Doctoral Dissertation Research: Human Dimensions of Conservation Corridors: Cordillera Blanca in Peru

对保护自然环境感兴趣的团体已经开发了一套实现这一目标的方法。 这些战略之一是开发保护走廊。 这种环境保护计划是基于景观斑块之间的连通性和网络的原则。 该设计旨在通过保护、恢复或保护周围的景观，将孤立的、受管理的景观（如国家公园和自然保护区）连接起来。 本博士论文研究项目将审查秘鲁的布兰卡山脉和瓦瓦什山脉的保护走廊办法的可行性。 已提议建立一条保护走廊，连接受保护的瓦斯卡兰国家公园（其中包括布兰卡山脉）和南部未受保护的瓦伊瓦什山脉。 该区域的国家和国际环境组织主张建立一个保护山区生态系统的走廊，并建立一个相互连接的保护区网络。 虽然生态数据支持走廊的保护计划，但保护走廊的社会背景和后果尚未得到研究。 该项目将通过调查参与走廊倡议的人们的各种行动和表达方式，并通过审查拟议走廊的空间属性和土地使用及土地覆盖，解决这一保护议程的人的方面。 该研究将使用定性和空间定量数据来评估和分析保护走廊的社会和空间动态。 正式和非正式的访谈以及参与者的观察将阐明当地人如何参与走廊，并在走廊的边界内成为社会网络。 整个走廊的综合保护和发展项目将被访问和编目。 卫星图像和地理信息系统将有助于对走廊和保护和发展项目所针对的地区的土地使用和土地覆盖数据进行空间上明确的分析。 在秘鲁的实地工作将揭示提供资料者的土地使用决定和保护问题，并将与训练样本的土地覆盖数据相结合。 这些数据会编入一个属性数据库，以分析在走廊范围内进行的保育活动的地点和类型。 将进行空间和统计分析，以评估参与养护走廊的社会和空间网络的作用，并检验走廊中形成的社会联系正在为当地人民创造新的机会和建立社会资本的假设，养护走廊正被广泛接受为景观管理的一种手段。 这项研究将通过重点关注因保护举措而形成的社会联系和网络，探讨保护和社区发展规划的潜在社会效益。 该项目的结果应有助于加强或挑战现有的保护和公园议程。 该项目将提供秘鲁这一地区的社会经济、土地使用和土地覆盖数据，并将有助于更广泛地了解全球变化中人的因素。 该项目还将深入了解区域保护计划的社会方面以及在不同政治和地理范围内所涉及的联系。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。

Groups interested in preserving natural environments have developed a suite of approaches toward achieving this goal. One of those strategies has been the development of conservation corridor. This environmental conservation plan that is based on principles of connectivity and networks between landscape patches. The design aims to connect isolated, managed landscapes, such as national parks and nature reserves, by preserving, restoring, or conserving the surrounding landscape. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the viability of the conservation corridor approach in the Cordillera Blanca and the Cordillera Huayhuash of Peru. A conservation corridor has been proposed to connect the protected Huascaran National Park, which contains the Cordillera Blanca, and the unprotected Cordillera Huayhuash to the south. National and International environmental organizations in the region advocate the establishment of a corridor to protect the mountain ecosystem and to develop a connected network of protected areas. While ecological data support conservation plans for a corridor, the social context and consequences of a conservation corridor have not been studies. This project will address the human dimensions of this conservation agenda by investigating the various actions and articulations of people involved in a corridor initiative and by examining the spatial attributes and the land use and land cover of the proposed corridor. The research will use qualitative and spatially quantitative data to assess and analyze the social and spatial dynamics of the conservation corridor. Formal and informal interviews as well as participant observation will elucidate how local people are becoming engaged in the corridor and becoming socially networked within the boundary of the corridor. Integrated conservation and development projects throughout the corridor will be visited and cataloged. Satellite imagery and a geographic information system (GIS) will facilitate a spatially explicit analysis for data about the land use and land cover of the corridor and areas where conservation and development projects are targeted. Fieldwork in Peru will reveal the land-use decisions and conservation concerns of informants and will be combined with land-cover data from training samples. These data will be compiled into an attribute database to analyze the location and the type of conservation activities taking place within the corridor boundary. Spatial and statistical analysis will be conducted in order to assess the role of social and spatial networks involved in conservation corridors and to test the hypothesis that social linkages formed in the corridor are creating new opportunities and building social capital for local people.Conservation corridors are being widely accepted as a means of landscape management. This research will address the potential social benefits of conservation and community development planning by focusing on the social linkages and networks that are formed as a result of conservation initiatives. The results of this project should help strengthen or challenge existing conservation and park agendas. The project will provide socioeconomic, land-use, and land-cover data for this region of Peru, and it will contribute to broader understandings of the human dimensions of global change. The project will also provide insights into social aspects of regional conservation plans and the linkages that are involved at different political and geographic scales. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.