Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Assessing international non-governmental organization influences on coastal resource management by communities and users

在依赖海洋的人们对如何利用海洋资源提出意见的地方，鱼类种群和栖息地往往更健康。更健康的鱼类种群和栖息地反过来对依赖海洋的人来说是个好消息，特别是在低收入沿海地区，那里的人们越来越依赖鱼类作为食物。安排地方参与决策的一种方式是社区管理，在这种管理中，依赖资源的社区积极参与制定和执行规则（例如，如何、在何处和何时允许社区成员捕鱼）。建立信任措施被作为改善发展中国家鱼类种群和全球脆弱人口粮食安全的一种方式提出，并在全球范围内受到资助者、非政府组织、政府和社区的欢迎。特别是，国际非政府保护组织积极努力鼓励世界各地的社区采用建立信任措施。因此，了解INCLUB如何影响社区采取建立信任措施的决定，对于寻求改善粮食安全的国家政府、寻求平衡人类需求与生态系统需求的INCLUB、寻求增强可持续当地社区能力的网络组织以及寻求维持当地生计和文化的当地社区都具有重要意义。然而，对于INFANTUM如何最终影响社区参与建立信任措施的决定的“原因”和“方式”，人们仍然知之甚少。本项目拟通过进程追踪方法调查INDRONIC活动与社区一级采纳和实施建立信任措施之间的因果关系。将通过在斐济的实地工作收集数据，斐济是国际非政府组织参与建立信任措施的常见国家。访谈将在有目的地选择的土著斐济案例研究社区进行，这些社区在社区规模和对海洋资源的依赖上相匹配，但在国际非政府组织参与，采取建立信任措施和实施建立信任措施方面有所不同。为了对调查结果进行三角分析，数据收集还将包括正式的建立信任措施通过和执行文件，以及与活跃在案例研究社区的INFERMATION代表的访谈。过程跟踪分析将用于确定国际非政府组织的活动及其对以下方面的影响：a）当地采用和实施建立信任措施的实质性和规范性激励措施，以及B）当地决策结构。过程跟踪分析还将检验当地决策者的态度是否对国际非政府组织吸收建立信任措施的影响起中介作用。反事实案件将允许探索地方采用和/或执行建立信任措施的替代途径。将通过对世界其他地区积极参与建立信任措施的机构进行更广泛的调查，审查初步案例调查结果的普遍性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Where people who depend on the sea have input into how marine resources are used, fish stocks and habitats are often healthier. Healthier fish stocks and habitat are in turn good news for people who depend on the sea, especially in lower-income coastal regions where people increasingly rely on fish for food. One way to structure local involvement in decision-making is community-based management (CBM), in which resource-dependent communities take active part in making and enforcing rules (for example, how, where, and when community members are allowed to fish). CBM has been offered as a way to improve developing-world fish stocks and food security for vulnerable global populations, and has been embraced globally by funders, non-governmental organizations, governments and communities. In particular, international non-governmental conservation organizations (INGOs) actively work to encourage communities around the world to adopt CBM. Understanding how INGOs affect communities' decisions to undertake CBM is thus relevant to national governments seeking to improve food security, INGOs seeking to balance human needs with ecosystem needs, network organizations seeking to empower sustainable local communities, and local communities seeking to maintain local livelihoods and culture. However, how INGOs ultimately influence the "why" and "how" of communities' decisions to engage in CBM remains poorly understood. This project proposes to investigate causal links between the activities of INGOs and community-level adoption and implementation of CBM through a process tracing approach. Data will be collected through fieldwork in Fiji, a nation where INGO involvement in CBM is common. Interviews will be conducted with local leaders in purposively selected Native Fijian case study communities that are matched on community size and reliance on marine resources, but that vary on INGO involvement, adoption of CBM, and implementation of CBM. In order to triangulate findings, data collection will also include formal CBM adoption and implementation documentation, as well as interviews with representatives of INGOs active in the case study communities. Process tracing analysis will be used to identify INGO activities and influence on a) material and normative incentives for local adoption and implementation of CBM, and b) local decision-making structures. Process tracing analysis will also test whether local decision-maker attitudes mediate INGO influence on CBM uptake. Counterfactual cases will allow for exploration of alternate pathways to local adoption and/or implementation of CBM. Generalizability of initial case findings will be examined through a broader survey of INGOs active in CBM in other regions of the world..This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.