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和土地使用决策与市场机制的关系。这项研究将在哥斯达黎加西部的Bellbird生物走廊（CBPC）进行，这是一个适合这项工作的环境，因为这是一个混合用途的规划区域，旨在通过包括自然旅游和环境服务付费在内的市场机制鼓励可持续发展。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，但对土地所有者价值的错误描述可能会产生加剧景观退化的矛盾效果。该研究将陈述选择实验的非市场评估方法与来自半结构化访谈和焦点小组的民族志数据相结合，以全面了解土地所有者价值、土地使用决策和景观生态完整性之间的关系。地理加权回归将用于审查森林生长的生物物理和社会经济驱动因素的强度和变化，并将这些信息与国家和地方可持续发展目标联系起来。通过定量和定性方法的结合，本研究将有助于理解市场经济如何影响人类福祉。通过对空间尺度的关注，它将展示个人和社区如何定位自己与市场机制的互动。这项研究的更广泛的影响延伸到环境教育、旅游监管和CBPC内正在组织的环境服务方案活动的支付。它还将促进佐治亚大学和Bellbird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.