SEES Fellows: Understanding Farmers' Valuation of Environmental Services and Forest Sustainability: Governance and Institutions in the Selva Zoque, Mexico

来自达特茅斯学院的Claudia Rodriguez-Solorzano博士将研究影响个体农民在土地使用决策时的决策因素，以及这些农民如何权衡提供环境服务的好处，以及他们从使用土地进行农业活动中获得的好处。该奖项得到了社会、行为和经济科学理事会、生物科学理事会、国际和综合活动办公室以及刺激竞争性研究实验计划办公室（EPSCoR）的支持。拟议的研究项目将通过促进我们对与提供环境服务相关的人类行为动机的理解，为当地和全球的社会环境可持续性做出贡献。为此，本研究将回答两个相互关联的问题：1)治理和制度如何影响农民对森林提供的环境服务的评价？2)对于那些重视环境服务的农民来说，哪些因素影响了他们对土地使用的决定？该项目将人类学中关于农民行为的现有研究、政治科学中关于集体行动和制度的研究以及经济学中的环境服务结合起来。这种多学科方法为制定基于经验的政策框架提供了一个平台，以提高生态系统服务提供的可持续性。所提议的广泛的实证工作将为测试和完善该框架提供机会。这项研究使用Selva Zoque作为实验室，这是墨西哥南部一个高度生物多样性的完整热带森林地区。在瓦哈卡州、韦拉克鲁斯州和恰帕斯州，不同的治理机制支持农民提供环境服务，包括以社区为基础的管理和保护区。Rodriguez-Solorzano博士将与合作者Richard Howarth（达特茅斯学院）和Eduardo Brondizio（印第安纳大学）以及年轻科学家（研究助理和学生）一起进行这项研究。该项目由美国国家科学基金会科学、工程和教育可持续发展研究员（SEES研究员）计划支持，其目标是帮助实现必要的发现，为导致环境、能源和社会可持续发展的行动提供信息，同时创造必要的劳动力来应对这些挑战。在see研究员的支持下，该项目将使有前途的早期职业研究人员能够在与可持续性相关的独立研究生涯中建立自己的职业生涯。

In this Award from the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows Program) Dr. Claudia Rodriguez-Solorzano from Dartmouth College will study the factors that govern individual farmers decision making when it comes to land-use decisions, how these farmers weigh the benefits of providing environmental services, balanced against benefits that they derive from using land for agricultural activities. This award has support from: the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, the Directorate for Biological Sciences, the Office of International and Integrative Activities, and the Office of Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).The proposed research project will contribute to local and global social-environmental sustainability by advancing our understanding about motivations of human behavior associated with the provision of environmental services. For this purpose the research will answer two interrelated questions: 1) how do governance and institutions affect farmers valuation of environmental services provided by forests? and 2) for those farmers who value environmental services, what factors influence their decisions on their land use? The project ties together current research on farmer behavior from anthropology, collective action and institutions from political science, and environmental services for economics. This multidisciplinary approach provides a platform for developing an empirically based framework for developing policies that will enhance sustainability of ecosystem service provision. The proposed extensive empirical work will provide opportunity to test and refine the framework.This research uses the Selva Zoque, a highly biodiverse region of intact tropical forest in southern Mexico, as its laboratory. Divided among the states of Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Chiapas, different governance mechanisms are in place to support farmer provision of environmental services, including community-based management and protected areas. Dr. Rodriguez-Solorzano will be working with collaborators Richard Howarth (Dartmouth College) and Eduardo Brondizio (Indiana University), as well as young scientists (research assistants and students) on this research.This project is supported under the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows) program, with the goal of helping to enable discoveries needed to inform actions that lead to environmental, energy and societal sustainability while creating the necessary workforce to address these challenges. With SEES Fellows support, this project will enable a promising early career researcher to establish themselves in an independent research career related to sustainability.