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

在美国和世界各地，土著和地方环境知识在以社区为基础的保护中起着至关重要的作用。然而，利用这些知识为社区在自然资源管理方面的决策提供信息，涉及利益相关者之间的复杂谈判，他们往往有不同的环境观点。通过研究不同的知识如何塑造社区保护区集体治理的动态，本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。向决策者、学术界和一般受众传播研究成果将提高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。该项目训练一名人类学研究生在科学数据收集和分析方面的方法，并举例说明科学研究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结果。本项目分析了不同类型的知识是如何相互接触以影响保护过程的，以及这些不同的认识论对土著社区保护区的治理和代表的影响。具体而言，研究人员研究了知识持有者如何调动环境观念、信仰和价值观来验证有关自然资源管理的意见，以及如何对不同的观点进行争论或采用，以实现基于共识的集体行动。定性方法和多标量和多站点的研究设计被用来评估知识在塑造保护过程中的作用，在个人，社区和组织层面。确定土著社区为管理和保护生物多样性而调动的知识类型，增强了我们对土著和当地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关系和认识论过程的科学理解。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。

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.