Venezuela Planning Visit: Developing a Model for Assessing Social and Ecological Implications of Declining Freshwater Quality in the Maracaibo Basin, Maracaibo, July 2009

摘要提案：OISE-0944185 PI/单位：拟议中的美国-委内瑞拉计划访问将允许来自德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（UT）的美国PI Bjorn Sletto博士和委内瑞拉的同事（来自苏利亚大学的Daniel Castro， Johnny Alarcon和Mercedes Ferrer）讨论和规划一个跨学科的合作研究项目，以评估委内瑞拉马拉开波湖盆地森林管理，土著领土和城市化之间的联系。参与者计划：1)制定关键的研究重点和问题；2)确定机构和科学知识、数据和机构支持的主要来源；3)开始建立一个共同的知识库，通过互联网向决策者、学者和学生提供；4)为来自德克萨斯大学和主办机构苏利亚大学的不同群体的研究生和本科生提供长期的教育和合作机会。通过邀请来自德克萨斯大学少数民族的学生、妇女和土著人民以及来自美国和委内瑞拉的杰出国际学者，拟议中的计划访问将促进对马拉开波湖流域水危机的社会和政治经济原因的更具创造性的参与，使参与者能够设想这一重要研究领域的创新研究方法。

Abstract Proposal: OISE-0944185 PI/Institution: Bjorn Sletto, University of Texas at Austin The proposed U.S.-Venezuela planning visit will allow U.S. PI Dr. Bjorn Sletto from the University of Texas at Austin (UT) and colleagues in Venezuela (Daniel Castro, Johnny Alarcon and Mercedes Ferrer from the Universidad de Zulia) to discuss and plan an interdisciplinary, collaborative research program to assess the links between forest management, indigenous territoriality, and urbanization in the Lake Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela. Participants intend to: 1) formulate key research priorities and questions; 2) identify key sources of institutional and scientific knowledge, data, and institutional support; 3) begin to build a common knowledge base that will be made available to policymakers, scholars, and students via the Internet; and 4) develop long-term educational and collaborative opportunities for a diverse group of graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Texas and the host institution, Universidad de Zulia. By including students from minority groups from the University of Texas, women and indigenous people, and outstanding international scholars from the U.S. and Venezuela, the proposed planning visit will foster a more creative engagement with the social and political-economic causes of the water crisis in the Lake Maracaibo Basin that will allow participants to envision innovative research approaches to this important research area.