UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Evaluating the Impacts of Top-down Protected Area Governance on Local Livelihoods - The Case of the Turkish Village of Kapikiri(2012) Yilmaz, Aysegul; Howland, Marie; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study evaluates the positive and negative impacts of strict protected area designation on the livelihoods and socioeconomic wellbeing of a resident community living within the boundaries of a protected area, and explores how these impacts are distributed across different community groups. The study also examines whether strict protected area designation compensates for a decrease in traditional income by increased tourism. A case study analysis was conducted in the Turkish village of Kapikiri, where two centuries ago, modern settlement began among the ruins of an ancient Greek city. The area's rich cultural and natural heritage resources and biodiversity prompted the Turkish government to designate it with strict culture-protected area status in 1989, and with nature-protected area status in 1994. The study involved conducting a household survey with a representative sample of households, interviews with different community groups, and interviews with officials at various levels of protected area governance. The study reveals that the Turkish government did not balance strict culture-protected area status with residents' socioeconomic development needs. An inflexible, to changing circumstances non-adaptive legal framework of cultural heritage conservation did not accommodate residents' development needs, prohibiting them any change on their built structures. Conversely, the broader nature-protected area status, intended to conserve the area's natural heritage resources and biodiversity, provided for the continuation of a traditional cultural landscape and encouraged tourism, creating a demand for tourism services and establishments. Increased demand in tourism combined with fines not high enough to deter illegal construction, however, did not discourage particularly business owners from building illegally. While business owners expanded their business capacity and increased their income, being able to absorb the costs of illegal activity, most farmers vulnerable to regional economic and agricultural influences, lacked finances to build or renovate illegally and provide new housing for subsequent generations. The case of Kapikiri points to a pressing need for long-term conservation and development strategies that address the unique and changing dynamics of local socioeconomic contexts. Protected area governance in Turkey needs to adopt a conservation policy that is pluralistic and responsive to changing local socioeconomic needs and environmental conditions; one that meets the needs of local communities while preserving heritage resources for generations to come.Item Factors Affecting Agricultural Expansion in Forest Reserves of Thailand: The Role of Population and Roads(2006-04-27) Puri, Jyotsna; Cropper, Maureen L; Bockstael, Nancy; Agricultural and Resource Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In this dissertation, I examine the role of population and transportation costs in determining agricultural expansion in 670 villages located in Forest Reserves of Thailand, over the period 1986-1996. Specifically, I examine the role of population and transportation costs as drivers of agricultural decisions regarding crop adoption and area planted, and in determining the intensity of cultivation and agricultural expansion. I also contrast the impact of these variables on two groups of villages in Forest Reserves - villages whose residents 'have no secure property rights' and those whose 'land rights are ambiguous'. I examine Feder et al.'s (1988) conclusions about the importance of property rights in Thai forest reserves and find that there is some evidence supporting their conclusions in this study. Differences in property rights account for some difference in the agricultural decisions of the two groups of villages, but that the nature of data does not allow a sharper distinction. Results reported in the study are consistent with other studies of the area. The study suggests that decisions regarding crop adoption and crop area are sensitive to population but the magnitudes of impact are small. Lack of significance of transport costs in determining cropping decisions suggests that rural road building programs will not necessarily promote deforestation in the study area, contrary to evidence in other parts of the world. This is particularly important given the large number of Forest Reserve residents in Thailand, and the fact that, Forest Reserves are the last bastions of forests, and consequently of biodiversity, in Thailand. One policy implication of this is that investments in roads that help to increase access to markets and aid poverty alleviation may not have the deleterious effects on forests that would otherwise be expected.