Doctoral Dissertation Research: Micro-level Decision Making and Macro-level Policies in the Management of Natural Resources

在包括美国在内的世界许多地方，砍伐森林和森林破碎的现象有增无减。这导致了流域退化、生物多样性减少和生态系统服务丧失。先前的研究发现，农业边界的扩张是这一过程的主要驱动因素，而当地的小农经常受到指责。为此，政府机构和非政府组织经常把农林业作为一种“可持续发展”战略来推广，以打击毁林，同时改善农民的生计。不幸的是，这些项目经常不成功。由该奖项资助的研究的目标是了解其中的原因。迄今为止的证据表明，问题可能在于外界的规定性观念与当地对如何管理森林、田野和资源的理解之间的冲突，这将是本次调查的重点。德克萨斯农业和矿业大学的博士生凯瑟琳·戴维斯在阿曼达·斯特隆扎博士的指导下，将在巴拿马的圣玛丽亚河流域和圣菲国家公园缓冲区进行农林业项目的研究。她之所以选择这些地点，是因为在巴拿马相对较小的地区，许多机构正在为小农推广农林业项目，这可以在受控框架内进行比较抽样。农林业促进者包括巴拿马政府的国家环境管理局、国家机构和几个非政府组织。戴维斯将使用混合方法策略收集数据，包括：半结构化访谈、参与式绘图和参与式观察。这些数据将使她能够比较农民、非政府组织和政府工作人员在农林业、农民协会以及农林业与森林保护之间的关系方面的观点和做法。通过将微观层面的农民自然资源管理和生计决策与宏观层面的项目和农林业话语联系起来，本研究的结果将帮助社会科学家更好地确定成功管理自然资源以实现所有人的保护成果，同时改善当地居民的生计所涉及的关键因素。这些发现将推广到美国的多个地点，在那里小规模农业和自然资源管理经常发生冲突。

Deforestation and forest fragmentation continue unabated in many parts of the world, including the United States. This has led to the degradation of watersheds, reduction in bio-diversity, and the loss of ecosystem services. Previous research has found that the expansion of the agricultural frontier is a prime driver of this process and frequently local smallholder farmers are blamed. In response, Government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often promote agroforestry as a "sustainable development" strategy for combating deforestation while improving farmer livelihoods. Unfortunately, these projects frequently are not successful. The goal of the research funded by this award is to understand why. Evidence to date suggests that the problem may lie in a clash between prescriptive ideas from outsiders and local understandings of how forests, fields, and resources should be managed, which will be the focus of this investigation.Texas Agriculture and Mining University doctoral student, Katherine Davis, under the direction of Dr. Amanda Stronza, will target her research on agroforestry projects in the Santa Maria River watershed and the Santa Fe National Park buffer zone in Panama. She chose these sites because in the relatively small area of Panama, numerous agencies are promoting agroforestry projects for smallholder farmers, which allows comparative sampling in a controlled framework. Agroforestry promoters include the Panamanian government's National Environmental Authority, national institutions, and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Davis will gather data with a mixed-methods strategy, including: semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping, and participant observation. These data will allow her to compare the views and practices of farmers, NGOs, and government staff in regard to agroforestry, farmer associations, and the relationship between agroforestry and forest conservation. By linking micro-level farmer natural resource management and livelihood decisions with macro-level projects and agroforestry discourse, findings from this research will help social scientists better identify the key factors involved in successfully managing natural resources for conservation outcomes for all while improving livelihoods of local residents. These findings will be generalizable to multiple sites in the United States where small-scale farming and natural resource management frequently come into conflict.