Doctoral Dissertation Research: Natural Resource Management in Bhutan: From Traditional Ecological Knowledge to Gross National Happiness

不丹以其发展指标国民幸福总值（GNH）而闻名，该指标试图创建生活质量指标的定量指数，将经济发展（通过GDP衡量）和更全面的幸福概念结合起来。不丹的尝试引起了全世界的广泛关注，其他国家正在研究GNH作为一种潜在的可持续发展模式。然而，GNH是以佛教信仰为基础的，而且是不丹特有的。因此，重要的是要了解GNH在不丹是如何发展的，它如何影响该国的自然资源决策，以及它的哪些方面可以转化为国外的情况。这篇博士论文的研究将有助于更好地理解GNH作为一种发展范式影响环境决策的方式。该研究提出了四个主要问题：1)不丹的文化、宗教和政治背景如何影响GNH的发展？2)谁是不丹保护和自然资源决策网络的核心国内和国际行动者，他们的相互作用如何影响GNH的应用？3)幸福如何、何时、为何与自然资源和环境联系在一起？4) GNH是如何运作的？为此，我们将对政府官员、非政府组织员工和其他从事GNH与环境交叉工作的人员进行访谈，以更好地了解GNH与环境决策之间的关系。此外，将在不丹农村制作一个参与性录像纪录片项目，以评估GNH环境政策如何影响与环境的日常互动。本研究项目考察了什么是GNH，以及GNH如何影响不丹的环境决策。这些发现将有助于梳理GNH的含义，它是如何随着时间的推移而演变的，当幸福与自然环境的关系被唤起时，它是如何影响人们与景观的互动的。由于GNH最近受到国际关注，并开始被世界各国政府采用，因此研究GNH的谱系和实施非常重要，以便了解哪些方面是不丹特有的，哪些方面可能在其他情况下有用。近年来，新的开发指标在世界范围内经历了指数级的增长。这项研究为更好地了解它们并确定它们对发展的影响提供了机会。这个博士论文研究进步奖将使一个有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

The country of Bhutan is well known for its development metric, Gross National Happiness (GNH), which is an attempt to create both a quantitative index of quality of life indicators, incorporating both economic development (as measured through GDP) and more holistic conceptions of well-being. Bhutan's attempts have garnered significant world-wide attention, and other countries are looking into GNH as a potential sustainable development paradigm. However, GNH is grounded in Buddhist beliefs and is quite specific to Bhutan. Of importance then is to understand how GNH developed in Bhutan, how it influences natural resource decision-making in that country, and what aspects of it might translate to contexts outside of the country. This doctoral dissertation search will help to better understand the ways that GNH as a development paradigm impacts environmental decision making. The research asks four primary questions: 1) How has the cultural, religious, and political context in Bhutan influenced the development of GNH? 2) Who are the domestic and international actors central to conservation and natural resource decision-making networks in Bhutan, and how have their interactions influenced the application of GNH? 3) How, when, and why is happiness linked to natural resources and the environment? and 4) How is GNH operationalized? To do this, interviews with government officials, NGO employees and others working at the intersection of GNH and the environment will be conducted to better understand how GNH is related to environmental decision-making. Additionally, a participatory video documentary project will be produced in rural Bhutan to assess how GNH environmental policies are impacting daily interactions with the environment. This research project examines what GNH is and how it is impacting environmental decision-making in Bhutan. The findings will help to tease out what is meant by GNH, how it evolved over time, when happiness is invoked in relationship to the natural environment and how it is influencing people's interactions with the landscape. Since GNH has recently gained international attention and is beginning to be adopted by governments around the world, research into the genealogy and implementation of GNH is important in order to understand which aspects are Bhutan-specific and which aspects might be useful in other contexts. In recent years novel development metrics have experienced exponential growth world-wide. This research provides an opportunity to better understand them and to determine their influence on development. This Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award will enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.