HSD: Salmon Harvests in Arctic Communities: Local Institutions, Risk, and Resilience

世界各地许多农村地区的生存取决于能否获得维持生计的资源。促进有效利用这些资源的地方机构的规则和规范正面临前所未有的挑战。这个跨学科的研究项目将研究这些地方机构抵御快速环境和社会变化的能力。由于这些变化在北极地区尤为严重，因此这项研究将研究白令海两侧两个依赖鲑鱼的地区的影响——阿拉斯加西南部和俄罗斯远东地区。这些地区在社会、政治和经济历史方面有着明显的差异，但他们有着相似的雅卜克民族背景。由两名经济学家和一名人类学家组成的研究小组，分两个相关阶段进行实地调查。在第一阶段，将使用人种学方法记录阿拉斯加库斯科温地区和俄罗斯楚科奇自治区的地方机构。第二阶段将使用实验经济学的工具来测试这些机构的表现，特别是它们如何适应更大的风险和不确定性。在实施该项目时，研究人员将更好地了解北极资源系统对增加的不确定性和冲击的恢复能力。全球气候变化已经对研究地区以及整个北极地区的社区产生了巨大影响。描述和记录地方机构在增强复原力方面的作用，可以为适用于经历类似快速和极端变化的其他北极社会生态系统的政策选择提供信息。除了更广泛地了解依靠狩猎和采集为生的社区适应变化的能力外，该研究项目还将以多种方式为参与研究的社区带来好处。该项目将为本科生，特别是来自研究地区社区的土著学生提供有意义的参与机会。学生研究项目将与部落委员会共同设计。通过向当地学生提供培训，该项目将有助于改善这些地区的教育和发展人力资本。调查人员将与所有社区的村领导密切合作，以最大限度地提高研究与这些人面临的挑战的相关性。两国的村庄领导人都表示，他们的参与可以使他们的人民在影响有关自给自足收成的区域政策方面有更大的发言权。为了促进这一点，在研究完成后，研究小组将返回社区报告他们的发现。2007财年美国国家科学基金会（nsf）人类与社会动力学（HSD）竞赛的一个奖项支持该项目。所有NSF理事会和办公室都参与了HSD竞赛和HSD奖项组合的协调管理。

Survival in many rural locales around the world depends upon the availability of subsistence resources. The rules and norms of local institutions that facilitate effective use of these resources are subject to unprecedented challenges. This interdisciplinary research project will study the ability of these local institutions to withstand rapid environmental and social change. Because these changes are particularly acute in the Arctic, this research will study the effects in two salmon-dependent regions on opposite sides of the Bering Sea -- southwestern Alaska and the Russian Far East. These regions have sharp distinctions in terms of their social, political, and economic histories, but they share similar Yup'ik ethnic backgrounds. The research team of two economists and an anthropologist who conduct field research in two related phases. In the first phase, ethnographic methods will be used to document local institutions within the Kuskokwim region of Alaska and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia. The second phase will use the tools of experimental economics to test how these institutions perform, particularly how they adapt to greater risk and uncertainty. In carrying out this project, the investigators will provide a better understanding of the resilience of Arctic resource systems to increased uncertainty and shocks. Global climate change is already having dramatic impacts on communities in the study region as well as the Arctic as a whole. Describing and documenting the role of local institutions in enhancing resilience can inform policy options that are applicable to other Arctic social-ecological systems undergoing similar rapid and extreme changes. In addition to providing broader understanding of the ability of communities that depend upon subsistence hunting and gathering to adapt to change, this research project will provide benefits to the communities participating in the research in a number of ways. This project will provide meaningful opportunities for undergraduate participation, particularly indigenous students from the communities in the study area. Student research projects will be designed jointly with tribal councils. By providing training to local students, this project will help improve education and develop the human capital in these regions. The investigators will collaborate closely with village leaders in all communities to maximize the relevance of the study the challenges these people face. Village leaders in both countries have stated that their involvement could provide their people a greater voice in affecting regional policies regarding subsistence harvests. To help facilitate this, after the research is completed, the research team will return to the communities to report their findings. An award resulting from the FY 2007 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.