IRES Track I: Modeling Human-Elephant-Conflict Using GIS Methodologies with Engaged Community Ecosystem Management near Wasgamuwa National Park, Sri Lanka

自然资源的开发和利用，当人类干扰荒野地区，与野生动物发生冲突时，会产生环境问题。管理这些前沿空间的生态系统，调解人类和非人类社区之间的冲突，需要跨学科的方法。过去，当生态系统管理被视为一个纯粹的技术问题时，管理者会与其他利益相关者和社区发生冲突。在跨学科和社区参与的研究方法方面培训未来的专业人员和研究人员是至关重要的，这样他们才能更好地调解未来的环境冲突。在斯里兰卡中部的Wasgamuwa国家公园周围地区尤其如此：随着人类将农业足迹扩展到大象放牧地，人象冲突（HEC）增加了，导致栖息地、住房和生命的丧失。斯里兰卡野生动物保护协会（SLWCS）是一个国际公认的非政府组织，它与Wasgamuwa国家公园及其周围的农民和村庄合作，共同研究大象的行为，寻找减少HEC的解决方案。参与该IRES项目的学生将与斯里兰卡的SLWCS合作，研究大象生态学、社区参与研究和栖息地测绘。这个项目将持续三年，每年都会有来自内华达大学里诺分校的九名美国学生参加。这群人将是跨学科的，来自STEM领域和人文学科的学生，这样他们就可以学习如何从多个角度看待问题。此外，认识到在日益全球化的世界中需要新的方法来解决复杂问题，学生将与斯里兰卡其他机构的研究人员合作，学习新的研究方法，与社区合作伙伴一起开发研究问题，并培养沟通实践，使他们能够有效地与不同群体接触。参与该项目的学生将学习如何促进有意义的合作，使他们作为自然资源管理的实践者能够更有效地应对环境问题——随着人为力量正在挑战世界各地生态系统的恢复能力，这一特征变得越来越重要。制定缓解人象冲突（HEC）的战略，将确保人类和大象社区的未来都是有益的，因为它们之间的互动越来越多。为了确定和评估高铁建设的驱动力，并研究其环境影响，该项目将在斯里兰卡的Wasgamuwa国家公园及周边社区开展研究，为高铁管理提供更广泛的文献。在斯里兰卡野生动物保护协会（SLWCS）的科学家和研究人员的指导下，参与的学生将分析和绘制与HEC有关的大象生态图，该地区近年来发病率迅速上升。通过开展由SLWCS人员协调的社区参与研究，该项目将有助于更好地了解该地区高企的影响因素，并就有效解决这一问题的途径提出建议。此外，该项目还将研究边缘栖息地大象的生态动态，以及如何通过社区参与来缓解自然资源管理问题。除了本研究的主要目标之外，本项目还涉及学术关注的其他三个领域：1)自然资源管理者和环境科学家如何与社区成员和利益相关者建立富有成效和有意义的合作伙伴关系？2)我们如何为自然资源管理日益增加的跨学科性质做好准备和培养学生？3)环境科学家、自然资源管理者和组织如何在有争议的环境审议中构建和维护他们的信誉/精神？为了回答这些问题，该项目将与内华达大学里诺分校的27名本科生在社会生态学研究方法、GIS软件和技术以及基于社区的参与性研究方面进行培训和合作，以减轻受影响社区的HEC。参与的学生将获得宝贵的研究经验以及接触国际合作的机会，他们将利用该项目的研究成果与美国和斯里兰卡周围的社区合作，为复杂的生态系统管理问题制定解决方案。该项目由国际学生研究经验计划（IRES）和促进竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了美国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。

The development and utilization of natural resources can create environmental issues when humans disturb wilderness areas and come into conflict with wildlife. Managing ecosystems in these frontier spaces, and mediating conflicts between human and non-human communities, requires an interdisciplinary approach. In the past, when ecosystem management is viewed as a purely technical issue, managers have come into clashed with other stakeholders and communities. It is essential to train future professionals and researchers in interdisciplinary and community engaged research methodologies so they can better mediate environmental conflicts in the future. This is especially true in the area around Wasgamuwa National Park in central Sri Lanka: as humans have expanded their agricultural footprint into elephant grazing lands, Human-Elephant-Conflict (HEC) has increased and led to loses of habitat, housing, and life. The Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society (SLWCS) is an internationally recognized and awarded NGO that works with farmers and villages in and around Wasgamuwa National Park to collaboratively research elephant behavior and find solutions to decrease HEC. Students participating in this IRES project will work with the SLWCS in Sri Lanka to study elephant ecology, community engaged research, and habitat mapping. This project will run for three years, and each year a new cohort of nine U.S. students from the University of Nevada, Reno will participate. The cohorts will be interdisciplinary, with students from STEM fields and the humanities, so that they can learn how to view problems from multiple perspectives. Additionally, recognizing the need for new approaches to solving complex problems in an increasingly global world, students will work with researchers from other institutions in Sri Lanka to learn new research methodologies, develop research questions with community partners, and cultivate communication practices that enable them to effectively engage with different groups. Students participating in the project will learn how to facilitate meaningful collaborations, enabling them as practitioners of natural resource management to cope with environmental issues more effectively – a trait that is increasingly important as anthropogenic forces are challenging the resiliency of ecosystems across the world.Developing strategies that mitigate Human-Elephant-Conflict (HEC) will ensure beneficial futures for both human and elephant communities that increasingly interact with one another. To identify and assess the driving forces of HEC, as well as examine its environmental impacts, this project will conduct research in Sri Lanka’s Wasgamuwa National Park and the surrounding communities that can contribute to the broader literature on HEC management. Working under the guidance of scientists and researchers with the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society (SLWCS), participating students will analyze and map the ecology of elephants in relation to HEC in an area that has seen a rapid increase in incidences in recent years. By conducting community-engaged research coordinated by SLWCS personnel, this project will help better inform the contributing factors to HEC in the region and provide recommendations on pathways to effectively address it. Additionally, this project will examine the dynamics of the ecology of elephants in edge habitats, and how natural resource management issues can be mitigated through community engagement. In addition to the primary objective of this research, this project addresses three other areas of scholarly concern: 1) How do natural resource managers and environmental scientists construct productive and meaningful collaborative partnerships with community members and stakeholders?; 2) How do we prepare and train students for the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of natural resource management?; and 3) How do environmental scientists, natural resource managers, and organizations construct and maintain their credibility/ethos in contentious, environmental deliberation? To answer these questions, this project will train and work with 27 University of Nevada, Reno undergraduate students in social-ecological research methodologies, GIS software and techniques, and community based participatory research, in order to work towards mitigating HEC in affected communities. Participating students will be provided with valuable research experiences along with exposure to international collaborations, and they will use the project’s findings to engage communities around the United States and Sri Lanka in developing solutions to complex ecosystem management issues.This project is jointly funded by the International Research Experiences for Students program (IRES) and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.