CNH: Interactive Dynamics of Wildlife Populations, Human Health and Household Wealth in Rural Africa

该项目整合了生态学、经济学、社会学和公共卫生，以阐明和预测a)人类健康和家庭财富如何分别和相互作用地影响人类对生物多样性的依赖，以及b)收获的生物多样性如何影响家庭财富和人类健康。数据收集是在加纳、肯尼亚和马达加斯加的九个农村地区的个人和家庭一级进行的，与世界许多地区一样，这些地区的社区在经济上处于边缘地位，自然资源的可持续利用对生计、健康和生存至关重要。通过这种跨学科整合而开发的基于系统的模式将提供一个框架，以比较生态、社会经济或健康因素对生态系统和社会的可持续性的相对重要性。此外，通过量化和纳入人类和自然系统之间的非线性和耦合反馈，该模型还将为评估环境和社会冲击(例如，气候变化、干旱、渔业崩溃、疾病出现、社会动荡)对资源和生计可持续的直接和长期影响提供信息。除了将一群超越学科界限的研究人员聚集在一起，建立一个新的整合模式外，该项目还将对教育、国际合作、能力建设、健康结果、减贫和可持续发展产生直接和长期的影响。该项目-S致力于在非洲的外联、参与和能力建设，确保它将为在美国的学生提供宝贵的国际经验，并为所有参与研究工作的个人和机构提供终身合作和协会。项目成果和这项研究建立的框架将对能够为减贫、自然资源可持续性、经济发展、生物多样性保护和改善健康成果提供政策路径的机构(如美国国际开发署、粮农组织、世卫组织、环境署、世界自然保护联盟)和非政府组织(如WCS、CI、WWF、CARE、CRS)具有重要的实用价值。

This project integrates ecology, economics, sociology and public health to illuminate and predict a) how human health and household wealth separately and interactively affect human reliance on biodiversity, and b) how harvested biodiversity impacts household wealth and human health. Data collection occurs at the level of individuals and households at nine rural sites in Ghana, Kenya and Madagascar where, like many regions of the world, communities are economically marginalized and the sustainable use of natural resources is essential to livelihoods, health and survival. The systems-based model developed through this integration across disciplines will provide a framework to compare the relative importance of ecological, socioeconomic or health factors for the sustainability of ecosystems and societies. Furthermore, by quantifying and incorporating nonlinear and coupled feedbacks among human and natural systems this model also will inform efforts to assess the immediate and long term impacts of environmental and social shocks (e.g., climate change, drought, fisheries collapse, disease emergence, social unrest) on resource and livelihood sustainability.In addition to bringing together a group of researchers who venture beyond disciplinary boundaries to build a new model of integration, this project will have direct and prolonged impacts on education, international collaboration, capacity building, health outcomes, poverty alleviation and sustainability. The project?s commitment to outreach, engagement and capacity building in Africa ensures that it will provide invaluable international experience to U.S.-based students and lifelong collaborations and associations for all individuals and institutions involved in the research effort. Project results and the framework created by this research will be of great practical value to agencies (e.g., USAID, FAO, WHO, UNEP, IUCN) and non-governmental organizations (e.g., WCS, CI, WWF, CARE, CRS) who can provide policy pathways for poverty alleviation, natural resource sustainability, economic development, biodiversity conservation, and the improvement of health outcomes.