Doctoral Dissertation Research: Land Use and Land Access Patterns Among the Achuar of the Ecuadorian Amazon: The Role of Market Integration and Shifting Institutions

随着世界各地土著人民融入区域市场，他们的生产系统正在经历重大变化。经验证据表明，在土著群体迅速趋同于以市场为导向的土地使用的情况下，在其他情况下，这些群体甚至在长期融合之后仍遵循特有的轨迹。对这些模式的理论解释要么是通过社会关系和不对称的权力条件制约地方土地使用决策的结构性因素，要么是以效率最大化为目标的决策动态。然而，在将结构限制与行为过程联系起来方面仍然存在差距，因为它们影响着土著领土的土地利用和土地覆盖模式。这项研究的目的是通过调查以身份为基础的社会关系和地方当局制度如何影响土著领土的地方决策，将研究土地利用和土地覆盖模式的机构和结构联系起来。将讨论以下问题：1)管理土地、劳动力和森林资源的获取的体制机制如何影响地方一级的土地利用决策？2)与区域市场的一体化如何影响这些获取机制和现有的土地利用模式？将利用Achuar人提供的信息回答这些问题，Achuar人是南厄瓜多尔亚马逊地区的一个土著群体，正在经历市场一体化进程的早期阶段。将分别利用社区和家庭一级的焦点小组和半结构化访谈来确定规范准入的正式和非正式机构安排的特点。此外，还将与在研究地区工作的外部行为者进行面谈，将他们的保护和发展干预议程与当地土地利用做法联系起来。此外，将结合参与性测绘和对高分辨率(2.4米)QuickBird卫星图像的解译，量化家庭一级土地利用和土地覆盖模式的最新轨迹。将具体说明统计模型，以解释不同土地利用类型下面积的变异性，作为一组独立变量的函数，假设这些变量将影响家庭一级的决策过程。与准入条例有关的信息将被用来推断推动观察到的土地利用和土地覆盖模式的社会过程。预计最近家庭一级土地使用模式的变化反映了地方行为者之间以身份和权威为基础的谈判进程，反映了传统机构和新机构之间的紧张关系，并最终改变了边缘行为者和有权势的行为者之间的力量平衡。该项目的成果将有助于理解，当地方行为者在不断变化的体制和权力动态变化的背景下互动时，如何作出有关资源使用的决定。这些信息将与社区共享，并可被社区用来捍卫自己的访问权和确定当地的发展优先事项。此外，这项研究有助于确定与市场化土地使用相关的成本或收益分配不公的特定群体(如妇女、年轻家庭)。从政策的角度来看，对这种变化机制的分析将为确定针对当地社会经济边缘化和环境退化进程的发展和养护干预措施的目标提供指导方针。作为博士论文改进奖，这个项目将使一个有前途的学生发展一个强大的和独立的职业生涯。

Indigenous peoples around the world are experiencing important changes in their production systems as they become integrated into regional markets. The empirical evidence shows cases where indigenous groups have converged rapidly to market-oriented land uses and other cases where these groups have followed characteristic trajectories even after long term integration. Theoretical explanations of these patterns have given predominance to either structural factors that constraint local land use decisions through social relations and asymmetric conditions of power, or decision making dynamics aimed at maximization of efficiency. However, a gap persists in linking structural constraints with behavioral processes as they influence land use and land cover patterns in indigenous territories. The purpose of this research is to link agency and structure in studying land-use and land-cover patterns by investigating how social relations based on identity and local systems of authority influence local decision making in indigenous territories. The following questions will be addressed 1) How do institutional mechanisms that regulate access to land, labor, and forest resources shape land use decision making at the local level? 2) How has the integration to regional markets influenced these access mechanisms and the existing patterns of land use? These questions will be answered using information from the Achuar, an indigenous group in the Southern Ecuadorian Amazon undergoing early stages in the process of market integration. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews at the community and household levels respectively will be used to characterize formal and informal institutional arrangements that regulate access. Additionally, interviews with external actors working in the study area will be conducted to link their agendas of conservation and development interventions to local land use practices. Furthermore, the recent trajectory of land use and land cover patterns at the household level will be quantified using a combination of participatory mapping and the interpretation of high-resolution (2.4 m) QuickBird satellite images. Statistical models will be specified to explain the variability of the area under different land use types as a function of a set of independent variables hypothesized to influence the decision-making process at the household level. The information related to access regulations will be used to infer the social processes driving the observed land-use and land-cover patterns. It is expected that recent changes in land use patterns at the household level reflect an underlying process of negotiation among local actors based on identity and authority reflecting tensions between traditional and new institutions, and ultimately shifting the balance of power between marginal and powerful actors.This study will contribute to the empowerment of an underrepresented indigenous group in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The results of this project will contribute to the understanding of how decisions regarding resource use are made when local actors interact in a context of changing institutions and shifting dynamics of power. This information will be shared with the communities and can be used by them to defend their access rights and to identify local priorities of development. Furthermore, this research can help to identify specific groups (e.g. women, young families) experiencing unfair allocation of cost or benefits associated with market-oriented land uses. From a policy perspective, the analysis of such mechanisms of change will provide guidelines to identify targets for development and conservation interventions aimed at local processes of socioeconomic marginalization and environmental degradation. As a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement award, this project will enable a promising student to develop a strong and independent career.