A Socio-Ecological Survey in Jalantai Area, Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, China

摘要

Jalantai is an area (38- 42 deg Lat N; 104 - 108 deg Long. E) located in the west side of the Helan Mountain in the Inner Mongolia Alxa League, Northern China. The climate is arid or extremely arid, with about 7 deg C as annual mean temperature, eventhough its extreme values range from - 36.4 deg C to + 41.7 deg C. Precipitations range from 40 to 200 mm per year, occurring mainly during the summer period. The main environmental constraint is represented by the desertification process, characterizedby a strong wind erosion and consequent sand storms that affect agricultural activities. Due to its environmental characteristics this area was chosen as extra-European case-study in the ADAM (ADAptation and Mitigation strategies) EU-Project. This work refers on the preliminary results of the socio-ecological survey carried out in order to evaluate both vulnerability of local farming system to climatic change and the relevant agricultural adaptation strategies to cope with. To this purpose, a socio-ecological approach, matching sociological information with agronomical and climatological data, was set up according to Gunderson & Holling (2002).