CNH: Experimental Frameworks for Evaluating Net Effects of Hydrologic Service Payments on Coupled Social-Ecohydrological Systems

CNH：评估水文服务支付对耦合社会生态水文系统净影响的实验框架

• 批准号: 1313804
• 负责人: Heidi Asbjornsen
• 金额: $ 147.5万
• 依托单位: University of New Hampshire
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-01-15 至 2019-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1313804&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CNH; Experimental; Frameworks; Evaluating; Net

As global concern over water scarcity and declining water quality grows, payment for hydrological services (PHS) programs, whereby land users receive payments in exchange for adopting practices favorable to water resources, offer a potential solution for ensuring clean and plentiful water. However, because PHS programs seek to influence both human behavior and the environment, they are extremely complex, and the scientific understanding needed to maximize their effectiveness is lacking. The goal of this project is to analyze the interacting social, economic, ecological, hydrological and policy impacts of Mexico's PHS programs, which have been operating for over a decade and thus represent some of the longest running programs of their kind in the world. The project will focus on two types of PHS programs operating within the Pixquiac and Gavilanes watersheds near Xalapa and Coatepec, Veracruz: 1) the "national" program, which is centrally organized and administered by the Mexican government, and 2) the local "matching" program, which requires greater involvement of diverse local institutions in the financing, planning, and execution of the program. Impacts of the PHS programs on water and other (e.g., biodiversity, carbon) ecosystem services will be assessed using a combination of field data collection and modeling. Interviews and surveys will be used to assess the influence of the two PHS programs (national and local) on people's decisions, as well as interactions with other social qualities such as perceptions of equity and well-being, health, income opportunities, and social organization. The information collected for the human and natural systems will be integrated through the application of spatial mapping tools, watershed modeling, and participatory workshops involving multiple actors in order to identify the key factors that determine the long-term success and cost-benefit trade-offs of PHS programs. This integrated approach will also be used to test the effects of different PHS policy and land use change scenarios on ecosystem services and long-term watershed sustainability. This project will contribute significantly to enhancing society's ability to protect water resources by developing an interdisciplinary approach for understanding how PHS policies both shape - and are shaped by - the coupled human and natural systems they seek to influence. Additionally, an important aspect of this research is that it will advance the current level of knowledge about PHS programs to encompass the larger concept of watershed sustainability, which to date has not been an integral component of PHS yet is crucial to protecting water resources. Results will be integrated into two science-based decision support tools that can be used by landowners and decision makers achieve desired watershed management and policy goals while avoiding unintended consequences: an aggregate sustainability index that provides concise information on watershed health, and a GIS-based mapping framework that spatially integrates impacts of land use change on ecosystem services and their relationship with coupled human and natural systems. Given that PHS programs are rapidly becoming an important policy mechanism worldwide for addressing critical environmental issues related to water supply and quality, the findings from this research will have broad impacts by helping to guide the design of more effective PHS policies across the globe. To ensure successful local and global application of this research, findings will be widely disseminated through diverse portals, including policy forums, news media, interdisciplinary and disciplinary scientific journals, an edited book volume on global PHS programs, and a series of educational modules and seminars developed for both the middle school and university levels. Finally, this project will train and mentor one postdoctoral research associate, four graduate students, and several undergraduate students, all of whom will gain valuable skills in interdisciplinary thinking and analysis and sustainability science within the context water resource management.

随着全球对水资源短缺和水质下降的关注日益增加，水文服务付费（PHS）计划，即土地使用者通过采取有利于水资源的做法获得报酬，为确保清洁和充足的水提供了一个潜在的解决方案。 然而，由于PHS计划寻求影响人类行为和环境，它们非常复杂，并且缺乏最大限度地发挥其有效性所需的科学理解。该项目的目标是分析墨西哥公共卫生服务方案的社会、经济、生态、水文和政策影响，这些方案已经运行了十多年，因此是世界上同类方案中运行时间最长的。该项目将侧重于在韦拉克鲁斯州哈拉帕和科阿特佩克附近的Pixquiac和Gavilanes流域内开展的两种PHS方案：1）“国家”方案，由墨西哥政府集中组织和管理; 2）地方“匹配”方案，要求不同的地方机构更多地参与方案的筹资、规划和执行。 PHS方案对水和其他方面的影响（例如，生物多样性、碳）生态系统服务将使用实地数据收集和建模相结合的方法进行评估。 访谈和调查将被用来评估两个公共卫生服务方案（国家和地方）对人们的决定的影响，以及与其他社会素质的相互作用，如公平和福祉，健康，收入机会和社会组织的看法。为人类和自然系统收集的信息将通过应用空间绘图工具、流域建模和涉及多个行为者的参与性研讨会进行整合，以确定决定公共卫生服务方案长期成功和成本效益权衡的关键因素。这一综合方法还将用于测试不同的PHS政策和土地利用变化情景对生态系统服务和长期流域可持续性的影响。 这一项目将大大有助于提高社会保护水资源的能力，方法是制定一种跨学科的办法，以了解公共卫生服务政策如何塑造它们试图影响的相互关联的人类和自然系统，以及如何被这些系统塑造。此外，这项研究的一个重要方面是，它将推进目前的知识水平的PHS计划，包括更大的概念，流域的可持续性，这到目前为止还没有一个不可分割的组成部分，PHS尚未保护水资源是至关重要的。研究结果将纳入两个科学决策支持工具，供土地所有者和决策者使用，以实现预期的流域管理和政策目标，同时避免意外后果：提供流域健康简明信息的综合可持续性指数，一个GIS，基于空间整合的制图框架，土地利用变化对生态系统服务的影响及其与耦合的人类和自然系统的关系。鉴于PHS计划正在迅速成为一个重要的政策机制，在世界范围内解决关键的环境问题，供水和水质，从这项研究的结果将有广泛的影响，帮助指导设计更有效的PHS政策在地球仪。 为了确保这项研究在当地和全球的成功应用，研究结果将通过各种门户网站广泛传播，包括政策论坛，新闻媒体，跨学科和学科科学期刊，全球PHS计划的编辑书籍，以及为中学和大学开发的一系列教育模块和研讨会。 最后，该项目将培训和指导一名博士后研究助理，四名研究生和几名本科生，他们都将获得跨学科思维和分析以及水资源管理背景下的可持续发展科学方面的宝贵技能。