Doctoral Dissertation Research: Livelihood Strategies and Landscape Diversity Related to Agricultural Development

人们构建生计方式的变化会改变景观，而景观变化又会对生计产生影响。人与他们居住的自然景观之间往往复杂的关系是科学研究的重点，这些研究旨在提高更多的一般知识，但是这种研究可以对有关发展努力的决策产生实际影响。这个博士论文研究项目将研究农业发展计划如何改变农村社区的生计多样性和景观格局。在那些发展项目和投资者已将注意力转向该地区农业增长的地区，了解景观变化与农村人口生计变化之间的相互作用尤为重要。在这种情况下，有关农业增长的更广泛影响的信息可以为发展机构提供信息，帮助它们在粮食生产、扶贫和环境保护之间寻求平衡。这一项目将在坦桑尼亚的莫罗戈罗地区实施，因为该地区的互动给美国国际开发署的“保障未来粮食供应”计划和坦桑尼亚政府的“农业优先”战略带来了挑战。本项目将通过收集有关农村人口的经济活动和需要的资料以及对环境数据进行实证分析，对这些发展努力作出贡献。通过与从事发展活动的农村人口和群体的密切合作，博士生将发现加强坦桑尼亚和许多其他发展中国家农村社区复原力的新机会。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。虽然广泛的研究致力于研究生计和土地利用，但很少有研究专门涉及空间与生计之间的这种相互关系。最近的研究表明，空间是生计分析的核心，对于理解产生农村生计战略的过程至关重要。该博士生的论文研究将得到该奖项的支持，该博士生将研究一个由发展倡议和外国投资推动的广泛农业变化正在进行的地区。他将整合景观生态学、土地变化科学和可持续生计研究的研究方法，研究过去二十年来景观空间格局的变化，以及与这些发展活动相关的生计策略的变化。利用卫星图像，他将确定土地利用和土地覆盖的空间格局随时间的变化。他将对小农进行访谈并收集调查数据，以补充这一分析，并解释农业项目如何改变了该地区的生计战略和资源利用。他还将采访来自发展机构和其他利益相关者团体的代表，以确定他们对环境变化和农村人口需求的看法。通过这种混合方法，学生将对生计战略变化与景观格局之间的复杂关系提供新的理解，并对发展计划如何塑造这种关系提供新的见解。

Changes in the ways that people construct their livelihoods transform the landscape, and landscape changes have implications for livelihoods. The often complex relationships between people and the natural landscapes they inhabit are the focus of scientific research designed to enhance more general knowledge, but such research can have practical implications for decision making about development endeavors. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine how agricultural development programs are transforming livelihood diversity and landscape pattern in rural communities. Understanding interactions among changes in landscape and livelihoods of rural populations is particularly important in those locales where development programs and investors have turned their attention to agricultural growth in this area. In this context, information about the broader effects of agricultural growth can inform development agencies as they seek to balance the tradeoffs among food production, poverty alleviation, and environmental conservation. This is the case in the Morogoro Region in Tanzania, where this project will take place, because interactions in this region have posed challenges for the ongoing efforts of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Feed the Future program and for the Tanzanian government's Kilimo Kwanza [Agriculture First] strategy. This project will contribute to these development efforts by gathering information about the economic activities and needs of rural populations and by performing empirical analysis of environmental data. Through close work with rural populations and groups engaged in development activities, the doctoral student will identify new opportunities for enhancing the resilience of rural communities in Tanzania and in many other developing nations. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.While extensive research has been dedicated to examining livelihoods and land use, little research has specifically addressed this reciprocal relationship between space and livelihoods. Recent research has suggested that space is central to livelihoods analyses and is essential to understanding the processes that give rise to rural livelihood strategies. The doctoral student whose dissertation research will be supported by this award will examine an area where extensive agricultural change spurred by development initiatives and foreign investment is underway. He will integrate research methods from landscape ecology, land-change science, and sustainable livelihoods research to examine the changes in spatial patterns of landscapes over the past two decades as well as the changes in livelihood strategies related to these development activities. Using satellite imagery, he will identify changes in the spatial pattern of land use and land cover over time. He will conduct interviews and gather survey data from smallholder famers to complement this analysis and explain how agricultural programs have altered livelihood strategies and resource use in the area. He also will interview representatives from development agencies and other stakeholder groups to ascertain their perceptions of the changes in the environment and the needs of rural populations. Through this mixed-methods approach, the student will provide new understandings about the complex relationship between changes in livelihood strategies and landscape pattern as well as new insights into how development programs shape this relationship.