DISES: Resilient Socio-Environmental Systems: Indigenous Territories in the Face of Change

面对巨大的发展压力，土著人民有能力保护他们的自然环境。然而，人们对它们的社会环境实践的保护效果知之甚少。该研究通过与一个土著民族建立伙伴关系来解决这一问题，以确定他们是如何在资源开采和大型基础设施项目造成威胁的情况下实现文化和生物多样性保护的。因此，这项研究提供了对热带森林保护至关重要的信息。关于减缓气候变化战略的研究成果将在土著社区中广泛传播。由于土著人民管理着全球40%的保护区，潜在的保护影响是巨大的。这项研究通过培训8名土著研究技术人员来建设地方能力，并通过促进制定领土管理计划来增强土著社区的能力，以促进土著在面对发展压力时的长期复原力。此外，该研究还支持一名博士后研究人员，并通过培训三名来自历史上代表性不足的人口的研究生来促进多样性。这项研究通过在线“虚拟交流”和暑期实地课程与本科生结成伙伴来加强跨文化学习。强有力的科学传播战略确保研究结果将向学术界和公众提供关于土著社会环境实践如何塑造当代保护战略的信息。这项研究侧重于土著领土(IT)，这是一个能够维持人类人口与自然环境之间可持续互动的综合社会环境系统。它可以凭借生物文化遗产抵御外部威胁：土著人民用来维持其家园环境生态完整性的语言、知识和做法。研究的问题在于我们不完全了解这种弹性是如何发挥作用的，而我们的目标是填补这一空白。具体地说，我们寻求洞察其对发展压力的反应，这些压力引发了对土著土地的侵占，但也提供了市场经济的商品、服务和就业机会。在什么情况下，IT弹性会减弱，从而导致生物文化遗产的丧失和生态系统退化？随着发展压力的增加，ITS如何维持系统集成？研究小组将与土著伙伴一起解决这些问题，土著伙伴受到资源开采和基础设施发展的威胁，这些威胁与影响整个区域的威胁相似。这项研究融合了生态学、社会环境模型、人文地理学和空间科学。它将通过生态分析、科学调查和关键线人访谈来收集数据。分析技术包括定量和定性两种方法。这项研究通过将IT概念化为一个集成的社会环境系统来贡献系统理论，并增强了对IT弹性的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Indigenous peoples are capable of conserving their natural environments in the face of significant development pressures. Nevertheless, little is known about the conservation efficacy of their social-environmental practices. The study addresses this issue through a partnership with an Indigenous nation to ascertain how they have been able to achieve cultural and biodiversity conservation, even with threats arising from resource extraction and large-scale infrastructure projects. Thus, the study provides information critical to tropical forest conservation. Research results on climate change mitigation strategies will be broadly disseminated among Indigenous communities. Since Indigenous peoples manage 40 percent of protected areas globally, the potential conservation impact is great. The study builds local capacity by training eight Indigenous research technicians, and it empowers Indigenous communities by facilitating the design of territorial management plans that foster long-term Indigenous resilience in the face of development pressures. In addition, the study supports a post-doctoral researcher and promotes diversity by training three graduate students from historically under-represented populations. This study enhances cross-cultural learning by partnering undergraduate students through online "virtual exchanges" and summer field courses. A robust science communication strategy ensures that study results will inform both academics and the general public about how Indigenous social-environmental practices shape contemporary conservation strategies.This study focuses on the Indigenous territory (IT), an integrated socio-environmental system capable of maintaining sustainable interactions between a human population and the physical environment. ITs can be resilient to external threats by virtue of biocultural heritage: the language, knowledge, and practices Indigenous peoples use to sustain the ecological integrity of their homeland environments. The study problem resides in our incomplete knowledge about how such resilience functions, and the goal is to fill this gap. Specifically, we seek insight into the responses of ITs to development pressures that spark encroachments on Indigenous lands but also make available the goods, services, and jobs of a market economy. At what point does IT resilience attenuate, precipitating the loss of biocultural heritage and ecosystem degradation? How do ITs sustain system integration as development pressures mount? The study team will address such questions with its Indigenous partners, which is subject to threats from resource extraction and infrastructure development that are similar to those impacting the entire region. The study integrates ecology, socio-environmental modeling, human geography, and spatial sciences. It will collect data via ecological assays, scientific surveys, and key informant interviews. Analytical techniques include both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study contributes to systems theory by conceptualizing the IT as an integrated socio-environmental system, and it enhances an understanding of IT resilience.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.