Doctoral Dissertation Research: Institutional and Environmental Change in Rajasthan, India

9304259 JOHNSON关于自然资源利用与环境条件之间关系的最关键的不确定性之一是机构及其规则体系的作用和影响。近几十年来，人口、技术、社会经济和法律压力已导致世界许多地区传统体制安排的瓦解。这个博士论文研究项目将研究这些变化对印度西北部干旱州拉贾斯坦邦环境条件的性质和影响。这项研究将包括整合来自许多不同来源的信息。遥感图像将被解释为该区域土地利用变化时序分析的一部分，有关机构结构和规则系统的信息将从调查和书面资料中收集。对这些数据的分析将为对本区域三个有代表性的村庄进行更深入的比较评价奠定基础。民族志方法将用于确定不同规则系统内的制度形成和适应，生态调查将用于从数量上检验制度安排变化对资源管理和自然环境条件变化的影响。这个项目将对若干重要关系提供有价值的见解，包括不断变化的土地利用和体制系统之间的联系以及区域环境变化和当地资源利用模式之间的联系。该项目将增进对不同文化和经济制度下土地利用变化历史演变的了解，从而扩大对全球环境变化的人类方面的一般认识。作为博士论文改进奖，该奖项也将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。＊＊＊

9304259 JOHNSON One of the most critical uncertainties regarding relationships between the use of natural resources and environmental conditions is the role and impact of institutions and their rule systems. Demographic, technological, socio- economic, and legal pressures have resulted in disintegration of traditional institutional arrangements in many parts of the world in recent decades. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the nature and impact of these changes on environmental conditions in Rajasthan, an arid state in northwestern India. The research will consist of integration of information from a number of different sources. Remotely sensed images will be interpreted as part of a time-series analysis of land-use change in the region, and information about the structure and rule systems of institutions will be assembled from surveys and written sources. Analyses of these data will form the foundation for a more intensive comparative evaluation of three representative villages in the region. Ethnographic methods will be used to identify institutional formation and adaptations within different rule systems, and ecological surveys will be used to test quantitatively the impact of changing institution arrangements on resource management and changes in natural environmental conditions. This project will provide valuable insights into a number of important relationships, including links among changing land uses and institutional systems as well as among regional environmental changes and patterns of local resource use. The project will enhance understandings of the historical evolution of land-use change under different cultural and economic regimes, thereby expanding general knowledge about the human dimensions of global environmental change. As a doctoral dissertation improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career. ***