Southern Africa, but the nature of change varies widely, with different mixes of positive and negative impacts on biodiversity and the viability of the parks on the one hand and human well-being on the other. The reasons for these differences are poorly understood. A central premise of this research project is that parks have direct social, economic, and environmental consequences in areas neighboring a park. In addition, these effects influence livelihoods and landscapes over a wider region, expanding the ultimate impact of the park on the social-ecological systems (people, wildlife, and landscapes) around them. The investigators hypothesize that the consequences of parks are determined by their value to the social-ecological system and that the magnitude and direction of these impacts are related to underlying social, historical, and biophysical conditions. This project will examine the ways in which parks and the policies associated with them have affected: (a) land and resource use, other livelihood activities, and economic well-being at both the household and community scales; (b) social institutions and decision making in the areas affected by parks; and (c) perceptions and attitudes toward nature and conservation, risk, and policy and institutions. To achieve these ends, the investigators will integrate methods and perspectives from physical geography, including analysis of satellite imagery, and from social science, including socioeconomic surveys, analysis of risk perception, and documentation of historical trends. Research will be conducted at six sites in the vicinity of parks in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia, taking advantage of crucial contrasts with respect to environment, demography, land-use and livelihood options, and conservation and park management policy. The study will produce a rich empirical data set and a conceptual model that will advance understanding of the impacts of parks and the processes by which parks affect the social-ecological systems around them as well as the conditions that lead to divergent outcomes for ecosystem integrity and human well-being.Increasingly, research on complex environmental and social problems demands interdisciplinary approaches, but these must be learned from experience since they are not typically part of traditional scientific training. The U.S. investigators will collaborate with senior scientists and research assistants from several African universities. The collaborative experience and education promoted by this research will develop the ability of local African institutions to address complex issues that have a direct bearing on conservation and human well-being. The specific results of this study should suggest ways of ameliorating or avoiding many of the negative impacts of parks and of enhancing the positive impacts. More generally, the project will enhance understanding of how the varying human responses to the establishment of parks affect the resilience and sustainability of these important social-ecological systems. An award resulting from the FY 2006 NSF-wide competition on Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) supports this project. All NSF directorates and offices are involved in the coordinated management of the HSD competition and the portfolio of HSD awards.