Doctoral Dissertation Research: Drought Resource Management and Pastoralist Livelihood Change: An Examination of the Social Dynamics Mediating Conservation Goals and Outcomes

有充分的证据表明，人类影响着他们的环境，保护倡议可以对当地人产生重大影响。对保护倡议如何影响社会变化，以及这些社会变化如何反过来影响保护目标，人们了解得较少。博士生布莱恩·米勒将在北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校地理系保罗·莱斯利教授的指导下进行一项研究，通过研究个人和机构对资源获取方式变化的反应，探索调解保护行动和结果的社会动力。河流、沼泽和高地是生活在干旱和半干旱生态系统中的牧民(牧民)的主要资源区，但由于建立公园和其他保护区，牧民获得这些旱季/干旱资源受到限制。资源可获得性的这种变化对牧民的生计有相当大的影响，在撒哈拉以南非洲，牧民的生计正越来越多地得到耕作和雇佣劳动力的补充或取代。尽管牧民的生计变化得到了很好的记录，但关于其与获得干旱资源的相互作用的研究很少。这项研究将介绍肯尼亚/坦桑尼亚边境地区干旱资源的可获得性、资源可获得性与马赛生计决定之间的关系，以及当地资源管理机构对当前生计变化的反应。描述人类对资源可获得性变化的反应将说明保护的社会后果以及这些影响的间接生态影响。这项研究将使用混合方法，需要对资源分布进行地理空间分析，对家庭调查数据进行分析，并与距离国家公园不同距离的社区成员进行访谈。保护工作直接影响到牧民获得谋生所需的资源。与此同时，正在进行的牧民生计变化可能会极大地改变覆盖地球大部分陆地表面的牧场生态系统。这些变化有可能改变标志性保护区(如塞伦盖蒂国家公园)附近的景观，阻碍野生动物迁徙走廊，从而影响旅游经济的生存能力。这项研究探讨了这样一种观点，即自然资源保护者和牧民面临的挑战是相互依存的，解决这些挑战的解决方案也是相互依存的。了解养护举措对当地土地利用的影响，对于制定管理战略以维持保护区以外的生态系统功能和资源可获得性是必要的。此外，一些地区的牧民正在被承认为有价值的保护伙伴，需要确定资源可获得性的模式，以便确立使用权，防止进一步剥夺土地和边缘化。最后，了解允许一些人留在牧区的个人战略和集体资源管理机构，可能对畜牧民和自然资源保护者都有指导意义。

It is well documented that humans influence their environment, and that conservation initiatives can have substantial impacts on local people. Less well understood how conservation initiatives affect social changes, and how these social changes in turn impact conservation goals. Doctoral student Brian Miller, under the supervision of Professor Paul Leslie in the Department of Geography at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill will conduct a study that explores the social dynamics that mediate conservation actions and outcomes by examining the individual and institutional responses to changes in access to resources. Rivers, swamps, and highlands are key resource areas for livestock herders (pastoralists) living in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, but pastoralist access to these dry-season/drought resources is inhibited by the establishment of parks and other protected areas. Such changes in resource availability have considerable implications for pastoralists' livelihoods, which are increasingly being supplemented with, or replaced by, cultivation and wage labor in sub-Saharan Africa. Although livelihood change among pastoralists is well documented, there has been little study of its interactions with access to drought resources. This study will describe the accessibility of drought resources in the Kenya/Tanzania border region, the relationship between resource access and Maasai livelihood decisions, and the response of local resource management institutions to ongoing livelihood changes. Describing the human responses to changes in resource accessibility will illustrate the social consequences of conservation as well as the indirect ecological implications of these effects. This study will use a mixed methods approach that will entail geospatial analysis of resource distributions, household survey data analysis, and interviews with members of communities that are varying distances from a national park. Conservation efforts directly affect pastoralists' access to the resources they need to make a living. At the same time, ongoing pastoralist livelihood changes could substantially alter rangeland ecosystems, which cover a large portion of the earth's land surface. These changes have the potential to transform landscapes in the vicinity of iconic conservation areas (e.g., Serengeti National Park), block wildlife migration corridors, and thereby affect the viability of tourism economies. This study explores the idea that the challenges facing conservationists and pastoralists are mutually dependent, and so are the solutions for resolving them. Understanding the consequences of conservation initiatives for local land use is necessary for developing management strategies that sustain ecosystem function and resource availability beyond the boundaries of protected areas. Moreover, pastoralists in some regions are gaining recognition as valuable conservation partners, and identifying patterns of resource availability is needed in order to establish access rights that prevent further land dispossession and marginalization. Finally, learning about the individual strategies and the collective resource management institutions that have allowed some people to remain in the pastoral sector will likely be instructive for livestock herders and conservationists alike.