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

这项研究将集中于私人土地所有者的价值和土地使用决策如何与基于市场的机制相关联。这项研究将在哥斯达黎加西部的钟鸟生物走廊(CBPC)进行，这是开展这项工作的合适环境，因为这是一个旨在通过自然旅游和环境服务付费等基于市场的机制鼓励可持续发展的混合用途规划区域。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矛盾的影响，加剧景观退化。本研究将声明选择实验的非市场评估方法与半结构化访谈和焦点小组的人种学数据相结合，以全面理解土地所有者价值、土地利用决策和景观生态完整性之间的关系。地理加权回归将被用来检验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的可持续发展目标联系起来。通过定量和定性相结合的方法，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。通过对空间尺度的关注，它将展示个人和社区如何定位自己，以便与基于市场的机制互动。这项研究的更广泛影响延伸到环境教育、旅游监管和为CBPC内组织的环境服务方案活动支付费用。它还将促进佐治亚大学和贝尔鸟生物走廊之间的一项新倡议，以促进整个区域的本科生和研究生的培训机会。

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.