Pastoral Practices on the Move â Recent Transformations in Mountain Pastoralism on the Tibetan Plateau

Hermann Kreutzmann

Abstract

The Tibetan Plateau is a huge ecological area perfectly predisposed for mountain pastoralism. Debates about pastoral practices, common property regimes and range-land management have gained pace in recent years since the environmental chal-lenges and economic returns have been discussed in the framework of climate and global change. Initially the remote lifestyles of Tibetan nomads in peripheral regions were highlighted on account of sustenance from their own produce and subsistence economies. Even then mountain pastoralists were embedded in a network of mutual exchange relations that enabled them to survive in remote mountain plateaux and valleys. Their command of yak-breeding, their abilities to adapt to harsh environ-mental conditions and to cover huge distances between extensive natural pastures and market centres brought admiration from outside observers. Their âtraditional lifestyleâ seemed to be the perfect adaptation to environmental conditions. Conven-tional thinking attributed more importance to ecological factors than to politics, economy and society. Thus, the focus was directed to local production and less to animal husbandry as one component of a mountain-based household production system. The 20th century proved to be one of socio-economic change in all regions and for all communities. The Tibetan Plateau is no exception to this. Collectivisation in the aftermath of the Chinese Revolution introduced forms of social organisation that have been modified several times since. The shift from peoplesâ communes to the production responsibility system, from strict state governance and command economy to lenient forms of private ownership and entrepreneurship, from pasture laws to regulating rangeland management has introduced new concepts, policies and management tools that are significantly changing the institutional structure and organisational set-up. The challenges are environmental degradation processes trig-gered by social and climate change, contested commons and their boundaries, ex-ternal development and modernisation strategies versus local and regional percep-tions and participation demands in decision-making processes. Present-day practic-es are the result of adaptive mechanisms as a response to all kinds of challenges and external reforms, infrastructure development and provision of subsidies. Moun-tain pastoral economies and societies of our time are strongly linked with neighbour-ing markets and interrelated socio-economic structures. This especially holds true for pastoralists of the Tibetan Plateau who are significantly embedded in government programmes and poverty alleviation strategies, and who respond to rangeland man-agement packages and pasture laws by adapting to change. Their sources of income are highly diversified and draw on animal husbandry and agriculture as its basis and are augmented by government salaries, proceeds from wage labour and incomes from trade and entrepreneurship. Todayâs mountain pastoralism is, on the one hand, a livestock-based activity and related to different localities connected through mobility. On the other hand, significant incomes are derived from other local and non-local sources, often surpassing the amount generated from pastoralism. In fu-ture, part of pastoralistsâ income may be derived from payment for ecological ser-vices that are provided by pastoralists as landscape managers for the maintenance of fragile environments and rewarding sustainable stocking practices. Pastoral prac-tices reflect adaptive strategies that respond to the ecological, socio-economic and political environment over time, thus giving insights into path-dependent develop-ments in remote mountain areas.

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Chapter 20 Pastoral Practices on the Move â Recent Transformations in Mountain Pastoralism on the Tibetan Plateau

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Chapter 20 Pastoral Practices on the Move â Recent Transformations in Mountain Pastoralism on the Tibetan Plateau

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Pamirian Crossroads and Beyond

Human Geography and Geopolitics

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Chapter 20 Pastoral Practices on the Move â Recent Transformations in Mountain Pastoralism on the Tibetan Plateau