HSD: Collaborative Research: Parks as Agents of Social and Environmental Change in Eastern and Southern Africa

在东非和南部非洲，公园和保护区周围的土地使用正在迅速变化，但变化的性质差别很大，一方面对生物多样性和公园的生存能力以及人类福祉产生了不同的积极和消极影响。人们对这些差异的原因知之甚少。这项研究项目的一个中心前提是，公园对公园周围的地区具有直接的社会、经济和环境影响。此外，这些影响影响了更广泛地区的生计和景观，扩大了公园对周围社会生态系统(人、野生动物和景观)的最终影响。研究人员假设，公园的后果取决于它们对社会生态系统的价值，这些影响的大小和方向与潜在的社会、历史和生物物理条件有关。该项目将审查公园及其相关政策对以下方面的影响：(A)土地和资源使用、其他生计活动以及家庭和社区规模的经济福祉；(B)受公园影响地区的社会机构和决策；以及(C)对自然和保护、风险以及政策和机构的看法和态度。为实现这些目标，调查人员将把自然地理学的方法和观点结合起来，包括卫星图像的分析，以及社会科学的方法和观点，包括社会经济调查、风险认知分析和记录历史趋势。研究将在坦桑尼亚、乌干达、赞比亚、博茨瓦纳和纳米比亚公园附近的六个地点进行，利用在环境、人口、土地使用和生计选择以及保护和公园管理政策方面的关键对比。这项研究将产生丰富的经验数据集和概念模型，以促进对公园的影响和公园影响其周围社会生态系统的过程以及导致生态系统完整性和人类福祉结果不同的条件的理解。越来越多地，对复杂的环境和社会问题的研究需要跨学科的方法，但这些方法必须从经验中学习，因为它们通常不是传统科学培训的一部分。美国调查人员将与来自几所非洲大学的资深科学家和研究助理合作。这项研究促进的合作经验和教育将发展非洲地方机构处理与保护和人类福祉有直接关系的复杂问题的能力。这项研究的具体结果应该提出改善或避免公园的许多负面影响和加强积极影响的方法。更广泛地说，该项目将加强对建立公园的不同人类反应如何影响这些重要社会生态系统的复原力和可持续性的理解。2006财年全美自然基金会人类和社会动力学竞赛(HSD)颁发的奖项支持这一项目。NSF的所有董事和办公室都参与了HSD竞赛和HSD奖项组合的协调管理。

Land use around parks and protected areas is changing rapidly in both East and Southern Africa, but the nature of change varies widely, with different mixes of positive and negative impacts on biodiversity and the viability of the parks on the one hand and human well-being on the other. The reasons for these differences are poorly understood. A central premise of this research project is that parks have direct social, economic, and environmental consequences in areas neighboring a park. In addition, these effects influence livelihoods and landscapes over a wider region, expanding the ultimate impact of the park on the social-ecological systems (people, wildlife, and landscapes) around them. The investigators hypothesize that the consequences of parks are determined by their value to the social-ecological system and that the magnitude and direction of these impacts are related to underlying social, historical, and biophysical conditions. This project will examine the ways in which parks and the policies associated with them have affected: (a) land and resource use, other livelihood activities, and economic well-being at both the household and community scales; (b) social institutions and decision making in the areas affected by parks; and (c) perceptions and attitudes toward nature and conservation, risk, and policy and institutions. To achieve these ends, the investigators will integrate methods and perspectives from physical geography, including analysis of satellite imagery, and from social science, including socioeconomic surveys, analysis of risk perception, and documentation of historical trends. Research will be conducted at six sites in the vicinity of parks in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia, taking advantage of crucial contrasts with respect to environment, demography, land-use and livelihood options, and conservation and park management policy. The study will produce a rich empirical data set and a conceptual model that will advance understanding of the impacts of parks and the processes by which parks affect the social-ecological systems around them as well as the conditions that lead to divergent outcomes for ecosystem integrity and human well-being.Increasingly, research on complex environmental and social problems demands interdisciplinary approaches, but these must be learned from experience since they are not typically part of traditional scientific training. The U.S. investigators will collaborate with senior scientists and research assistants from several African universities. The collaborative experience and education promoted by this research will develop the ability of local African institutions to address complex issues that have a direct bearing on conservation and human well-being. The specific results of this study should suggest ways of ameliorating or avoiding many of the negative impacts of parks and of enhancing the positive impacts. More generally, the project will enhance understanding of how the varying human responses to the establishment of parks affect the resilience and sustainability of these important social-ecological systems. An award resulting from the FY 2006 NSF-wide competition on Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) supports this project. All NSF directorates and offices are involved in the coordinated management of the HSD competition and the portfolio of HSD awards.