DISES: Environmental tipping points of cultural identity extinction in integrated human-ecological systems represented by small fishing nations

疾病：以小渔国为代表的综合人类生态系统中文化认同灭绝的环境临界点

• 批准号: 2108452
• 负责人: Elsie Sunderland
• 金额: $ 145.02万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2108452&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISES; Environmental; tipping; points; cultural

Small-scale fisheries represent integrated socio-environmental systems that are essential for global food security. For example, more than 6000 indigenous populations globally rely on marine fisheries for subsistence, including many communities in the United States. Global pollution degrades marine resources and human health, resulting in a disconnect between the human and ecological system and loss of cultural heritage. This project will investigate the hypothesis that acceptable levels of pollutant releases have been overestimated by society due to a failure to properly account for their impacts on culture. This analysis will include field research on toxicant accumulation in food webs, human exposure studies, and anthropological research on risk preferences and choices when faced with the threat of potentially polluted food sources. This research is based in the Faroe Islands, a North Atlantic fishing community which has been a traditional whaling society for more than 500 years. It will inform global regulatory efforts to reduce pollutant releases to the environment and provide interdisciplinary training in public policy and human geography, natural science, and public health for one postdoc, a graduate student, and several undergraduate research assistants. Bidirectional community-based research strategies will be used to engage with the Faroese through workshops at the beginning and end of the project and with ongoing participation of many Faroese collaborators. Small-scale fisheries are integrated socio-environmental systems essential for the food security of many communities. Anthropogenic pollutants degrade the health and quality of cultural keystone species, which can decouple the human and ecological system, resulting in loss of cultural heritage and eventually, leading to a cultural tipping point. The overarching hypothesis of this study is that acceptable levels of pollutant releases have been overestimated by society due to a failure to account for their impacts on culture. The investigators will construct an integrated systems-modeling framework, using the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic, a traditional whaling society, as a case study to analyze the dynamic impacts of global pollutant release on the health and culture of fishing communities. They will model global environmental mercury (Hg), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), conduct surveys of risk preferences and consumption behavior among the Faroese, and assess cross-scale governance of pollution release to answer the following: 1) What is the relationship between pollutant releases, pilot whale tissue trends, and Faroese exposures? 2) How have health advisories affected whaling activity, dietary choices and risk perception? 3) How can the potential for cultural degradation of fishing communities impacted by ocean pollution be incorporated into international conventions? and 4) What level of global pollution releases could prevent cultural degradation in fishing communities? Temporal trends in pilot whale and human exposures in the Faroe Islands will provide insight into the coupling of the human system to biological exposures, which will advance understanding among the One Health community. New methods for characterizing the cultural and social value of fishing activities will be developed by analyzing risk tolerance for high levels of pollutant exposures, or consumption of seafood beyond recommended health-based guidelines.Co-funding for this award is being provided by Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) program one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas. NNA supports projects that address convergence scientific challenges in the rapidly changing Arctic, empower new research partnerships, diversify the next generation of Arctic researchers, enhance efforts in formal and informal education, and integrate the co-production of knowledge where appropriate. This award aligns with those goals.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.

小规模渔业代表了对全球粮食安全至关重要的综合社会环境系统。例如，全球有6000多土著居民依靠海洋渔业为生，其中包括美国的许多社区。全球污染使海洋资源和人类健康退化，导致人类与生态系统脱节，文化遗产丧失。该项目将调查一种假设，即由于未能正确考虑污染物对文化的影响，社会高估了可接受的污染物排放水平。这一分析将包括对食物网中毒物积累的实地研究、人体暴露研究，以及在面临潜在污染食物来源威胁时对风险偏好和选择的人类学研究。这项研究是在法罗群岛进行的，这是一个北大西洋的渔业社区，500多年来一直是传统的捕鲸社会。它将为减少向环境排放污染物的全球监管工作提供信息，并为一名博士后、一名研究生和几名本科生研究助理提供公共政策、人文地理、自然科学和公共卫生方面的跨学科培训。将采用双向社区研究战略，通过在项目开始和结束时举办讲习班，以及在许多法罗合作者的持续参与下，与法罗人接触。小规模渔业是许多社区粮食安全必不可少的综合社会环境系统。人为污染物降低了文化基石物种的健康和质量，使人类与生态系统脱钩，导致文化遗产的丧失，最终导致文化临界点。这项研究的首要假设是，由于未能考虑到污染物对文化的影响，社会高估了可接受的污染物排放水平。研究人员将构建一个综合系统建模框架，以北大西洋的法罗群岛为例，分析全球污染物排放对渔业社区健康和文化的动态影响。法罗群岛是传统的捕鲸社会。他们将模拟全球环境中的汞（Hg）、多氯联苯（PCBs）以及全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS），对法罗群岛人的风险偏好和消费行为进行调查，并评估污染释放的跨尺度治理，以回答以下问题：1)污染物释放、领航鲸组织趋势和法罗群岛暴露之间的关系是什么？2)健康咨询如何影响捕鲸活动、饮食选择和风险认知？3)如何将受海洋污染影响的渔业社区文化退化的可能性纳入国际公约？4)什么水平的全球污染排放可以防止渔业社区的文化退化？在法罗群岛领航鲸和人类接触的时间趋势将有助于深入了解人体系统与生物接触的耦合关系，这将促进“同一个健康”社区之间的了解。将通过分析对高水平污染物接触的风险承受能力，或对超出建议的基于健康的准则的海产品消费的承受能力，制定描述渔业活动的文化和社会价值的新方法。该奖项由NSF十大创意之一的新北极导航（NNA）项目共同资助。NNA支持以下项目：应对快速变化的北极地区的汇合性科学挑战，授权新的研究伙伴关系，使下一代北极研究人员多样化，加强正规和非正规教育，并在适当情况下整合知识的联合生产。这个奖项与这些目标是一致的。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。