Doctoral Dissertation Research: Marine Conservation Law and Gendered Access During Madagascar's Political Crisis

保护区被视为大多数生物多样性保护战略的基石。自20世纪90年代中期以来，改善保护区的成果已成为资助机构，自然资源管理者和保护科学家越来越关注的问题。 这一关切的核心和激烈辩论的一个主题是确定管理保护区的最佳方式，一些人主张自上而下（或国家领导）的方法，而另一些人则主张自下而上（或社区领导）的方法。 该研究项目是一项深入的比较案例研究，分析了马达加斯加由不同实体（社区，国家和社区与国家共同管理的一个）管理的四个海洋保护项目。 研究重点是2009年开始的马达加斯加政治危机如何影响管理实践。 该项目特别关注（a）特定海洋资源管理项目的历史如何影响当地人改变其资源使用方式以应对政治危机;（B）妇女和男子在海洋资源使用和参与管理方面的差异如何影响谁从海洋养护和使用中受益，以及（c）地方法律如何影响海洋资源的获取和控制，反之亦然。 不同的保护区管理办法决定了由谁来决定有关资源权利的规则，因此，这是调查不同行为者如何提出有关资源使用和控制的主张的一个丰富的场所。 这些问题将使用定性和定量方法的混合物来回答，包括半结构化访谈，口述历史，参与者观察，调查，以及创建与其特定历史相关的捕鱼地点地图，参考当前使用情况以及不同利益相关者之间的争论点。“这些方法将使各种各样的参与者的信息和意见在比较分析中得到体现。这个研究项目对于了解保护区的当代保护趋势很重要。它将有助于了解自然资源政治，特别是与基于社区的保护和性别资源使用有关的工作。 通过认识到国家，国际保护和地方行为者之间的动态在海洋保护管理的背景下，这项研究将提供一个分析的因素，塑造海洋资源的使用方式，由谁，何时，为什么。 这项研究将为全球资助和实施保护的组织提供重要信息，并为越来越多的文献调查资源使用和政治冲突之间的联系做出贡献。这项研究将有助于告知未来的保护工作如何规划政治不稳定或政府参与保护工作的变化。此外，由于它的具体重点是妇女和男子之间的差异，在他们的资源使用和参与保护管理，这项研究将阐明如何应用资源使用规则和条例以及保护战略可以更公平。因为这项研究将促进对政治动荡背景下保护内部运作的理解，它可能适用于许多其他生物多样性丰富且政治不稳定的国家。

Protected areas are seen as the cornerstone of most biodiversity conservation strategies. Since the mid 1990s improving protected area outcomes has become an increasing concern for funding agencies, natural resource managers, and conservation scientists. Central to this concern and a topic of intense debate has been identifying the best way in which to manage protected areas, some arguing for a top-down (or state-led) approach, while others argue for a bottom-up (or community-led) approach. This research project is an in-depth, comparative case-study analyzing four marine conservation projects in Madagascar that are managed by different entities (the community, the state, and one that is co-managed between the community and the state). The research focuses on how the political crisis in Madagascar that started in 2009 influences management practices. The project looks specifically at (a) how the history of a specific marine resource management project influences the way in which locals change their resource use in reaction to the political crisis and (b) the ways in which differences between women and men in marine resource use and participation in management influence who benefits from marine conservation and use, and (c) how local laws influence access to and control of marine resources and vice-versa. Different protected area management approaches determine who decides the rules concerning rights to resources, and therefore is a rich site to investigate the way in which claims concerning resource use and control are mobilized by different actors. These questions will be answered using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods including semi-structured interviews, oral histories, participant observation, surveys, as well as with the creation of a map of fishing locations linked to their specific history, references to current use, and points of contention between different 'stakeholders.' These methods will allow information from and the opinions of a wide variety of actors to be represented in the comparative analysis.This research project is important for understanding contemporary conservation trends in terms of protected areas. It will contribute to what is known about natural resource politics, specifically work related to community-based conservation and gendered resource use. By recognizing the dynamics among state, international conservation, and local actors in the context of marine conservation management, this study will provide an analysis of the factors shaping the way in which marine resources are used, by whom, when, and why. This research will provide critical information for organizations funding and implementing conservation globally, and contribute to the growing literature investigating the link between resource use and political conflict. This research will help inform how future conservation efforts can plan for political instability or changes in governmental involvement in conservation efforts. Additionally, because of its specific focus on differences between women and men in their resource use and participation in conservation management, this research will illuminate ways in which the application of resource use rules and regulations as well as conservation strategies can be more equitable. Because this research will advance an understanding of the inner workings of conservation in the context of political upheaval, it may be applicable to numerous other countries that are rich in biodiversity and politically unstable.