Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Assessing international non-governmental organization influences on coastal resource management by communities and users

如果依赖海洋的人们对海洋资源的利用方式有了投入，鱼类种群和栖息地往往会更健康。更健康的鱼类资源和栖息地反过来对依赖海洋的人们来说是好消息，特别是在人们越来越依赖鱼类作为食物的低收入沿海地区。组织地方参与决策的一种方式是基于社区的管理（CBM），依靠资源的社区积极参与制定和执行规则（例如，允许社区成员如何、在何处以及何时捕鱼）。建立信任措施被认为是改善发展中国家鱼类资源和全球弱势群体粮食安全的一种方式，并得到了全球资助者、非政府组织、政府和社区的欢迎。特别是，国际非政府保护组织（ingo）积极鼓励世界各地的社区采用信任措施。因此，了解国际非政府组织如何影响社区采取信任措施的决定，与寻求改善粮食安全的国家政府、寻求平衡人类需求与生态系统需求的国际非政府组织、寻求赋予可持续发展的当地社区权力的网络组织以及寻求维持当地生计和文化的当地社区都息息相关。然而，国际非政府组织最终如何影响社区“为什么”和“如何”参与建立信任措施的决定，人们仍然知之甚少。该项目建议通过过程追踪方法，调查非政府组织活动与社区一级采用和执行建立信任措施之间的因果关系。数据将通过在斐济的实地调查收集，在斐济，非政府组织经常参与建立信任措施。访谈将在有目的地选择的斐济土著案例研究社区中与当地领导人进行，这些社区在社区规模和对海洋资源的依赖方面相匹配，但在非政府组织参与、采取信任措施和实施信任措施方面有所不同。为了对调查结果进行三角测量，数据收集还将包括正式的建立信任机制采用和执行文件，以及与积极参与案例研究社区的非政府组织代表的访谈。进程追踪分析将用于确定非政府组织的活动及其对a)促进地方采用和实施信任措施的物质和规范性激励措施以及b)地方决策结构的影响。过程追踪分析还将检验当地决策者的态度是否介导非政府组织对CBM吸收的影响。反事实案例将有助于探索在当地采用和/或实施信任措施的替代途径。初步调查结果的普遍性将通过对世界其他地区积极参与建立信任机制的非政府组织进行更广泛的调查来审查。该奖项反映了国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Where people who depend on the sea have input into how marine resources are used, fish stocks and habitats are often healthier. Healthier fish stocks and habitat are in turn good news for people who depend on the sea, especially in lower-income coastal regions where people increasingly rely on fish for food. One way to structure local involvement in decision-making is community-based management (CBM), in which resource-dependent communities take active part in making and enforcing rules (for example, how, where, and when community members are allowed to fish). CBM has been offered as a way to improve developing-world fish stocks and food security for vulnerable global populations, and has been embraced globally by funders, non-governmental organizations, governments and communities. In particular, international non-governmental conservation organizations (INGOs) actively work to encourage communities around the world to adopt CBM. Understanding how INGOs affect communities' decisions to undertake CBM is thus relevant to national governments seeking to improve food security, INGOs seeking to balance human needs with ecosystem needs, network organizations seeking to empower sustainable local communities, and local communities seeking to maintain local livelihoods and culture. However, how INGOs ultimately influence the "why" and "how" of communities' decisions to engage in CBM remains poorly understood. This project proposes to investigate causal links between the activities of INGOs and community-level adoption and implementation of CBM through a process tracing approach. Data will be collected through fieldwork in Fiji, a nation where INGO involvement in CBM is common. Interviews will be conducted with local leaders in purposively selected Native Fijian case study communities that are matched on community size and reliance on marine resources, but that vary on INGO involvement, adoption of CBM, and implementation of CBM. In order to triangulate findings, data collection will also include formal CBM adoption and implementation documentation, as well as interviews with representatives of INGOs active in the case study communities. Process tracing analysis will be used to identify INGO activities and influence on a) material and normative incentives for local adoption and implementation of CBM, and b) local decision-making structures. Process tracing analysis will also test whether local decision-maker attitudes mediate INGO influence on CBM uptake. Counterfactual cases will allow for exploration of alternate pathways to local adoption and/or implementation of CBM. Generalizability of initial case findings will be examined through a broader survey of INGOs active in CBM in other regions of the world..This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.