Doctoral Dissertation Research: Livelihood Strategies and Landscape Diversity Related to Agricultural Development

博士论文研究：与农业发展相关的生计策略和景观多样性

• 批准号: 1434223
• 负责人: B. Turner
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 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: 2014-08-01 至 2016-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1434223&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Livelihood; Strategies

Changes in the ways that people construct their livelihoods transform the landscape, and landscape changes have implications for livelihoods. The often complex relationships between people and the natural landscapes they inhabit are the focus of scientific research designed to enhance more general knowledge, but such research can have practical implications for decision making about development endeavors. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine how agricultural development programs are transforming livelihood diversity and landscape pattern in rural communities. Understanding interactions among changes in landscape and livelihoods of rural populations is particularly important in those locales where development programs and investors have turned their attention to agricultural growth in this area. In this context, information about the broader effects of agricultural growth can inform development agencies as they seek to balance the tradeoffs among food production, poverty alleviation, and environmental conservation. This is the case in the Morogoro Region in Tanzania, where this project will take place, because interactions in this region have posed challenges for the ongoing efforts of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Feed the Future program and for the Tanzanian government's Kilimo Kwanza [Agriculture First] strategy. This project will contribute to these development efforts by gathering information about the economic activities and needs of rural populations and by performing empirical analysis of environmental data. Through close work with rural populations and groups engaged in development activities, the doctoral student will identify new opportunities for enhancing the resilience of rural communities in Tanzania and in many other developing nations. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.While extensive research has been dedicated to examining livelihoods and land use, little research has specifically addressed this reciprocal relationship between space and livelihoods. Recent research has suggested that space is central to livelihoods analyses and is essential to understanding the processes that give rise to rural livelihood strategies. The doctoral student whose dissertation research will be supported by this award will examine an area where extensive agricultural change spurred by development initiatives and foreign investment is underway. He will integrate research methods from landscape ecology, land-change science, and sustainable livelihoods research to examine the changes in spatial patterns of landscapes over the past two decades as well as the changes in livelihood strategies related to these development activities. Using satellite imagery, he will identify changes in the spatial pattern of land use and land cover over time. He will conduct interviews and gather survey data from smallholder famers to complement this analysis and explain how agricultural programs have altered livelihood strategies and resource use in the area. He also will interview representatives from development agencies and other stakeholder groups to ascertain their perceptions of the changes in the environment and the needs of rural populations. Through this mixed-methods approach, the student will provide new understandings about the complex relationship between changes in livelihood strategies and landscape pattern as well as new insights into how development programs shape this relationship.

人们构建生计的方式的变化改变了景观，而景观的变化对生计有影响。人与其居住的自然景观之间往往是复杂的关系，这是旨在增进更多常识的科学研究的重点，但这种研究可能对有关发展努力的决策产生实际影响。这一博士论文研究项目将研究农业发展项目如何改变农村社区的生计多样性和景观格局。在那些发展项目和投资者已将注意力转向该地区农业增长的地区，了解景观变化与农村人口生计变化之间的相互作用尤为重要。在这种背景下，有关农业增长的更广泛影响的信息可以为发展机构提供信息，帮助它们在粮食生产、减贫和环境保护之间寻求权衡。坦桑尼亚的莫罗戈罗地区就是这种情况，该项目将在那里开展，因为该地区的互动对美国国际开发署的未来粮食计划以及坦桑尼亚政府的Kilimo Kwanza[农业优先]战略构成了挑战。该项目将通过收集有关农村人口的经济活动和需求的信息以及对环境数据进行实证分析，为这些发展努力作出贡献。通过与农村人口和从事发展活动的群体的密切合作，博士生将发现增强坦桑尼亚和许多其他发展中国家农村社区复原力的新机会。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立强大的独立研究生涯。虽然广泛的研究一直致力于研究生计和土地利用，但很少有研究专门讨论空间和生计之间的这种相互关系。最近的研究表明，空间是生计分析的核心，对于理解产生农村生计战略的过程至关重要。博士生的论文研究将得到这个奖项的支持，他将研究一个由发展倡议和外国投资刺激的广泛农业变化正在进行的领域。他将整合景观生态学、土地变化科学和可持续生计研究的研究方法，研究过去20年来景观空间格局的变化以及与这些发展活动相关的生计战略的变化。利用卫星图像，他将识别土地利用和土地覆盖的空间模式随时间的变化。他将进行采访，收集小农户的调查数据，以补充这一分析，并解释农业项目如何改变了该地区的生计战略和资源使用。他还将约谈发展机构和其他利益攸关方团体的代表，以确定他们对环境变化和农村人口需求的看法。通过这种混合方法的方法，学生将对生计战略和景观格局变化之间的复杂关系提供新的理解，并对发展计划如何塑造这种关系提供新的见解。