DISES: Influence of Community Forestry on the Dynamics of the Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems

森林是极其重要的，因为它们是数百万动植物的家园。这些生物活着，为人们提供建造房屋和做饭的木材，它们通过吸收二氧化碳来冷却气候。不幸的是，森林继续被砍伐，特别是在贫穷国家。为了防止森林进一步减少，一些社区的人们正在通过所谓的社区林业来保护森林。在社区林业项目中，村民们一起决定如何处理他们的森林。贫穷国家约有三分之一的森林采用这种管理方式。然而，社区林业并不总是奏效。这个项目将找出为什么尼泊尔的一些村庄在社区林业方面取得了成功，而另一些则没有。研究人员将与当地利益相关者密切合作，改善他们的森林管理战略，使全世界的社区受益。除了对林业产生影响外，该项目还将培训研究生和本科生，并在尼泊尔留下持久的遗产。美国将从这项研究中获得经济利益，因为通过保护资源和降低二氧化碳水平，可以更好地管理社区森林。该项目的主要目标是研究如何改进以更好地保护森林和支持依赖森林的人民的生活。为了实现这一目标，本研究将解决以下问题：(1)社区林业实践如何影响人们的生计和社会互动？(2)这些做法如何影响农村外迁？(3)它们如何影响土地利用？(4)新冠肺炎疫情如何影响农村居民的生计及其对社区林业的依赖？(5)社区林业如何影响生态系统提供的商品和服务？研究人员将采访农户，了解他们的森林管理实践、管理规则的起源以及社区成员在制定规则中的作用。还将对他们进行调查，以确定有关其农业实践、移民模式以及社区林业是否有助于缓解COVID-19影响的详细信息。还将利用卫星收集的遥感数据、地面现场水文数据以及统计、生态和水文模型来估计森林利用了多少水，以及它们从大气中吸收了多少二氧化碳。最终将开发一个综合建模系统来研究森林、人类活动以及环境提供的生态系统产品和服务之间的相互作用。该项目将推进公共资源管理、农村外迁以及土地利用和森林-生态系统服务关系的理论研究。在尼泊尔和其他国家制定可持续社区林业的新政策时，从这项研究中获得的新知识将是非常有价值的。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。

Forests are extremely important because they serve as homes for millions of animals and plants. Those organisms live, provide people with wood for building houses and for cooking, and they cool the climate by absorbing carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, forests continue to be cut down, especially in poor countries. To prevent forests from further decline, people in some communities are protecting them with what is called Community Forestry. In community forestry programs people in a village work together to decide what to do with their forests. About a third of the forests in poor countries are managed this way. However, community forestry does not always work. This project will find out why some villages in Nepal are successful in community forestry while others not. The researchers will work closely with local stakeholders to improve their forest management strategies that can benefit communities worldwide. In addition to this impact on forestry the project will train graduate and undergraduate students and leave a lasting legacy in Nepal. The United States will economically benefit from this research as a result of better community forest management through resource preservation and reduced carbon dioxide levels. The main goal of this project is to study how can be improved to better preserve the forests and support the lives of forest-dependent people. To achieve this goal, this research will address the following questions: (1) How do community forestry practices affect people’s livelihoods and their social interactions? (2) How do those practices influence rural out-migration? (3) How do they affect land-use? (4) How has COVID-19 influenced rural people’s livelihoods and their dependence on community forestry? (5) How has community forestry influenced the ecosystem’s provision of goods and services? The researchers will interview households about their forest management practices, the origin of management rules, and the role of community members in making rules. They will also be surveyed to determine detailed information about their agricultural practices, out migration patterns, and if community forestry has helped buffer COVID-19 impacts. Remote sensing data collected by satellites, in situ hydrological data on the ground, and statistical, ecological and hydrological models will also be used to estimate how much water forests use, and how much carbon dioxide they absorb from the atmosphere. Eventually an Integrated Modeling System will be developed to study the interactions among forests, human activities, and the ecosystem goods and services the environment provides. This project will advance theory on common pool resource management, rural out migration, as well as the land use and forest-ecosystem service relationship. The new knowledge to be gained from this research will be highly valuable when developing new policies for sustainable community forestry in Nepal and other countries.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.