Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Anthropological Investigation of the Relationship between Values, Land Use Decisions, and Market-based Mechanisms

这项研究将侧重于私人土地所有者的价值观和土地使用决策如何与市场机制相关联。这项研究将在位于哥斯达黎加西部的铃鸟生物走廊（CBPC）进行，这是一个适当的工作环境，因为这是一个混合用途的规划区域，旨在通过市场机制，包括自然旅游和环境服务付费，鼓励可持续发展。以市场为基础的保护计划可以改善生态健康和农村生计的一些指标，但土地所有者的价值观的错误描述可能会增加景观退化的矛盾影响。本研究整合了非市场评估方法的一个既定的选择实验与人种学数据从半结构化访谈和焦点小组，以达到全面了解土地所有者的价值观，土地使用决策，和景观的生态完整性之间的关系。将使用地理加权回归来研究森林增长的生物物理和社会经济驱动因素的强度和变化，并将这一信息与国家和地方可持续发展目标联系起来，通过结合定量和定性方法，这项研究将在智力上有助于理解市场经济如何影响人类福祉。通过对空间规模的关注，它将展示个人和社区如何定位自己，以便与市场机制互动。这项研究的更广泛的影响延伸到环境教育，旅游监管，并支付环境服务规划活动正在CBPC内组织。它还将促进格鲁吉亚大学和贝尔伯德生物走廊之间的一项新倡议，为整个地区的本科生和研究生提供培训机会。

This research will focus on how private landowner values and land-use decisions relate to market-based mechanisms. The research will take place in the Bellbird Biological Corridor (CBPC) located in western Costa Rica, an appropriate setting for the work as this is a mixed-use planning region designed to encourage sustainable development through market-based mechanisms including nature tourism and payments for environmental services. Market-based conservation programs can improve some indicators of ecological health and rural livelihoods, but the mischaracterization of landowner values can have the paradoxical effect of increasing landscape degradation. The research integrates the nonmarket valuation method of a stated choice experiment with ethnographic data from semi-structured interviews and focus groups to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the relation between landowner values, land-use decisions, and the ecological integrity of the landscape. Geographically weighted regression will be used to examine the strength and variation in biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of forest growth and relate this information to national and local sustainable development goals.By combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies, this research will intellectually contribute to understanding how market economics impact human well-being. Through its attention to spatial scale, it will demonstrate how individuals and communities position themselves to interact with market-based mechanisms. The broader impacts of this research extend to environmental education, tourism regulation, and payment for environmental services programing activities being organized within the CBPC. It will also catalyze a new initiative between the University of Georgia and the Bellbird Biological Corridor to foster training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students across the region.