Doctoral Dissertation Research: Implications of Diverse Environmental Knowledge for Community Conservation

土著和地方环境知识在美国和世界各地的社区保护中发挥着至关重要的作用。然而，利用这些知识为社区关于自然资源管理的决策提供信息，涉及利益攸关方之间的复杂谈判，他们往往有不同的环境观点。通过调查不同的知识如何塑造社区保护区集体治理的动态，这篇博士论文研究揭示了社区保护政策和实践中一些更具挑战性的方面，如知识整合和利益相关者公平。向政策制定者以及学术界和普通受众传播研究成果将提高人们对土著和地方知识对生物多样性保护的价值的认识，同时强调其多样性和复杂性。该项目培训人类学研究生科学数据收集和分析的方法，并举例说明科学调查社区自然资源管理的认识论方面的重要性，以促进更成功的保护成果。本项目分析不同类型的知识如何接触到影响保护过程，以及这些不同的认识论对土著社区保护区的治理和代表性的影响。具体地说，研究人员考察了知识持有者如何动员环境想法、信念和价值观，以验证关于自然资源管理的观点，以及如何争辩或采用不同的观点，以实现基于共识的集体行动。定性方法和多标量多地点的研究设计被用来评估知识在个人、社区和组织层面塑造保护过程中的作用。确定土著社区为管理和保护生物多样性而动员的知识类型，加强了我们对土著和地方环境知识的理论理解。此外，确定这些知识在保护问题谈判中的作用有助于扩大对集体行动和环境治理固有的人际和认识论过程的科学理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Indigenous and local environmental knowledge plays a vital role in community-based conservation in the United States and across the world. Deploying such knowledge to inform community decision making regarding natural resource management, however, involves complex negotiations between stakeholders, who often have differing environmental perspectives. By investigating how diverse knowledge shapes the dynamics of collective governance of community conserved areas, this doctoral dissertation research sheds light on some of the more challenging aspects of community conservation policy and practice, such as knowledge integration and stakeholder equity. The dissemination of research results to policy makers and academic and general audiences will raise awareness of the value of Indigenous and local knowledge for biodiversity conservation while emphasizing its diversity and complexity. This project trains a graduate student in anthropology in the methods of scientific data collection and analysis and exemplifies the importance of scientifically investigating the epistemological aspects of community-based natural resource management in order to foster more successful conservation outcomes.This project analyzes how different types of knowledge come into contact to influence conservation processes and the effects of these varied epistemologies on the governance and representation of an Indigenous community conserved area. Specifically, the researchers examine how knowledge holders mobilize environmental ideas, beliefs, and values to validate opinions about natural resource management and how differing perspectives are contested or adopted in order to achieve consensus-based collective action. Qualitative methods and a multi-scalar and multi-sited research design are utilized to assess the role of knowledge in shaping conservation processes at an individual, community, and organization level. Determining the types of knowledge Indigenous communities mobilize to manage and conserve biodiversity enhances our theoretical understanding of Indigenous and local environmental knowledge. Additionally, ascertaining the role of such knowledges in the negotiation of conservation problems helps expand scientific comprehension of the interpersonal and epistemological processes inherent to collective action and environmental governance.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.