Doctoral Dissertation Research: Conservation as an Open-Air Experiment: Pricing the Environment in the Mato Grasso Region of the Brazilian Amazon

作为一项露天实验的保护：为巴西亚马逊马托格罗索州地区的环境定价。David Rojas总结拟议的项目将调查一项名为REDD+的战略(减少森林砍伐、森林退化和改善碳储备的排放)，旨在限制亚马逊地区的森林砍伐，遵循一条简单的推理：当森林被证明具有比被摧毁更大的货币价值时，它们将被保护。技术说明REDD+项目是在以下假设下推进的：森林定价将使环境和经济目标保持一致，从而创造一种环境，使环境科学家和亚马逊土地所有者就以下问题达成一致：(A)亚马逊砍伐森林的负面后果；(B)经济和环境举措的汇合；(C)需要阐明支持REDD+的政策伙伴关系。这项研究将确定这一假设是否适用于针对亚马逊农民的REDD+项目。这项研究借鉴了科学和技术研究(STS)对科学实验的见解，以及人类学的价值和环境理论。项目？S的结论将基于一项为期22个月的人种学研究，该研究将收集农民和科学家如何(1)评估砍伐森林的后果；(2)评估发展与保护相一致的可能性；(3)清晰地表达REDD+政策网络的数据。数据将在三个空间收集：巴西亚马逊马托格罗索州地区的两个REDD+试验场；科学家和农民将参加的REDD+会议；以及研究亚马逊生态和全球气候变化之间关系的两个美国科学研究机构。广泛影响REDD+是一项重大而雄心勃勃的新努力，旨在阻止亚马逊地区的环境退化，限制全球气候变化，同时促进经济发展。拟议的项目将与巴西和美国的学术机构合作推进，以便深入了解REDD+项目是如何实施的，并至少对指导性假设进行一次检验。

Conservation as an Open Air Experiment: Pricing the Environment in the Mato Grosso Region of the Brazilian Amazon.David RojasSummaryThe proposed project will investigate a strategy known as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation, forest Degradation and improving carbon stocks) that is aimed at limiting deforestation in the Amazon following a simple line of reasoning: Forests will be preserved when they are shown to have greater monetary value standing than destroyed. Technical descriptionREDD+ projects are advanced under the following hypothesis: Pricing the forest will align environmental and economic objectives thereby creating a context in which environmental scientists and Amazonian landholders will agree on (a) the negative consequences of Amazonian deforestation; (b) the convergence of economic and environmental initiatives; and (c) the need for articulating policy partnerships in support of REDD+. The research will determine whether this hypothesis holds true for REDD+ projects directed at Amazonian peasants. The study draws on Science and Technology Studies (STS) insights into scientific experimentation and on anthropological theories of value and the environment. The project?s conclusions will be based on a twenty-two-month ethnographic research that will gather data on how peasants and scientists (1) assess the consequences of deforestation; (2) evaluate the likelihood of aligning development and conservation; and (3) articulate REDD+ policy networks. Data will be gathered in three spaces: Two REDD+ test sites in the Mato Grosso region of the Brazilian Amazon; REDD+ conferences in which scientists and peasants will participate; and two US scientific research institutions that study the relations between Amazonian ecology and global climate change.Broader impactsREDD+ constitutes a major and ambitious new effort to stop environmental degradation in the Amazon and limit global climate change while at the same time promoting economic development. The proposed project will be advanced in collaboration with Brazilian and US academic institutions in order to provide an in-depth understanding of how REDD+ projects are being implemented and at least one test of the guiding hypothesis.