Doctoral Dissertation: Extreme Heat Governance for Rural Agricultural Communities

该项目将促进对极端高温事件反应的跨国差异的理解。它通过关注农村和农业社区的极端高温来填补研究空白。极端高温事件对公共卫生、牲畜、作物和经济构成风险。本研究将考察农村适应极端高温的两种不同方法。虽然每个地方的农村社区都面临类似的气候相关挑战，但农村土地所有者在环境和气候变化治理中所扮演的角色存在重大差异。本研究将比较两个地方正在形成的极端高温适应措施，以了解国家和州一级的政策如何与当地文化和价值观相互作用，从而创造出独特的方法。这项研究将提出建议和最佳做法范例，供应急规划人员、决策者、地方政府和农村居民参考。本研究采用解释性和比较性案例研究方法，重点关注两个地区。收集的数据将回答以下研究问题：1)影响各地区极端热适应政策的因素是什么？2)地方知识和社会秩序如何影响在区域/国家范围内制定的气候适应计划的实施？3)在制定应对环境危害（如高温）的策略及其实施过程中，当地行动者扮演了什么角色？她们作为社区领袖的更强参与又如何能加强这些解决方案？数据收集将包括参加对公开会议和听证会的观察，对公共记录和公开材料/数据的分析，以及访谈。访谈对象将分为三类：监管机构和政策制定者（如政策分析师、适应项目协调员、政府官员）、科学家和农业专业人士，以及农村居民（如当地社区领导人、倡导者、公共会议参与者）。这项调查的结果将通过揭示如何在具有当地特定挑战和优先事项的农村社区解决极端高温问题做出新的贡献。

This project will advance understanding of cross-national differences in responses to extreme heat events. It fills a research gap by focusing on extreme heat in rural and agricultural communities. Extreme heat events are a risk to public health, livestock, crops, and economies. This study will examine two different approaches to rural adaptation to extreme heat. While rural communities in each place face similar climate-related challenges, there are crucial differences in the roles that rural landowners take within environmental and climate change governance. This study will compare the extreme heat adaptation measures that are taking shape in two places to understand how national and state-level policies interact with local cultures and values to create distinctive approaches. The study will lead to recommendations and best practice examples that will be of interest to emergency planners, policy makers, local governments, and rural residents. The research uses an interpretative and comparative case study approach, focusing on two regions. Data will be gathered to answer the following research questions: 1) What factors are shaping the extreme heat adaptation policies in each region? 2) How do local knowledge and social orders shape the implementation of climate adaptation programs that are developed on the regional/national scale? 3) What role do and could local actors play in shaping the response strategies to environmental hazards, such as heat, and their implementation ? and how can their stronger involvement as community leaders strengthen these solutions? Data collection will involve participant observation of public meetings and hearings, an analysis of public records and publicly available materials/data, and interviews. Interviews will be conducted with three different categories of participants: regulators and policymakers (such as policy analysts, adaptation program coordinators, public officials), scientists and agricultural professionals, and rural residents (such as local community leaders, advocates, participants in public meetings). The results of this investigation will make a novel contribution by revealing how the problem of extreme heat is being addressed in rural communities that have locally-specific challenges and priorities.