CNH-Ex: Land-Use Intensification and Protected-Area Vulnerability in Africa's Albertine Rift

热带森林砍伐和退化是全球环境变化的主要原因，预计将对生物多样性和世界气候产生重大影响。扩大农业和更广泛的土地利用形式导致自然森林生境的退化和破碎化，影响动植物并改变生态过程。气候变化可能对森林和农业用地造成额外影响，从而促使人们改变做法，从事更广泛的土地利用做法。建立公园一直是用来保护现存热带森林生物多样性的主要机制，特别是在人口密度高的地区。热点地区的生物多样性保护与土地利用扩张并存，这对保护基础设施的意图和减轻贫困的努力都构成了极大的挑战。量化这些区域（更热的热点）在景观中的位置，并分析当地人如何感知和应对影响，是理解和应对这一双重挑战的基础。这个探索性研究项目将围绕一个问题展开：随着时间的推移，非洲东部艾伯丁裂谷公园周围的土地利用是如何以及在哪里加剧的？为了帮助回答这个问题，一个多学科调查小组将量化七个乌干达公园周围森林转换的速度和程度，以确定过去十年来土地利用变化和扩展的模式，作为气候、土地利用和人口变化的函数。他们将在区域和地方两级进行调查，纳入住户一级的调查数据，以探讨土地使用变化和扩大的影响和反应。主要项目目标是量化土地覆盖变化的程度和格局；量化气候轨迹和变率；确定当地居民的风险和土地使用策略；并整合和分析景观人口变化、家庭对森林利用（包括风险）的认识、这些特征的客观测量和变化模式之间的复杂关系。该项目将定量评估与气候和人口变化有关的艾伯丁裂谷森林转化和农业推广的程度和速度。虽然已经在大范围内确定了保护热点，但该项目将提高它们的分辨率，并对热点区域内的公园进行单独评估。该项目还将提供关于动态景观如何在局部尺度上响应人类活动的新见解，以及这些变化如何与气候变化和风险感知相关，所有这些对于开发公园边缘界面的复杂交互框架至关重要。该项目将为北美和乌干达的学生、合作者和非政府组织提供跨学科教育和培训的坚实基础。数据将提供给研究区域的居民和利益相关者，项目结果将有助于保护工作。这项研究促进的合作关系和教育将提高地方政府、马凯雷雷大学和乌干达野生动物管理局的能力。本项目由美国国家科学基金会自然与人类系统耦合动力学（CNH）项目资助。

Tropical deforestation and degradation are major causes of global environmental change, with substantial projected impacts on biodiversity and world climate. Expanding agriculture and more extensive forms of land use lead to degradation and fragmentation of natural forest habitats, impacting flora and fauna and altering ecological processes. A changing climate may lead to additional impacts on forests and agricultural land, thereby inducing people to alter practices and engage is even more extensive land-use practices. The establishment of parks has been a major mechanism used to protect remaining tropical forest biodiversity, particularly in regions with high human densities. This juxtaposition of biodiversity preservation and land-use extensification in hotspots greatly challenges both the intentions of conservation infrastructure and efforts to alleviate poverty. Quantifying where these areas (hotter hotspots) occur on the landscape, and analyzing how local people perceive and respond to impacts is fundamental to understanding and facing this dual challenge. The exploratory research project will be framed around a single question: How and where has land use intensified around parks in the Albertine Rift of eastern Africa over time? To help answer this question, a multidisciplinary team of investigators will quantify the rate and extent of forest conversion surrounding seven Ugandan parks to identify patterns of land-use change and extensification as a function of climate, land use, and population change over the last decade. They will conduct their investigation at both a regional and local scale, incorporating household-level survey data to explore impacts of and responses to land-use change and extensification. Major project objectives are to quantify the extent and pattern of land-cover change; to quantify climate trajectory and variability; to identify risks and land-use strategies of local people; and to integrate and analyze the complex relationships among demographic changes on the landscape, household perceptions of forest use (including risks), objective measurements of those characteristics, and patterns of change.The project will provide a quantitative assessment of extent and rate of Albertine Rift forest conversion and agricultural extensification as related to climate and population change. While conservation hotspots have been pinpointed at large scales, this project will improve their resolution and offer individual assessments of parks within a hotspot region. The project also will provide new insights regarding how dynamic landscape respond to human-related activities as local scales as well as how those changes relate to climate change and perceptions of risk, all of which are essential for developing frameworks of complex interactions for park-edge interfaces. The project will provide a strong foundation for interdisciplinary education and training for North American and Ugandan students, collaborators, and non-governmental organizations. Data will be made available to residents and stakeholders in the study region, and project results will assist conservation efforts. The collaborative ties and education promoted by this research will enhance the capacity of local governments, Makerere University, and the Uganda Wildlife Authority. This project is supported by the NSF Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH) Program.