Doctoral Dissertation Research: Subsistence and Biodiversity Conservation in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, West Bengal, India

世界保护区管理者面临的最大挑战之一是实现有效的生物多样性保护，同时坚持为生活在保护区边缘的人们提供社会正义的原则。保护区管理的历史表明，正在从传统的排他性保护方法向更具参与性的方法转变，这种方法将当地社区纳入管理过程。尽管世界各地在资源管理方面采取了参与性办法，但保护区内和周围地区围绕资源使用和传统谋生手段的冲突仍然很常见。许多资源决策者对生物多样性保护对印度等发展中国家当地人生计的影响知之甚少。位于印度西孟加拉邦的Sundarban生物圈保护区对森林捕鱼的监管，造成了对保护区河流和小溪资源使用的持续斗争。这一博士论文研究项目将探讨生物圈的资源管理者和当地利益攸关方之间在孙德尔班红树林资源利用问题上的冲突。博士生将研究这种冲突的原因、特征和空间范围。该项目将围绕三个具体问题组织：(1)目前对森林捕捞的限制是否受到过去殖民森林管理政策的影响；(2)老虎保护对该地区当地人民生计的影响；以及(3)利用生态旅游作为改善该地区生活的另一种方式。半结构化访谈、参与者观察、焦点小组、社区测绘和调查将提供关于生物多样性保护对Sundarban生物圈保护区农村人口生存影响问题的数据。项目成果将阐明当地人民对生物多样性保护的态度，并阐明当地人民参与生物圈保护区资源管理政策的情况。通过使用政治生态方法，该项目将处理印度次大陆和发展中国家其他地方地方社区参与保护区管理的进程，从而帮助制定更有效的资源管理和当地社区发展战略。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研究生涯。

One of the greatest challenges confronting the managers of the world's protected areas is achieving effective biodiversity conservation while adhering to principles of social justice for the people living at the edge of protected areas. The history of protected-area management indicates that there is a shift from the conventional exclusionary method of conservation to a more participatory approach, an approach that includes local communities in the management process. In spite of the growth of the participatory approach in resource management worldwide, conflicts over resource use and traditional means of livelihood in and around the protected areas are common. The impact of biodiversity conservation on the local people's livelihoods in developing nations like India is poorly understood by many resource decision-makers. The regulation of forest-based fishing in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, located in the state of West Bengal, India, creates an ongoing struggle over resource use in the rivers and creeks of the reserve. This doctoral dissertation research project will explore the conflicts between the biosphere's resource managers and local stakeholders over the resource use of the Sundarban mangrove forests. The doctoral student will examine the causes, characteristics, and spatial extent of such conflicts. The project will be organized around three specific issues: (1) whether the present restrictions on forest-based fishing are influenced by past colonial forest management policies; (2) the impact of tiger conservation on the local people's livelihoods in the region, and (3) the use of ecotourism as an alternative way to improve livelihood in the region. Semi-structured interviews, participant observation, focus-groups, community mapping, and survey will provide data on the issue of impact of biodiversity conservation on the subsistence of the rural populace of the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve.Project outcomes will elucidate the attitudes of local people towards biodiversity conservation and shed new light on the involvement of local people in the resource management policies of the biosphere reserve. Through the use of a political ecology approach, the project will address processes of local community participation in protected-area management in the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere in developing nations, thereby helping to develop more effective resource management and local community development strategies. 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.