SEES Fellows: Understanding Farmers' Valuation of Environmental Services and Forest Sustainability: Governance and Institutions in the Selva Zoque, Mexico

在NSF科学，工程和教育可持续发展研究员（SEES研究员计划）的这个奖项中，来自达特茅斯学院的Claudia Rodriguez-Solorzano博士将研究在土地使用决策方面管理个体农民决策的因素，这些农民如何权衡提供环境服务的好处，平衡他们从使用土地进行农业活动中获得的好处。 该奖项得到了以下机构的支持：社会、行为和经济科学理事会、生物科学理事会、国际和综合活动办公室以及刺激竞争研究实验计划办公室（EPSCoR）。拟议的研究项目将通过促进我们对与提供环境服务相关的人类行为动机的理解，为当地和全球社会环境的可持续发展做出贡献。为此，本研究将回答两个相互关联的问题：1）治理和制度如何影响农民对森林提供的环境服务的估价？2）对于重视环境服务的农民来说，哪些因素影响他们的土地利用决策？该项目结合了人类学、政治学的集体行动和制度以及经济学的环境服务对农民行为的研究。这一多学科方法提供了一个平台，可用于制定一个以经验为基础的框架，以制定将增强生态系统服务提供的可持续性的政策。拟议的广泛的实证工作将提供机会，以测试和完善的framework.This研究使用的塞尔瓦Zoque，在墨西哥南部的完整的热带森林的高度生物多样性的地区，作为其实验室。 在瓦哈卡、韦拉克鲁斯和恰帕斯州，有不同的治理机制支持农民提供环境服务，包括社区管理和保护区。Rodriguez-Solorzano博士将与合作者Richard Howarth合作（达特茅斯学院）和爱德华多·布朗迪齐奥（印第安纳州大学），以及年轻的科学家（研究助理和学生）对这项研究。这个项目是由美国国家科学基金会科学，工程和教育的可持续发展研究员支持（SEES研究员）计划，其目标是帮助实现所需的发现，为导致环境，能源和社会可持续性，同时创造必要的劳动力来应对这些挑战。在SEES研究员的支持下，该项目将使一个有前途的早期职业研究人员能够在与可持续发展相关的独立研究生涯中建立自己的地位。

In this Award from the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows Program) Dr. Claudia Rodriguez-Solorzano from Dartmouth College will study the factors that govern individual farmers decision making when it comes to land-use decisions, how these farmers weigh the benefits of providing environmental services, balanced against benefits that they derive from using land for agricultural activities. This award has support from: the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, the Directorate for Biological Sciences, the Office of International and Integrative Activities, and the Office of Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).The proposed research project will contribute to local and global social-environmental sustainability by advancing our understanding about motivations of human behavior associated with the provision of environmental services. For this purpose the research will answer two interrelated questions: 1) how do governance and institutions affect farmers valuation of environmental services provided by forests? and 2) for those farmers who value environmental services, what factors influence their decisions on their land use? The project ties together current research on farmer behavior from anthropology, collective action and institutions from political science, and environmental services for economics. This multidisciplinary approach provides a platform for developing an empirically based framework for developing policies that will enhance sustainability of ecosystem service provision. The proposed extensive empirical work will provide opportunity to test and refine the framework.This research uses the Selva Zoque, a highly biodiverse region of intact tropical forest in southern Mexico, as its laboratory. Divided among the states of Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Chiapas, different governance mechanisms are in place to support farmer provision of environmental services, including community-based management and protected areas. Dr. Rodriguez-Solorzano will be working with collaborators Richard Howarth (Dartmouth College) and Eduardo Brondizio (Indiana University), as well as young scientists (research assistants and students) on this research.This project is supported under the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows) program, with the goal of helping to enable discoveries needed to inform actions that lead to environmental, energy and societal sustainability while creating the necessary workforce to address these challenges. With SEES Fellows support, this project will enable a promising early career researcher to establish themselves in an independent research career related to sustainability.