Belmont Forum-G8 Initiative Collaborative Research: XINGU - Integrating Land Use Planning and Water Governance in Amazonia

该奖项为参与一个项目的美国研究人员提供支持，该项目由贝尔蒙特论坛（Belmont Forum）和八国集团（G8）国家研究首长理事会（Heads of research council）通过13国全球变化研究计划竞争性地选出。贝尔蒙特论坛是一个世界性的高层组织。全球环境变化研究和国际科学理事会的主要和新兴资助者。它的目的是通过协调和调动国际资源，加速进行最迫切需要的国际环境研究，以消除可持续发展的关键障碍。八国集团研究理事会负责人制定了一个资助框架，以支持以超出国家或双边活动能力的方式应对全球挑战的多边研究项目。每个伙伴国在一个联盟中为它们的研究人员提供资金，以减轻对跨越国际边界的资金的需求。这种方法有助于有效利用国家资源，支持对全球相关主题的优秀研究，最好通过多国方法解决，同时认识到全球挑战需要全球解决方案。在国际机会基金的首次呼吁下，贝尔蒙特论坛和g8horc共同努力，为研究项目提供支持，这些项目寻求提供行动所需的知识，以减轻和适应与淡水安全或沿海脆弱性有关的有害环境变化和极端危险事件。该奖项为美国研究人员在联盟中合作提供支持，该联盟由至少三个参与国的合作伙伴组成，并将自然科学家、社会科学家和研究用户（如政策制定者、监管机构、非政府组织、社区和行业）聚集在一起。该奖项支持研究活动，这些活动将研究与热带森林集约化作物农业扩张有关的淡水安全问题。作物农业集约化是一种全球现象，随着人口和收入的增加，土地利用正在迅速改变。这些农业变化对水的利用和质量有重要影响，但土地利用的变化很少与水的治理和管理的变化联系在一起。该项目将(1)确定土地转换、耕地扩张和农业集约化的影响如何相互作用，影响区域蒸散、降雨产生、河流洪水、水质和溪流栖息地以及将危及农业生产、生计和基础设施的变化阈值；(2)哪些治理和沟通机制最适合促进有效和高效的水管理。农民、牧场主、家庭、市政官员和企业将参与评估哪些机制可以影响水安全评估和管理权衡。该项目将有助于更好地了解土地利用变化如何影响水资源利用和治理，以及参与和管理如何影响土地利用快速变化地区的淡水可持续性。

This award provides support to U.S. researchers participating in a project competitively selected by a 13-country initiative on global change research through the Belmont Forum and the G8 countries Heads of Research Councils. The Belmont Forum is a high level group of the world?s major and emerging funders of global environmental change research and international science councils. It aims to accelerate delivery of the international environmental research most urgently needed to remove critical barriers to sustainability by aligning and mobilizing international resources. The G8 Heads of Research Councils developed a funding framework to support multilateral research projects that address global challenges in ways that are beyond the capacity of national or bilateral activities. Each partner country provides funding for their researchers within a consortium to alleviate the need for funds to cross international borders. This approach facilitates effective leveraging of national resources to support excellent research on topics of global relevance best tackled through a multinational approach, recognizing that global challenges need global solutions.Working together in an inaugural call of the International Opportunities Fund, the Belmont Forum and G8HORCs have provided support for research projects that seek to deliver knowledge needed for action to mitigate and adapt to detrimental environmental change and extreme hazardous events that relate to either Freshwater Security or Coastal Vulnerability. This award provides support for the U.S. researchers to cooperate in consortia that consist of partners from at least three of the participating countries and that bring together natural scientists, social scientists and research users (e.g., policy makers, regulators, NGOs, communities and industry). This award supports research activities that will examine issues surrounding freshwater security associated with the expansion of intensive crop agriculture in tropical forests. Intensification of crop agriculture is a global phenomenon that is rapidly shifting land use as populations and incomes increase. These agricultural changes have important implications for water use and quality, but land use changes are rarely associated with changes in water governance and management. This project will (1) identify how impacts from land conversion, cropland expansion and agricultural intensification interact to affect regional evapotranspiration, rainfall generation, river flooding, water quality and stream habitat and the thresholds of change that will endanger agricultural production, livelihoods and infrastructure, and (2) what mechanisms of governance and communication are best suited to facilitate effective and efficient water management. Farmers, ranchers, families, municipal officials and businesses will be engaged to assess what mechanisms can influence water security assessments and manage tradeoffs. This project will contribute toward an improved understanding of how shifts in land use impacts water use and governance and how engagement and management can impact freshwater sustainability in regions with rapidly changing land use.