CNH: Globalization and the Connection of Remote Communities: Environmental Implications

全球化的力量越来越多地渗透到世界的偏远社区，并可能对当地自然资源的使用产生深远影响。位于现有全球市场、迁移和技术网络边缘的远程社区，正越来越多地通过公路、铁路、港口和通信技术等基础设施项目连接到这些网络。由于偏远社区往往靠近丰富且相对完整的自然资源，因此了解全球化的力量如何与偏远社区紧密相连的人类和自然系统相互作用，是实现环境可持续性的关键。将全球联系与环境影响联系起来的因果路径是复杂的，往往受到多种因素的影响，包括家庭经济；家庭和社区的人力、社会和物质资本资产；地方治理和知识；正式和非正式机构；文化；以及性别动态。以前的研究对这些途径和影响的描述有限，而且往往相互矛盾，因为它们的范围狭窄，时间框架有限，研究设计也很有限。这一跨学科研究项目将解决这些问题，并为总体问题提供答案：远程社区与全球市场、移民和技术网络的连接对人类和自然系统有什么影响？该项目的目标是确定偏远社区的市场、移民和技术集成对当地农业、森林和海洋资源的影响，同时确定和考虑可能的中介因素。研究地点是尼加拉瓜迄今为止与世隔绝的加勒比海“蚊子”海岸沿线的12个小社区。这些社区与城市中心的连接程度不同，因此通过新的基础设施与全球网络的连接程度也不同。调查人员将采用各种数据收集策略，包括(1)家庭调查；(2)对社区领导人和地方政府官员的关键线人访谈；(3)对农业、林业和海洋生态系统的评估；(4)土地利用变化的卫星图像；(5)农业、林业和海洋部门的市场调查。他们的分析方法将包括土地覆盖变化分析、经验建模和统计分析以及基于主体的建模。本研究将检验和扩展全球化外力对偏远社区人类和自然系统影响的理论。随着这些力量的影响范围不断扩大，了解其影响并制定减轻其有害影响的战略具有极其重要的环境、经济和社会意义。项目成果将帮助未得到充分研究的偏远社区的决策者和领导人更好地预测和规划全球联网带来的变化，并将有助于指导资源的使用和管理。通过纳入市场、移民和技术等外生因素以及各种家庭特征，该项目审查环境影响的分析方法将为来自广泛学科的学者提供一种语言，以便在广泛的基础上就与全球化对偏远社区的影响相关的类似问题进行合作。该项目还将通过吸引国内外各级学生参与对该项目研究主题的讨论和分析而产生教育影响。该项目得到了美国自然与人类耦合系统动力学(CNH)计划的支持。

The forces of globalization increasingly are penetrating the remote communities of the world and are likely to affect profoundly the local use of natural resources. Remote communities, those that lie at the periphery of existing global market, migration, and technology networks, are increasingly connecting to these networks through infrastructure projects such as roads, rail, ports, and communication technologies. Because remote communities often are found in close proximity to abundant and relatively intact natural resources, an understanding how the forces of globalization interact with tightly coupled human and natural systems in remote communities is central to achieving environmental sustainability. Causal pathways linking global connection to environmental effects are complex and often are mediated by myriad factors, including household economics; human, social, and physical capital assets of households and communities; local governance and knowledge; formal and informal institutions; culture; and gender dynamics. Previous studies have provided limited and often contradictory accounts of these pathways and effects due to their narrow scope, limited time frames, and research design. This interdisciplinary research project will address these concerns and provide answers to the overall question: What are the impacts on human and natural systems of the connection of remote communities to global networks of markets, migration, and technology? The project's objectives are to determine the effects of market, migration, and technology integration in remote communities on local agricultural, forest, and marine resources while identifying and accounting for possible mediating factors. The research sites are twelve small communities along the heretofore isolated Caribbean "Mosquito" Coast of Nicaragua. The communities vary in their degree of connectedness to urban centers and therefore to global networks via new infrastructure. The investigators will employ a variety of data collection strategie, including (1) household surveys; (2) key informant interviews with community leaders and local government officials; (3) assessments of agricultural, forestry, and marine ecosystems; (4) satellite imagery of land use change; and (5) market surveys for the agricultural, forestry, and marine sectors. Their analytical methods will include land-cover change analysis, empirical modeling and statistical analyses, and agent-based modeling.This study will test and extend theories of the influence of external forces of globalization on human and natural systems in remote communities. As the reach of these forces continues to extend, understanding their impact and developing strategies for mitigating their harmful effects is of the utmost environmental, economic, and social importance. Project results will help policy makers and leaders of understudied remote communities better anticipate and plan for changes coming from global connection, and they will help guide resource use and management. By incorporating the exogenous factors of markets, migration, and technology along with various household characteristics, the project's analytical approach for examining environmental impacts will provide a language for scholars from a wide range of disciplines to interact on a broad basis for collaboration on similar problems associated the impacts of globalization on remote communities. The project also will have educational impact by engaging students of all levels, at home and abroad, in the discussion and analysis of the project's research themes. This project is supported by the NSF Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH) Program.