Repository logo

Browsing by Author "Solomon, Jennifer, committee member"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Evaluating social equity and conservation attitudes in community based conservation: a case study of the controlled hunting area program in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Astella, Bethlehem Abebe, author; Jones, Kelly, advisor; Evangelista, Paul, advisor; Solomon, Jennifer, committee member; Galvin, Kathleen, committee member
    This dissertation research examines perceptions of social equity and conservation attitudes in community-based conservation (CBC) programs in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia. While there has been an increasing shift towards inclusive and participatory approaches in conservation over the past 40 years, the social and environmental outcomes of CBC programs remain limited. One reason for this is the failure to recognize the diversity of local actors involved in CBC programs, the different costs and benefits they face, and how embedded power relations shape participation and empowerment in CBC programs. Devising effective and fair CBC programs requires putting social equity concerns at the core of conservation, which should in turn improve both social and conservation outcomes. This dissertation makes conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions to the fields of social equity and CBC by implementing a mixed methods assessment of perceptions of social equity and conservation attitudes, as indicators of long-term conservation outcomes, and the factors that influence these perceptions and attitudes. Specifically, Chapter 1 provides an overview of the dissertation starting with a background of the underlying premises and implementation challenges of CBC programs globally and in Ethiopia. The chapter introduces social equity and conservation attitudes as central themes of the dissertation, gives a backdrop of the community-based controlled hunting area program in the Bale Mountains, and highlights the key research questions. In Chapter 2, this dissertation draws from a multi-dimensional social equity framework to generate a nuanced understanding of different groups' perceptions of equity in the distribution of benefits and costs, the processes of engagement and participation, and the recognition of needs and priorities in a CBC program. I conducted 15 focus group discussions in different communities and apply grounded theory to elicit locals' nuanced perceptions of social equity. The chapter underscores the need to evaluate local actors' diverse and contextualized relationships with other actors and the natural world and give recognition to how perceptions of equity interplay with broader social and environmental processes, in designing and implementing CBC programs. For Chapter 3, I conducted household surveys in four communities. This chapter builds on the previous qualitative analysis by assessing the effects of socio-economic and institutional factors in shaping perceptions of equity across different communities and CBC program models. I integrate the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) to assess how access to various capital assets influences equity perceptions. The results signify the need to address the heterogeneity among local actors affected by conservation programs in equity design and assessment. These findings further highlight the need to strengthen weak institutional ties with external organizations, facilitate intra-community organization, and design programs that emphasize transparency to facilitate more equitable conservation outcomes. Finally, in Chapter 4, I use household survey responses to assess how conservation attitudes vary across different communities based on different social, economic, and/ or institutional characteristics. I also examine the role of social equity in mediating how social capital affects conservation attitudes. To foster positive conservation attitudes, results suggest CBC programs need to build on and strengthen internal communal institutions and external links with conservation organizations. The findings also emphasize the need for adopting equity conscious designs that recognize the needs and priorities of marginalized groups. Overall, this dissertation contributes to the science and practice of CBC in Ethiopia and beyond. Empirically, the dissertation advances the contribution of mixed methods in assessing the complex construct of social equity. The focus group discussions with different community members and the use of grounded theory helped elicit local people's nuanced and contextualized perceptions of social equity. Informed by these qualitative findings, I developed locally relevant indicators to quantitatively measure equity perceptions across communities and program models. This contributes to the literature on social equity by adopting and refining existing frameworks in ways that are pertinent to specific contextual realities. From a policy perspective, the findings suggest that CBC programs in Ethiopia need to critically address differences in access to resources and decision-making power and to reframe notions of benefits to encapsulate multiple dimensions of equity. Additionally, the findings from this dissertation suggest that CBC programs more broadly will benefit from building internal social capital and strengthening links with external conservation organizations and resource management agencies, as social capital is key in crafting more equitable CBC programs and influencing positive conservation outcomes.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Holding on to the good life: Samburu women's resilience and response to climate change
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Walker, Sarah Elizabeth, author; Bruyere, Brett, advisor; Solomon, Jennifer, committee member; Skyelander, Kim, committee member; Zarestky, Jill, committee member
    This dissertation seeks to explore climate change resilience from the perspective of pastoral women in Samburu, Kenya. It investigates the resilience-related concepts of adaptive capacity, response strategies, and well-being. In Northern Kenya, the increasing frequency of drought is forcing pastoralists to respond to a changing climate while a variety of socioeconomic changes simultaneously both constrain and enhance their ability to respond. Pastoral women sit at the very nexus of these shifting dynamics; women continue to face significant barriers that limit their adaptive capacity, are often responsible for the increased workload associated with a changing climate, and experience unique and gendered impacts of engaging in climate change response strategies. The first manuscript in this dissertation applies a dimensional framework of well-being to the experiences and perspectives of Samburu women. We use semi-structured interviews and a novel participatory activity entitled "Build Your Best Life" to explore what it means for Samburu women to "have a good life." A well-being framework created by the ESRC Research Group on Well-Being in Developing Countries guides our presentation of twelve themes organized into three unique dimensions. Further, we argue for the importance of taking into account how different components of well-being influence each other and the implications of these interactions for climate resilience interventions. The second manuscript uses a participatory adaptation scenario and mapping activity to explore how formal education -- a common foundation of adaptive capacity -- influences Samburu women's livestock-related decision-making processes as they respond to drought. This manuscript builds on Cinner et al.'s (2018) framework of adaptive capacity and suggests that in order to leverage the potential of formal education to positively impact adaptive capacity, education must influence both the learning and agency components of adaptive capacity. Finally, the third manuscript investigates the influence of various response strategies on women's well-being and household livestock loss. We differentiate between coping and adaptation strategies and use the well-being framework from the first manuscript to look at how coping and adaptation uniquely impact women's sense of being able to provide for their children and their hope for the future. We use the gendered divisions of labour associated with drought adaptation and coping strategies to explain our results. As a whole, this dissertation attempts to understand how Samburu women are experiencing drought, the barriers they face in responding to drought, the response strategies they engage in, and how those responses may impact their well-being. Our results underscore the importance of using a gendered lens to understand climate resilience and creating culturally relevant frameworks for resilience-related concepts. We subsequently discuss implications for theory and practice.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemEmbargo
    Individual proactive adaptation: integrating vulnerability and natural hazards into a new cognitive model
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Li, Yanxi, author; Knight, David, advisor; Solomon, Jennifer, committee member; Harris, Peter, committee member
    Individual proactive adaptation refers to personal proactive behaviors in response to crisis events (in this study, natural disasters) aimed at minimizing the disruptions caused by such disasters. The process of adaptation is often complex and dynamic, influenced by the synergistic effects of multiple factors. Current research on adaptation motivation and decision-making is largely influenced by the Protection Motivation Theory, which emphasizes the role of subjective factors in the cognitive and decision-making processes. However, as adaptation theories evolve, scholars are beginning to acknowledge the role that objective indicators play in the cognitive process of proactive adaptation. This thesis builds on these research trends and theories in two studies. Study 1 conducts a systematic review of current research on indicators of adaptation and integrates those indicators with socio-ecological thinking to develop a new cognitive model. Study 2 involves a plausibility probe based on semi-structured interviews (N = 27) among residents of the Dujiangyan District of central China, an area that was impacted considerably by earthquakes and COVID-19 in recent years. The probe involves applying the new model to analyze those interviews and identify viable objective indicators for the cognitive process of adaptation. This approach is more cost-effective compared to prematurely conducting more ambitious and systematic tests of model assumptions. Results from Study 1 indicate that individual vulnerability and hazard characteristics, as indicators representing social and ecological dimensions, participate in each appraisal stage of the adaptation cognitive process. Results from Study 2 highlight several indicators as crucial objective measures of individual proactive adaptation. These indicators include the scope of impact, past hazard experiences, income, age, housing condition, etc. Overall, the thesis suggests that previous research has failed to account for the role of individual vulnerability and natural hazard characteristics in the appraisal stages (as opposed to the final decision stages) of cognitive processes of individual adaptation. Additionally, the new model and case study findings point to paths forward for better incorporating objective indicators in future research on cognitive processes associated with individual proactive adaptation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Social-psychological factors influencing community engagement in urban biodiversity conservation
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Champine, Veronica Murielle, author; Niemiec, Rebecca, advisor; Balgopal, Meena, committee member; Bruyere, Brett, committee member; Jones, Megan, committee member; Solomon, Jennifer, committee member
    As the human population grows and we continue to see rapid biodiversity loss, conserving natural resources in urbanized areas has become increasingly important. Motivating people to engage in pro-environmental behavior is one of the many strategies to address biodiversity. Strategic human action can help shape social norms and generate social movements that influence the social systems that intensify environmental degradation. This dissertation builds on the existing pro-environmental behavior literature and explores the motivators and barriers to different types of urban biodiversity conservation actions. These include personal-sphere behavior (i.e., participating in an action by oneself), social diffusion behavior (i.e., actions that disseminate information or behavior via social networks), and civic action behavior (i.e., citizenship actions to address a collective issue). In three articles, I use cross-sectional, experimental, and audience segmentation methods to compare the drivers of distinct behaviors, evaluate the impacts of theory-based outreach strategies, and identify target audiences for biodiversity conservation behaviors related to native plant gardening in the United States. Findings from this research can inform outreach strategies that promote greater community engagement in urban biodiversity conservation to support native wildlife and human wellbeing in urbanized areas.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    The nature of choice: unraveling individual decision-making for climate-adaptation, science-participation, and environmental stewardship in Mexico
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Shinbrot, Xoco A., author; Jones, Kelly W., advisor; Newman, Greg, committee member; Ojima, Dennis, committee member; Solomon, Jennifer, committee member
    Broadly, this dissertation research assesses the determinants of individual decision making that constrain or enable livelihoods, for science-policy outcomes and environmental behaviors. This research draws on traditional frameworks for behavior change but integrates novel concepts that have been established in other fields as influencing choice. Though the sustainability field has relied on traditional frameworks for over the past 50 years, the conceptualization of internal cognitive factors like climate perceptions and motivations as well as environmental, socio-economic, and demographics factors remains siloed in their respective disciplines of social psychology and environmental psychology. This dissertation addresses these deficiencies through conceptual, methodological, and empirical contributions to the field of behavior change research. Conceptually, this dissertation tests the influence of four major frameworks on choice: (1) the theory of planned behavior, which refers to the knowledge, attitudes, and social norms that contribute to behavioral intentions; (2) the volunteer motivations framework, which conceptualizes participation in volunteer programs as due to dispersed motivations to participate; (3) the credibility-relevance-legitimacy framework, which refers to the three components needed for decision-makers to use science for action; and (4) the sustainable livelihoods approach framework that conceptualizes livelihood outcomes as a product of the household assets they control while influenced by their external institutional and environmental vulnerability context. In Chapter 2, I modify the sustainable livelihoods framework by integrating climate perceptions into the livelihood assets that households use to make livelihood decisions, with implications for uptake of adaptation strategies for climate change. In Chapter 3 I integrate the volunteer motivation framework into the credibility-relevance-legitimacy framework, suggesting that both are needed for explaining participation in public participation in science, i.e. citizen science. Finally, in Chapter 4 I integrate the theory of planned behavior with the credibility-relevance-legitimacy framework, to show that both are necessary for understanding changes to conservation knowledge, attitudes, and stewardship behaviors over time. Methodologically, this dissertation also contributes novel techniques for encouraging behavior changes for citizen scientists in Chapters 3 and 4. Specifically, conservation decision-makers were included within the traditional citizen science, water-monitoring training to amplify perceptions of project relevance for conservation programs, to improve participation in citizen science as well as to improve social outcomes of knowledge, attitudes, and stewardship behaviors. In an experimental design, half the citizen scientists received the traditional training, while the other half received the intervention training which included an hour and a half presentation from conservation decision makers. We found that while short term perceptions of the relevance of the program was improved, there was a need to enhance legitimacy of program design (i.e., with the voices of citizen scientists), as many volunteers were more interested in studying water quality than water flow. However, the training did positively influence some measures of conservation knowledge and attitudes, and was able to influence frequency of talking to others about conservation. These findings suggest that program managers in citizen science need to know about citizen scientists' motivations to frame recruitment and retention strategies. Additionally, in Chapter 2 this dissertation empirically tests the role of climate vulnerability and adaptation policy making through an in depth examination of coffee farmer adaptation strategies in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, and what determines adoption of adaptation strategies. These results show that the vulnerability context (including market distance, community location, and experience of disasters) the household assets (including natural, social, and physical capitals), and climate perceptions as an additional asset, play an important role in facilitating adaptation to climate change. This research calls attention to the need for stronger policy making that provides financial encouragement for underutilized adaptation strategies such as crop diversification while simultaneously developing climate workshops to strengthen climate perceptions and encouraging participation in agricultural organizations that facilitate information exchange about climate adaptation strategies. Overall, this dissertation calls attention to the social and ecological impacts that citizen science and sustainable development policies have, and the influence that internal cognitive and socio-economic factors play, as well as external environmental factors, for influencing choice to engage in these activities. Because many of these factors are immutable in the short term – such as environmental or socioeconomic factors – this dissertation broadly suggests that to influence choice, decision makers need to recognize cognitive factors like perceptions of climate change, motivations to participate, and perception of project relevancy. Only when we can understand these cognitive factors can informational interventions be appropriately designed for social and ecological outcomes.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Understanding protected areas: an analysis of drivers of forest loss and conservation trends
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Powlen, Kathryn Ann, author; Gavin, Michael, advisor; Boone, Randall, committee member; Jones, Kelly, committee member; Solomon, Jennifer, committee member
    Global forests harbor much of the world's terrestrial biodiversity, provide critical ecosystem services, and directly support the livelihoods of over a billion people. Nonetheless, forest cover continues to decline rapidly, largely due to human-driven land use changes, such as conversion for agriculture, urban expansion, and increased forest market demands. Protected areas are one of the most common conservation tools used to counter global forest loss. However, forest conversion has been found to persist in protected areas globally. Understanding the diverse factors driving forest cover change in protected area is critical for ensuring forest conservation success. This dissertation contributes evidence to help advance our understanding of protected area performance through three empirical manuscripts. Each manuscript uses a unique approach to examine drivers of conservation outcomes in protected areas at different scales. All three manuscripts are focused on Mexico's protected area network. The first manuscript uses a machine learning approach – random forest regression – to identify the main drivers of deforestation in protected areas across Mexico. By comparing the relative importance of multiple socioeconomic, biophysical, and protected area design characteristics in driving forest loss, this manuscript highlights the important role that placement characteristics, such as topography and proximity to development, can play in protected area conservation success. Additionally, results from this manuscript demonstrate the nonlinearity of the relationships between most forest loss predictors and observed deforestation. The second manuscript uses a propensity score matching approach to quantify the influence of protected area management effectiveness on forest loss outcomes in protected areas across Mexico. This manuscript finds critical evidence that protected areas with high levels of management effectiveness reduce forest loss to a greater extent than those with lower management effectiveness. This manuscript also finds that multiple dimensions of management, such as effective planning, collaborative decision-making, equitable benefit sharing, as well as sufficient financial and human resources, can contribute to the reduction of forest loss. The final manuscript examines how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced protected areas and conservation outcomes across Mexico. This manuscript measures protected area managers' perceptions of the impacts of the pandemic on protected area inputs, mechanisms, moderators, and non-compliance. We find a perceived decrease in human capacity, monitoring capacity, and tourism, and an increase in a number of non-compliant activities in 2020 compared to 2019. Understanding how protected areas are impacted by unexpected global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic is critical for building more resilient protected area networks in the future. Together the three manuscripts demonstrate the range of factors that can influence protected area performance, including landscape characteristics, protected area management practices, and global events. By advancing our understanding of the factors influencing protected area performance, we can improve conservation planning, more strategically allocate resources, and more proactively protect key biodiversity areas in the future.