5 research outputs found
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From âRetire Livestock, Restore Rangelandâ to the Compensation for Ecological Services: State Interventions into Rangeland Ecosystems and Pastoralism in Tibet
This dissertation investigates Chinaâs tuimu huancao and destocking policy under a Compensation for Ecosystem Services program as a case study of how âreceived wisdomâ environmental degradation narratives are used to justify state interventions into the livelihoods of minority pastoralists. Tuimu huancao calls for grazing bans and restrictions by fencing for the purpose of restoring purportedly degraded rangeland and protecting rangeland. The destocking policy is intended to adjust herd size to carrying capacity through a reward mechanism for the purpose of protecting rangeland.
It examines the scientific and theoretical foundations of these two policies and the way in which they are understood, received, negotiated, and contested in multiple ways through a case study from Nagchu Prefecture, Tibet. The framework for analyzing these two programs as state interventions draws from and contributes to political ecology. Field research of an ethnographic study used a mix of methods that included detailed household surveys, in-depth, semi-structured interviews, oral histories, focus groups, transect walks, participatory mapping and participant observation.
This dissertation argues that tuimu huancao and the destocking policy ultimately have the effect more of intensifying existing policy directions that transform traditional pastoralism than of mitigating rangeland degradation, restoration and protection. Hence, narratives of rangeland degradation underpinning tuimu huancao and the destocking policy serve to justify state interventions that aim to achieve this goal of transforming traditional pastoralism. Furthermore, broadly defined political and economic forces maintain the persistence of âreceived wisdomâ on pastoralism and prevent alternative perspectives to existing policy directions from emerging. This dissertation also argues that Tibetan pastoralism can be well adapted to state interventions based on a middle way approach that accommodates both development and the livestock components of pastoralism. Nonetheless, the dissertation demonstrates that the formation of such a policy will not be easy because it will be a political process and can be jeopardized by officialsâ vested political and economic interests
Rangeland Use Rights Privatisation Based on the Tragedy of the Commons: A Case Study from Tibet
Rangeland use rights privatisation based on a tragedy of the commons assumption has been the backbone of state policy on rangeland management and pastoralism in China. Through an empirical case study from Pelgon county, Tibet Autonomous Region in China, this paper provides an empirical analysis of rangeland use rights privatisation. It shows that the tragedy of the commons is not the correct model to apply to Tibetan pastoralism because pasture use in Tibet has never been an open-access institution. Thus, when the tragedy of the commons model is applied as a rationale for rangeland use rights privatisation, the result is not what is intended by the policy, but rather a misfit to features of pastoralism and thus disruption of the essence of pastoralism, i.e. mobility and flexibility. The paper further shows that a hybrid institution combining household rangeland tenure with community-based use with user fees is a restoration of the pastoralist institution. This demonstrates the capacity of pastoralists to create adaptive new institutions congruent with the interdependent and integrated nature of pastoralism consisting of three components: pastoralists, livestock, and rangeland