Doctoral Dissertation Research: Rethinking Forest Transition Theory: Gender, Tenure Insecurity, and Forest-Cover Change in El Salvador

重新造林是永久恢复被破坏林地的过程，被视为抵消气候强迫因子影响的一个重要过程。 最近，学者们观察到萨尔瓦多农村的森林复苏。 根据对欧洲和美国森林覆盖变化的历史研究发展起来的森林过渡理论，可以解释重新造林是萨尔瓦多社会持续的城市化和工业化趋势的副产品。 虽然这一理论在解释工业化世界的环境变化方面至关重要，但它在工业化背景下的应用是有问题的。 由于城市化和工业化的最新模式与工业化世界的进程和模式不同，因此，将森林过渡理论应用于工业化国家需要潜在地增加其他社会变量，以反映与这些地方有关的独特的人类条件。 在萨尔瓦多进行的初步研究表明，森林过渡理论中被忽视的若干社会变量，特别是性别和土地保有权，可能对萨尔瓦多农村地区的森林恢复率起着关键作用。 特别是，女户主可能不愿意让土地重新造林，因为这会增加土地被侵占的可能性。利用非正式和半结构化的访谈，口述历史，档案研究，并分析Landsat TM图像，研究将侧重于多种因素，有助于土地利用的变化，特别强调社会和自然地理特征的联系。 博士论文的研究项目将提供一个重要的问题，在工业化世界的森林覆盖变化的答案。 这项研究将通过对性别和土地保有权无保障对森林覆盖变化的影响进行实证研究，评估必须在多大程度上修改这一理论，以纳入更广泛的社会变量，才能解释南方的重新造林。 更广泛地说，这项研究将有助于更好地了解工业化世界环境变化的人类层面。 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。 此外，该项目将有助于对圣萨尔瓦多中美洲大学“Jose Simeon Canas”的一名萨尔瓦多社会科学学生进行方法培训。 传播的结果还将为萨尔瓦多和其他地方的森林资源管理人员和社区宣传组织提供实际应用，特别是在森林养护做法方面。

Reforestation, the process of permanently restoring destroyed forest lands, is seen as an important process to counteract the effects of climate forcing agents. Recently, scholars have observed the resurgence of forests in rural El Salvador. Forest transition theory, developed from historical studies of forest-cover change in Europe and the United States, would explain the reforestation as a byproduct of ongoing trends of urbanization and industrialization in Salvadoran society. While this theory has been critically important in explaining environmental change in the industrialized world, its application in the industrializing context is problematic. Because the newest patterns of urbanization and industrialization differ from the processes and patterns observed in the industrialized world, any application of forest transition theory to industrializing countries requires the potential addition of other social variables that capture the distinctive human conditions associated with these places. Preliminary research in El Salvador suggests that several social variables, particularly gender and land tenure, that are neglected in forest transition theory, may play critical roles in the rate of forest recovery in rural El Salvador. In particular, female heads of household may be reluctant to allow land to reforest because it increases the chances of a land invasion. Using informal and semi-structured interviews, oral histories, archival research, and analysis of Landsat TM imagery, the study will focus on the multiple factors that contribute to changes in land use with a particular emphasis on linking social and physical geographic characteristics. The doctoral dissertation research project will provide answers to an important question about forest-cover change in the industrializing world. Through an empirical study of the effects of gender and land tenure insecurity on forest cover change, this study will assess the degree to which the theory must be modified to include a wider range of social variables in order to explain reforestation in the South. More broadly, this research will contribute to greater understanding of the human dimensions of environmental change in the industrializing world. 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. In addition, this project will contribute to the methods training of a Salvadoran social science student from Universidad Centroamericana "Jose Simeon Canas" in San Salvador. The disseminated results will also provide practical applications for forest resource managers and community advocacy organizations in El Salvador and elsewhere, with particular regard to forest conservation practices.