Waters‐Bayer, Ann

Yan, Zhaoli

English

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky UKnowledge International Grassland Congress Proceedings XXI International Grassland Congress / VIII International Rangeland Congress Recognising Local Innovation in the Framework of Range Co‐Management on the Tibetan Plateau Ann Waters‐Bayer ETC EcoCulture, The Netherlands Zhaoli Yan International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc  Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/21/23-1/44 The XXI International Grassland Congress / VIII International Rangeland Congress took place in Hohhot, China from June 29 through July 5, 2008. Proceedings edited by Organizing Committee of 2008 IGC/IRC Conference Published by Guangdong People's Publishing House This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Grassland Congress Proceedings by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact UKnowledge@lsv.uky.edu. 瞯 ]1128　 瞯 　 Multifunctional Grasslands in a Changing World 　 Volume Ⅱ 　Grasslands/Rangelands People and Policies——— Innovation Systems in Grasslands/Rangelands through Education and PracticeRecognising local innovation in the framework of range co‐management on the Tibetan Plateau倡A nn W aters‐Bayer , ETC EcoCulture , POB 64 , 3830 A B Leusden , Netherlands ( ann .w aters‐bayer＠ etcnl .nl)Y an Zhaoli , ICIMOD , GPO Box 3226 , K athmandu , NepalKey words : land‐use adaptation , multistakeholder workshops , natural resource management , participatory researchIntroduction By allocating rangeland to individual families and promoting settlement and privatisation of land , the ChineseGovernment is intervening strongly in range management on the Tibetan Plateau . The EC‐funded project RETPEC ( RangelandEnclosure on the Tibetan Plateau) is examining the impacts of these policies on pastoral people and the environment . ICIMOD( International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ) and ETC EcoCulture coordinate the project activities related toparticipatory approaches , co‐management and options for change (Work Package ７) .Materials and methods As one component in this Work Package , both endogenous and introduced innovations‐especially socio‐organisational adaptations to changes in land tenure and access to resources resulting from Government policy‐are beingidentified and evaluated jointly by pastoralists , ex tension agents , scientists , and local and provincial administrators . ICIMODand ETC facilitate the process through a series of workshops on local innovation and perceptions of land‐use change , followedby fieldwork to explore identified options further . For the initial workshop , participants from research institutes anduniversities in four provinces ( Sichuan , Qinghai , Gansu and Tibet Autonomous Region) completed pre‐workshop assignmentsto record local innovations by herders . In the workshop , by examining what they had observed , the participants exploredpossibilities of participatory innovative processes in the framework of collaborative management of rangeland resources . Theyalso learned how to facilitate multistakeholder workshops and practised this in a second , county‐level workshop , attended bypastoralists ( men and women) and people from extension services , development projects , local government and the women摧sfederation .Results and discussion The workshops stimulated the participants , including herders , to document and analyse local innovationsin use of rangeland resources . The participants identified a variety of new and promising locally‐developed practices , including :瞯 　 Re‐organising the boundary fencing of allocated land to separate summer , autumn and winter pasture ;瞯 　 Various forms of fence‐making , e .g . combining wire net and thorny shrubs , and posts of steel and live trees ;瞯 　 Families with large herds renting rangeland from other holders of land‐use rights to be able to practise rotational grazing ;some pay according to area , land quality and grazing period ; others according to number of animals grazed on the landshared with leasers ; this provides some income for poor families with few animals ;瞯 　 Deciding against individual management of land allocated to families , because access to water is unequal , and thereforemanaging it jointly , with a village committee identifying campsites , grazing periods and moving routes ;瞯 　 Young newly‐wed herders without allocated land moving to communal summer pastures to raise yaks ;瞯 　 Buying up one‐year‐old yaks in winter , fattening them and selling them for meat the following autumn ;瞯 　 Supplementing the diet of weak yaks in winter by stirring wheat flour in water ( sometimes adding chopped hay) or makingdough with a little salt ;瞯 　 Setting up tent �hotels " for tourists who want to experience pastoral culture , including horseback riding ; thisdiversification gives the herder families an additional source of income .Many of these innovations are responses to changes in land‐use laws introduced by the Chinese Government . Different groups ofherders have come up with different ways of adapting , depending on their prior experience and innate ingenuity . The �co‐management" approach encourages the stakeholders to be creative in finding the most appropriate ways to manage animals , landand labour in order to achieve greater benefits in terms of productivity , security and environmental conservation . It bringstogether herders , government officials and other key stakeholders to explore and negotiate roles , responsibilities and benefits ,while striving for a commonly agreed goal . It is a process of learning‐by‐doing through iterative cycles of joint experimentation ,analysis , re‐thinking and new action .Conclusions Examining how herders innovate in response to government interventions is an entry point for participatory researchin the framework of co‐management of the rangelands , i .e . exploring and refining interesting options to improve the income andlives of herder families in the face of rapid change . This approach is designed to strengthen local capacities to adapt to change ,as well as to strengthen the position of herders in research , development and policy dialogue so that they can create and choosetheir options for change .倡 The view s in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of all RETPEC partners or the European Commission ( EC) .

Recognising Local Innovation in the Framework of Range Co‐Management on the Tibetan Plateau

https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3946&context=igc

Recognising Local Innovation in the Framework of Range Co‐Management on the Tibetan Plateau

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