Sustainable Development in Western China: Managing People, Livestock and Grasslands in Pastoral Areas

摘要

China has the world's 3rd-largest area of grassland (FAO 2001), covering 42% of its territory and representing its largest terrestrial ecosystem. These grasslands are mainly concentrated in border and ethnic minority areas of Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, and western Sichuan, all of which fall within the purview of a national program to "develop the West." The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture has frequently emphasized that the protection and improvement of these grasslands is vitalfor national ecological security, socioeconomic development in the herding areas, social and border stability, and multiethnic harmony. However, these grassland areas are experiencing dramatic changes in terms of population, market penetration, intendedand unanticipated policy impacts, and the economic activities of larger entrepreneurial groups, such as mining or livestock–product corporations.