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Gaining access to land for grazing is less straightforward than before and the individualized plot system does not allow the flexibility to manage grazing effectively. As a result, hybrid systems of rangeland governance have evolved. Such systems are neither private, nor communal, nor completely open property arrangements: they emerge from a negoti...
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There is no general agreement on the preferential use of a fixed ratio (FR) of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1 )/forced vital capacity (FVC) < 0.7 vs. the lower limit of normal (LLN) of FEV 1 /FVC to define airflow obstruction. Determining the impact of these different cut-off levels in people living at high altitudes has not been...
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NIU Wei-ling，CHEN Hui，HOU Hui-xin，et al. Ten-year livestock exclusion did not affect water and nitrogen use efficiency of alpine desert-steppe plants in Northwest Tibet. Acta Prataculturae Sinica，2022，31 (8)：35−48.
Citations
... In addition, the biocultural approach draws attention to plural values, including immaterial values such as human-animal relationships in case of the shepherds in the Mediterranean, governance and institutions in shaping animal farming systems and landscape sustainability. This may also involve governance structures that facilitate the participation of diverse stakeholders, as for example the Andalusian network of grazed fuel breaks, in decision-making processes, thus shaping their livelihoods and capacities to manage animal farming systems in times of uncertainty (Scoones et al., 2023). ...
... These studies also engage with the notion of 'adaptive governance' 1 (Ang 2024;Olsson, Folke, and Hahn 2004), which involves understanding ecosystem dynamics, developing management practices combining different ecological knowledge systems, building adaptive capacity to address uncertainties and external drivers, and supporting flexible institutions and social networks in multi-level governance systems (Folke 2006;PASTRES 2019;Scoones 2023;Simula et al. 2020;Tsering 2023a). Moreover, research on everyday politics incorporates the practice of bricolage, which focuses on how evolutionary, relational processes can yield different patterns of social interaction (Cleaver 2002;De La Cruz S and Dessein 2021) and how resource users patch together dynamic institutions (i.e. ...
... values, norms, and beliefs) to ensure use and access. This elucidates how authoritative processes are shaped by power relations, the incorporation of local institutional arrangements into broader governance frameworks, and the everyday improvisation and informal negotiations characterizing hybrid institutional arrangements (Tsering 2023a(Tsering , 2024. ...
This paper argues that everyday politics are instrumental in negotiating development outcomes despite the pervasive influence of centralised state power. The paper highlights the fluidity and adaptability of Chinese policy formulation, emphasizing local learning and improvisation. This is especially important for pastoral communities in remote rangelands, where land appropriation and environmental exploitation are increasingly evident. The paper sheds light on the influential role of everyday political practices in shaping outcomes within the Chinese context, while simultaneously contesting simplistic portrayals of top-down state planning in China. By emphasizing the existence of manoeuvrability and opportunities for negotiation within this framework, the paper advocates for a nuanced understanding of governance dynamics and power relations in the Chinese context.
... Golok's ecological and cultural significance has also attracted continuous external investments in conservation and infrastructure development over the last two decades, including the establishment of national parks, hydropower dams, and eco-tourism centres. All of these interventions increased the uncertainty and complexity surrounding the utilisation of, and access to the rangelands in pastoral Golok (Tsering, 2023a). Including rangeland requisition and land-grabbing from monasteries, pastoralists, and pastoral communities for the purpose of conservation and development, reconfiguring existing rangeland practices and arrangements, each with its own roles, rules and relationships, are involved in the process of rangeland governance. ...
The conventional understanding of governance highlights the state's coercive and formal mechanisms. However, the everyday political control of the state is informal and ambiguous, and powerful civil societies strengthen resource governance through interactions between civil society, social organisations, and governments. In the case of pastoral Golok, China, the role of the local state is highly mediated by the power of the monastery and the monastic organisation, and much of the opportunities for compromise, negotiation and resistance on rangeland utilisation emerge from the ambiguities of land control, and different overlapping claims can be made through competing discourses on development and conservation. This paper applies a governance lens through the notion of assemblage to explore the roles of monasteries in rangeland governance. Multi cases were collected through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant observation as part of long-term ethnographic studies in 2020-2021. The study finds that monasteries in pastoral Golok provide room for manovre, shape the values and directions of resource governance, and the existence of monastic network and mediation is essential for negotiation-based rangeland management and land policy. These findings provide a nuanced foundation for rangeland management, policy, and politics in the Tibetan-Chinese context.
Contexte : L’élevage ovin domine dans la plaine céréalière semi-aride de la Chaouia (Maroc) qui subit de plein fouet les effets du changement climatique et de la volatilité des prix des intrants. Objectifs : Cette étude visait à caractériser les performances technico-économiques des deux modes d’élevage ovin rencontrés dans cette région – naisseurs et naisseurs-engraisseurs – à travers l’analyse de ses paramètres démographiques, de sa productivité et de sa rentabilité. Méthodes : La méthode d’enquête rétrospective dite 12-MO a été utilisée pour collecter les paramètres démographiques auprès de 52 élevages, complétée par une étude de leur rentabilité. Résultats : Les naisseurs, exploitant une surface agricole moyenne de 14 ha, présentent une autonomie fourragère (58 %) supérieure à celle des naisseurs-engraisseurs (49 % sur 128 ha). Cette autonomie contribue à une meilleure rentabilité par unité zootechnique ovine (marge brute moyenne de 68 € contre 44 € par unité zootechnique ovine). La vulnérabilité économique est omniprésente, en particulier chez les naisseurs-engraisseurs qui dépendent des intrants achetés et de la main-d’oeuvre salariée. Les charges alimentaires représentent jusqu’à 87 % des coûts totaux, affectant la rentabilité totale, notamment lors des sécheresses récurrentes ou de la hausse des prix des concentrés. Les taux moyens de mise-bas (113 %), de prolificité (138 %) et de mortalité (1 %), sont satisfaisants malgré l’insuffisance alimentaire et des pratiques de gestion inadaptées. Les naisseurs adoptent une stratégie de ventes précoces des agneaux pour alléger les charges, tandis que les naisseurs-engraisseurs allongent le cycle de production, espérant la valorisation des produits. Conclusions : Les systèmes d’élevage ovin, demeurent vulnérables face aux aléas climatiques, à la volatilité des prix des intrants et à une main-d’oeuvre coûteuse. Assurer leur viabilité à long terme nécessite de surmonter ces contraintes tout en valorisant leurs multiples rôles pour les territoires semi-arides.
This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc/4.0/ .
This think-piece makes a case for addressing the colonial roots of sustainability. It examines how enduring colonial mechanisms and biases have led to certain forms of value and valuing, problematic views of ‘pristine nature’ and processes of extractivism. These in turn have led to dispossession and violence, especially for Indigenous and marginalised communities in the majority world. It explores how studies on the environment and sustainability have sought to implicitly or explicitly challenge these colonial biases and their impacts. Researchers working on the environment, gender and sustainability have brought together Development Studies (DS) with science technology studies (STS), (feminist) political ecology, anthropology and feminist epistemology. This has resulted in strong engagements with the politics of knowledge, the colonial roots of environmental problems and the need to lift the perspectives and voices of historically marginalised groups to promote alternative ways of doing and understanding development and nature/society relations. Researchers working in other fields of DS could do more to draw on these diverse perspectives, especially since epistemic and material inequalities and power structures are interlinked and mutually reinforcing. I also focus on the dangers of decolonisation becoming a buzzword without much change in actual practices in ways of working and collaborating.
This study examines the future of pastoral livelihoods in rural Yarkhun Valley, Pakistan, in the context of the broader literature on changing pastoralism and the challenges faced by pastoralist communities. The study is based on three months of ethnographic fieldwork in Yarkhun Valley. Using discourse analysis and the lens of rural political ecology, it analyses changes in land use, climate projects, formal education, and urban migration, to elucidate the shift from the pastoral way of life towards a neoliberal lifestyle. The study explores the biases held by educated elites, non-governmental organisations and government institutions against local pastoralists – in particular the way they have stigmatised the practice of goat husbandry by associating it with flooding. Additionally, the paper looks at the impact of conservation and privatisation of the commons on pastoral livelihoods. It shows how pastoralist elders have held on to their traditional way of life despite pressure from the forces of modernisation and globalisation, and concludes that the future of pastoralism is precarious and uncertain.
This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .
Shimshal is one of the valleys in Karakoram most favourably endowed with pasture resources. The pastures are a major asset of the community and a stable feature of agricultural practice. However, in recent years pastures have become increasingly difficult to access and the pastoral workforce has been declining, threatening the sustainability of combined mountain agriculture and the livelihood of local farmers/herders. There are many factors behind this change. Due to increased outmigration and the lack of interest in pastoralism among the youth, it is hard to find skilled persons who can endure the harsh conditions of life in the pastures, and pasture management responsibilities have shifted from male to female household members. At the same time, however, farmers/herders of Shimshal are trying hard to resist encroachment on their ancestral lands and fend off territorial claims from neighbouring communities and external interference that could lead to their dispossession. This article examines the role of pastoralism in ensuring the social and economic well-being of the Shimshal community. It also looks at how community members have adapted their pastoral practices in the face of rapid social, economic and environmental changes.
This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .
Growing recognition of Indigenous Peoples and traditional local communities as stewards of biodiversity has brought to the fore the issues of knowledge and value pluralism in conservation policy and practice. Given their basis in practical and multi‐generational experience, Indigenous and local knowledges are highly relevant to managing human–wildlife interactions, especially species that are challenging to live with. Yet, these situated forms of knowledge remain overlooked and marginalised, especially ‘local knowledge’, as it is unclear what or whom is encompassed within the term.
We explore local knowledge in the context of pastoral areas in Europe, where populations of large carnivores such as wolves are currently expanding. We ask: who is ‘local’, what constitutes ‘local knowledge’ and what can this knowledge contribute to carnivore management?
We show that continuous exchanges between long‐settled residents, newcomers and transient people in pastoral areas mean that ‘localness’ cannot be approached as a dualist position. Similarly, local knowledge is dynamic and continuously evolving in the face of ongoing and emerging change, which makes efforts of categorisation and preservation complex.
We argue that current approaches to incorporating local knowledge often fail to account for this complexity, producing unjust and ineffective policies and strategies. To advance understanding, we offer an approach that situates local knowledge and those who hold it on a spectrum of knowledge characteristics. We then describe the challenges of braiding knowledge that are particularly relevant for carnivore management, illustrated by examples from our own research and the broader literature.
To tackle the challenges, we propose ‘spacing’ conservation planning by investing in networks of emplaced practitioners, tasked with coordinating the mobilisation and braiding of relevant knowledges and producing locally adapted strategies for coexistence.
Policy implications. Pluralism in carnivore management goes beyond incorporating the technical know‐how of local communities. It requires a better recognition and braiding of different kinds of knowledge and skills, at all scales, to produce better outcomes for people and nature.
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This article outlines a middle-range theory of pastoralist/rancher identity, offering a framework for analyzing the meanings, symbols, and practices associated with four interrelated dimensions of pastoralist identity: identification with livestock, place, family and community, and occupation. Poetic analysis of interviews from pastoral systems in transition in Mongolia’s Khangai and Gobi regions, the Spanish Pyrenees, and Colorado, USA shows how theorizing pastoralist identity, animated by place-based knowledge and emotion, may support deeper understanding of livestock-keepers’ social conflicts and responses to change. Even in capitalist systems, livestock-keepers are often primarily motivated by maintaining identities and lifeways rather than by profit maximization.
