Doctoral Dissertation Research: Global Localism at Manaslu Conservation Area in the Eastern Himalayas, Nepal: Integrating Knowledges about Community Forests

大多数保护方法都是在当地以外产生的，但它们影响当地的生计，并依靠当地的行动取得有效成果。全球地方主义是一种研究方法，它证明了在提出和实施全球保护议程之前，首先需要了解当地并验证当地人民对其生计资源的看法。本研究调查了尼泊尔马纳斯鲁保护区（MCA）景观、森林群落类型和重要植物物种种群的科学生态学和当地民族植物学知识，为适应性协同管理做出了重要贡献。本文提出了三个问题：(1)地方参与式景观资源“民族生态学”制图如何促进土地覆被类型分布异质性的“景观生态学”制图；(2)群落森林斑块的组成和结构（生态多样性）如何与当地公认的植物资源（民族植物多样性）进行比较和联系；(3)研究区内高价值植物物种（培育重点物种）的种群结构和生态状况如何？遥感图像、半结构化访谈、参与式地图和生态样本将从马华地区不同海拔的6个古隆族村庄进行汇编。假设本地衍生的景观知识有助于多样性模式的联合映射，从而更好地定义具有象征和物质价值的资源区域。丰富度和相对重要性的生态和民族植物学测量将记录森林群落类型中木本植物多样性的格局，并预测资源利用模式和人力资源关系。该研究侧重于森林资源及其在当地人民生活中的作用，并根据当地社区对资源价值和资源可及性的评估，更好地预测当地社区可持续地恢复和/或提取植物资源的潜力。这些数据对当地人民和热衷于在特定地理位置实施全国性或全球性保护议程的保护机构来说，对于进一步保护和管理剩余森林地区具有直接意义。该研究采用混合方法（遥感、参与式地图、生态样本、民族植物学调查和使用价值计算）来了解多样性的生态和文化生物地理模式，重点关注东喜马拉雅山脉较低斜坡上山地“群落”森林的组成和结构。重点是共同学习，在参与者之间达成共识，并测试生态和民族植物学多样性模式之间的关系。该研究将验证传统知识并将其应用于多样性模式的生态分析，通过利益相关者的参与和对新的学习和管理成果的持续整合和调整反馈，促进对人类生计和生物多样性保护敏感的互动自然资源管理议程。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。本项目由美国国家科学基金会地理与空间科学计划和美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。

Most conservation approaches are extra-locally derived yet they influence local livelihoods and rely on local actions for effective outcomes. Global localism is proposed as a research approach that substantiates the crucial need to first learn about local places and validate local people's perspectives on their livelihood resources before proposing and implementing global conservation agendas. This study investigates scientific-ecological and local ethnobotanical knowledge about landscapes, forest community types, and important plant species populations as an important contribution toward adaptive collaborative management at the Manaslu Conservation Area (MCA) of Nepal. Three questions are proposed: (1) how does the local participatory "ethnoecological" mapping of landscape resources contribute to "landscape ecological" mapping of heterogeneity in the distribution of land cover types; (2) how do the composition and structure of community forest patches (ecological diversity) compare and relate to locally recognized plant resources (ethnobotanical diversity); and (3) what is the population structure and ecological status of highly valued plant species (cultural keystone species) in the study region? Remote sensing images, semi-structured interviews, participatory maps, and ecological samples will be compiled from six Gurung ethnic villages within MCA at different elevations. Locally derived landscape knowledge is hypothesized to contribute toward a joint mapping of diversity patterns that better defines resource areas of symbolic and material value. Ecological and ethnobotanical measures of richness and relative importances will document woody plant diversity patterns among forest community types and predict resource use patterns and human-resource relations. The research focuses on forest resources and their role in local peoples' lives and better predicts the potential for local communities to restore and/or extract plant resources sustainably based on their assessment of resource values and resource accessibility. These data are of immediate relevance for further conservation and management of the remaining forested areas to both the local people and the conservation institutes who are keen on either implementing nationally or globally derived conservation agendas in specific geographic locations. The study employs mixed methodologies (remote sensing, participatory maps, ecological samples, ethnobotanical survey, and calculation of use values) toward understanding ecological and cultural biogeographic patterns of diversity, with a focus on the composition and structure of montane "community" forests on the lower slopes of the Eastern Himalayas. The emphasis is on joint learning, gaining consensus among participants, and a test of relationships between ecological and ethnobotanical patterns of diversity. The study will validate and apply traditional knowledge toward an ecological analysis of diversity patterns that should promote an interactive natural resource management agenda which is sensitive to both human livelihoods and biodiversity conservation via participation among stakeholders and continuous integration and adaption of feedback in response to new learning and management outcomes. 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. This project is jointly supported by the NSF Geography and Spatial Sciences Program and the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering.