Co‐management of rangelands to avoid the tragedy of the commons: experiences from highland Asia

摘要

Rangelands in highland Asia are important to livelihoods of livestock keepers and the maintenance of ecosystem integrity.After the failure of socialist collective management of rangelands, there is an urgent need to address rangeland issues in highland Asia to deal with the loss of traditional knowledge and to cope with uncertainties.This paper highlights the option of co‐management of rangelands as a promising solution to avoid the tragedy of the commons, based on experiences from the region.Examples of successful co‐management initiatives in the region are presented‐with a detailed case study from northern Tibetan Autonomous Region ( TAR)‐to illustrate flexible options for reversing negative trends resulting from the crumbling of traditional systems and open‐access grazing, within the prevailing ecological, technical and political contexts.