Wolves in agricultural landscapes: a political ecology of coexistence.

城市居民和环保人士对致命搬迁的反对日益加剧，可能会进一步边缘化农村人口，加剧保护冲突。通过一种混合的方法，本博士将解决目前在保护主义者和农民对致命清除的价值观和观点方面的知识差距，并揭示大型食肉动物种群管理中神秘的权力不平衡问题。首先，通过一项全球网络调查，这位博士将调查在保护界反对致命移除的程度，以及由谁反对。其次，通过案例研究的方法，本博士将探讨人为景观中农村农民的宇宙观，并探讨小农和大农之间以及农村和城市社区之间的权力关系。实地考察将在意大利托斯卡纳进行，因为该国缺乏研究，当地环境提供了一个特别有趣的案例研究。数据收集将包括参与者观察和面向当地农业社区和决策者（即区域管理部门）的半结构化访谈。研究结果将促进关于致命清除的包容性辩论，突出农村人口与食肉动物的关系，揭示权力结构如何使某些行为者（如大规模农民、保护主义者）的观点优于其他行为者（如小农），并强调定性数据和社会科学研究在保护方面的价值。

Increasing opposition towards lethal removal amongst urban people and conservationists risks to further marginalise rural people and exacerbate conservation conflicts. Through a mixed methods approach, this PhD will address current knowledge gaps on the values and views of conservationists and farmers on lethal removal, and expose cryptic power-imbalance issues in the management of large carnivore populations. First, through a global web-based survey, this PhD will investigate the extent to which, and by whom, lethal removal is opposed in the conservation community. Second, through a case study approach, this PhD will address the cosmology of rural farmers in anthropogenic landscapes, and explore power relations between smallholder and large-scale farmers and between rural and urban communities. Fieldwork will be conducted in Tuscany, Italy, because there is a dearth of studies in the country and the local context provides a particularly interesting case study. Data collection will include participant observation and semi-structured interviews, addressed to the local farming community and policymakers (i.e., regional administration). Findings will promote inclusive debates on lethal removal, highlight the relationship of rural people with carnivores, shed light on how power structures may work to privilege the views of certain actors (e.g., large-scale farmers, conservationists) over others (e.g., smallholders), and also emphasise the value of qualitative data and social science studies in conservation.