RUI: CNH2-L: An integrative analysis of perceptions, policy, and land use impact on coastal agricultural watershed resilience Grant uri icon

abstract

  • Nutrient pollution associated with agricultural production is a persistent issue in many of the world's most economically and ecologically valuable watersheds. Many agricultural practices that threaten ecosystem health persist because they deliver economic benefits to the landowner. Therefore, governments have considered or implemented diverse policies to preserve ecosystem health. However, the relative merits of these policies depend on program cost, the behavioral responses of farmers to the policy, and the ecological impacts of land use and management changes that result from the policy. Further, human behavioral responses are not static, but can change as a shifting watershed influences both their economic opportunities and their perceptions of these issues. This proposal will leverage water quality data and ecological experiments to examine how the intrusion of saltwater predicted with sea level rise will alter biological processes at reducing nutrient pollution. Through the analysis of surveys and economics laboratory experiments, we will model how different policies alter land use, how incentive programs can crowd out voluntary ecological best management practices, and how perceptions of ecosystem quality (for the farmer, community, general public) can alter reactions to policy. In our farmer decision model, human system factors and changes in the natural system affect land use and management decisions. These natural system changes and resultant ecosystem services alter farmer behavior through changing their perception, attitudes, and values. Together, our work will address (i) how external drivers (e.g. policies and climate change) influence land use decisions; (ii) which land use decisions will mitigate negative impacts now and in the future; and (iii) how management and policy decisions influence socio-environmental outcomes mediated through water quality services. We will also provide students (3-8 grade, undergraduate, graduate students) with real data to interpret land use and management effects on water quality and the health of their coastal watersheds. Community engagement will be facilitated using Community Learning Exchanges in which students, teachers, families, and community members engage in educational activities and conversations surrounding the findings of the project. This proposal addresses how climate change (i.e., salinization) modifies nutrient cycling in ways that could shape human decisions on managing the food-water nexus.

date/time interval

  • March 2021 - February 2026